OV9

I guess we'll never really know how much was Brexit, how much was COVID and how much was just the natural decline of the high street that's been happening for the last twenty years.

To be fair, I do know a few businesses that did shut, but these guys were smart in that they took the 10K handout, took the bounce back loans and then closed up for good so they won't have to pay any of it back. I hope they get caught out, I really do, but it looks good for the Broccers type braying fuckwits when they see a business closed up. It means they can start breathing out of their mouths a bit harder.

ZedLeg wrote: ↑Tue May 04, 2021 10:45 am I guess we'll never really know how much was Brexit, how much was COVID and how much was just the natural decline of the high street that's been happening for the last twenty years.

Yeah fair point.

ZedLeg wrote: ↑Tue May 04, 2021 10:45 am I guess we'll never really know how much was Brexit, how much was COVID and how much was just the natural decline of the high street that's been happening for the last twenty years.

I suspect covid has just acclerated the decline of some of those high street retailers - no great shame in my view as many had grown lazy and out of touch (John Lewis seem to be doing a good job of trying to join them as well). People wail and moan about these things, and clearly job losses aren't great, but it's all part of the life-cycle of the high street. You only have to look back through the decades to see the constantly changing picture of retail.

In the meantime our town is booming, and there's been loads of new independent openings, including some from existing hospitality businesses that have expanded (which surprised me the most). Mind you, I don't know how much of our town's success is down to the exodus from the south east to the Cheshire area, that we keep being told is happening.

Gwaredd wrote: ↑Tue May 04, 2021 10:49 am To be fair, I do know a few businesses that did shut, but these guys were smart in that they took the 10K handout, took the bounce back loans and then closed up for good so they won't have to pay any of it back. I hope they get caught out, I really do, but it looks good for the Broccers type braying fuckwits when they see a business closed up. It means they can start breathing out of their mouths a bit harder.

So you did see some businesses shut. Right and they are all criminals, okaaaay then. Utter fucking shite pegleg. Hop off.

Swervin_Mervin wrote: ↑Tue May 04, 2021 10:53 am

ZedLeg wrote: ↑Tue May 04, 2021 10:45 am I guess we'll never really know how much was Brexit, how much was COVID and how much was just the natural decline of the high street that's been happening for the last twenty years.

I suspect covid has just acclerated the decline of some of those high street retailers - no great shame in my view as many had grown lazy and out of touch (John Lewis seem to be doing a good job of trying to join them as well). People wail and moan about these things, and clearly job losses aren't great, but it's all part of the life-cycle of the high street. You only have to look back through the decades to see the constantly changing picture of retail.

In the meantime our town is booming, and there's been loads of new independent openings, including some from existing hospitality businesses that have expanded (which surprised me the most). Mind you, I don't know how much of our town's success is down to the exodus from the south east to the Cheshire area, that we keep being told is happening.

I heard an interesting interview with some retail guru who said town centres will become more of a social destination than pure retrail, which makes sense to me. Our town centre is very busy, and most of the independent places seem to do well.

Swervin_Mervin wrote: ↑Tue May 04, 2021 10:53 am

ZedLeg wrote: ↑Tue May 04, 2021 10:45 am I guess we'll never really know how much was Brexit, how much was COVID and how much was just the natural decline of the high street that's been happening for the last twenty years.

I suspect covid has just acclerated the decline of some of those high street retailers - no great shame in my view as many had grown lazy and out of touch (John Lewis seem to be doing a good job of trying to join them as well). People wail and moan about these things, and clearly job losses aren't great, but it's all part of the life-cycle of the high street. You only have to look back through the decades to see the constantly changing picture of retail.

In the meantime our town is booming, and there's been loads of new independent openings, including some from existing hospitality businesses that have expanded (which surprised me the most). Mind you, I don't know how much of our town's success is down to the exodus from the south east to the Cheshire area, that we keep being told is happening.

Yeah, Glasgow's the same. There's always some new place trying their luck, some won't last but the good ones will.

If the end result of the last couple of years is that the indentikit high st chains have less presence and small businesses have more space to try and get going, I don't really see that as a bad thing tbh.

