First Trip to High Street since Pre-Covid, Pros and Cons
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It must be about 4 years+ since I ambled round our high street. It was market day but I counted around 6 stalls whereas they used to line both sides of the pedestrian area. Lots of the shops I used to frequent had disappeared.
I had gone to buy books, and no, I did not want to buy them online. I wanted to see the quality and get hard cover books. I tried all three book shops and only managed to get 3 books. All the old favourites were no longer available, Wind in the Willows, Treasure Island, Winnie the Pooh, Peter Pan etc, they only seemed interested in stocking David Walliams and Julia Donaldson. In fact in WHSmiths the whole of upstairs (which used to be all books) was like an empty store room, now used as a post office and what few books there were I found in a small corner downstairs.
The remaining fruit and veg shops were lovely, selling at half the supermarket prices. I noticed in the central clock tower area the seats had all gone, so no respite for us oldies who need a sit down between shops. I must be ancient as I remember when the shops themselves had seats for customers, it seems we're not as kind and caring as we like to think these days.
No wonder people don't shop in the high street any more, who wants to pay for parking for such a dismal shopping experience.
Yes the high street is fast disappearing. High rent business rates, almost impossible to park anywhere near it and a lot of shops are now on the internet instead. So we are left with coffee shops, charity shops and some toiletry shops but that’s it. M&S are about still but only just. I really miss Debenhams and Beales (Worthing) but it was so quiet in them in the end no one was shopping there.
Where I am parking is expensive and hardly any spaces to park. Buses are rubbish. A lot of shop are empty. Where I am the local government is more interested in building offices that none wants then turning empty shops into offices or homes. It's ridiculous
There will be no high street shops left soon, with the way things are going.
RegularComper90 so sad, especially as people are becoming more and more isolated and not going out. It used to be a regular thing to meet friend or family in town to shop, browse, lunch, coffee.
Lynibis I have lost count at the number of fast food places, charity shops and vape shops there are on my local high street. Yet we have no butcher or green grocer.
Shopping on the high street used to be fun.
Our high street seems to have avoided the downfall of the high street. You can park all day for a pound. There are still benches in the middle of the square, lots of different shops and restaurants.
MrsCraig I'm sure parking all day for a pound is part of the reason. Parking can cost a huge amount in many places and I feel a £ a day would revive many high streets at least a bit. Where I am my own town looks terrible for missing shops and excessive parking but around where I am in nearby towns many high streets are doing much better. Taunton and Dorchester are pretty good even though parking is costly at Dorchester. I saw a recent analysis of the high street and those towns where they have a larger amount of elderly people especially where they are typically more affluent in the population fare better as they are more likely to use the high street. I think Dorchester and Sherborne near to me are like that and their high streets are definitely in a better state.
These problems are nothing that can't be sorted out with the right policies. Lots of countries have policies that favour local shops people still use online shopping but its for more niche products or just convenience at a higher cost. When you compare the environmental factors between the two it's far less damaging to the environment to buy locally. Really we should have put policies in place twenty years ago to stop the decline of the high street.
BonzoBanana the pound a day parking is absolutely brilliant. There are other car parks that are £1.50 or £2 a day, but that is still reasonable. I think it is because where we live there are lots of smaller villages around us that travel in to do their shopping. Also you would have to travel for either an hour or 2 hours to get to the next nearest big high street.
We use the high street quite often, only order online if it is something I can't get in town.
MrsCraig BonzoBanana I was in a car park the other night where it was £2.80 for ONE hour. Luckily charges stopped after 6pm and I got there at 6.10pm. It was for the Rocky Horror Show so if I had to pay it would have been horrendous as it was £5.80 for 2 hours. Can't remember 3 hour charge. It seems they charge more where there is more need without caring about those who need to make a living or those needing to park to help them do so.
Lynibis The only plus about my local high street is it is free parking on Sunday but of course less shops are open on a Sunday and so you don't get the full range of shops maybe 80-90% of shops. Also we have a large Tesco with free parking at the top of town. It was free for 2 1/2hrs but is changing to 2 hours. However while the top of town close to Tesco's is in a much better state than the bottom of town away from Tesco there are still some big stores that have closed close to Tesco like Denners/Beales which was Yeovil's main department store a few years ago. However there is definitely a Tesco influence at work because the further you walk away from Tesco the more store closures you find. Tesco has definitely helped Yeovil and the store is a huge success as its very large car park is almost always full in normal business hours. Even late at night sometimes its about 1/3rd full at the bottom. It's such a brilliant store to have in Yeovil.
Lynibis our car parks stop charging after a certain time and are free on a Sunday. Most of the shops are open on a Sunday, just open later and close earlier. I have been to car parks before where it was £5 an hour. We went to meet family in the centre where said car park was and it cost us £20 in parking. It was still cheaper to pay the parking and drive than for the 3 of us to get the train.
Lots of independent shops have disappeared from a local town to be replaced by coffee shops. How many cafes does one small town need?
Sadly our town has more Barbers and nail bars than shops, won't be long before it won't be worth a visit, very sad.
HEDGEHOGS So common. I guess its only barbers and nail bars that have the huge margin in order to pay sky high rents and business rates. This is the bottom of our high street where most shops have gone. Takeaway alley nearby is pretty full, maybe one or two shop closures and the top of the high street is pretty decent but here its dead. This was in 2018 so 5 years ago and since then I can count another 6-8 stores that have closed. Now with Wilko closing you wonder what will be left after maybe 6 months. The stupidity and incompetence of politicians is hard to believe.
BonzoBanana Yes absolutely, we do have the odd shop open only not to succeed unfortunately, not for the want of trying, these sort of shops need the community to support them or they go under pretty quickly. We also have plenty of estate agents too.
My home town is empty. Charity shop next to empty store next to community art gallery etc etc ..Surely lesser rents and fuller shops is more economical than no rental income.
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