ZedLeg wrote: ↑Tue May 04, 2021 11:08 am

Swervin_Mervin wrote: ↑Tue May 04, 2021 10:53 am

ZedLeg wrote: ↑Tue May 04, 2021 10:45 am I guess we'll never really know how much was Brexit, how much was COVID and how much was just the natural decline of the high street that's been happening for the last twenty years.

I suspect covid has just acclerated the decline of some of those high street retailers - no great shame in my view as many had grown lazy and out of touch (John Lewis seem to be doing a good job of trying to join them as well). People wail and moan about these things, and clearly job losses aren't great, but it's all part of the life-cycle of the high street. You only have to look back through the decades to see the constantly changing picture of retail.

In the meantime our town is booming, and there's been loads of new independent openings, including some from existing hospitality businesses that have expanded (which surprised me the most). Mind you, I don't know how much of our town's success is down to the exodus from the south east to the Cheshire area, that we keep being told is happening.

Yeah, Glasgow's the same. There's always some new place trying their luck, some won't last but the good ones will.

If the end result of the last couple of years is that the indentikit high st chains have less presence and small businesses have more space to try and get going, I don't really see that as a bad thing tbh.

Totally agree. I've had conversations recently with a group in another local village/town who are trying to look at measures, and I just keep pointing them at what has been achieved in Altrincham. But the key thing Altrincham has kept in mind is that you absolutely still need a handful of the big keystone retailers - we've a Boots, H&M, Next, Waterstones and an M&S. Just lost Debenhams and before that House of Fraser. I don't even think the M&S is that key to be honest. I even told this other group not shun the likes of places like Wilkos - another one Alty has, and it's just antoher of those that gives people half an excuse to go into town, where they'll then go spend more at the independents as well.

It seems to weird to me now the concept of even going into Manchester city centre - don't think I've been for leisure reasons in several years!

Broccers wrote: ↑Tue May 04, 2021 10:53 am
So you did see some businesses shut. Right and they are all criminals, okaaaay then. Utter fucking shite pegleg. Hop off.

I think you missunderstood you fucking spoon. They shut on purpose as they made profit from Covid. They'll start again under a different name. Crooks exploiting a loophole. Surprised you've never heard of this before?

John Lewis closing in Peterborough will have a really big impact I think. It was pretty much the only reason people outside of Peterborough went into Queensgate.

Stamford suits everything else we need and we only shopped in Peterborough if we also wanted something from JL. I don’t know how many it employed but it was the biggest store by a very large margin.

Dave!

I don't find it hard to see why Peter Jones/John Lewis are struggling so much. I buy the occasional electronic items from them because of their 2 year guarantee. They still think their 5 day delivery is acceptable in 2021... Don't ever try ordering a kitchen appliance which is fitted because they seem to outsource it to any charlatan. If you're lucky they'll bodge it and damage all the cabinets.

Got my jab this morning. Super smooth and efficient operation. In and out in 5 minutes (and told to sit in the car for 15 minutes before driving). Got AZ, unsurprisingly. The jabber wasn't able to confirm if it had either the nanobots or the Bill Gates microchip in it. Suspect he wasn't in the need-to-know.

Got a sore arm and a bit of a headache, but otherwise fine.

Simon wrote: ↑Tue May 04, 2021 12:07 pm Got my jab this morning. Super smooth and efficient operation. In and out in 5 minutes (and told to sit in the car for 15 minutes before driving). Got AZ, unsurprisingly. The jabber wasn't able to confirm if it had either the nanobots or the Bill Gates microchip in it. Suspect he wasn't in the need-to-know.

Got a sore arm and a bit of a headache, but otherwise fine.

You'll notice the improvement in phone signal once it's had 24hrs to circulate fully around your system

McSwede wrote: ↑Tue May 04, 2021 12:17 pm

Simon wrote: ↑Tue May 04, 2021 12:07 pm Got my jab this morning. Super smooth and efficient operation. In and out in 5 minutes (and told to sit in the car for 15 minutes before driving). Got AZ, unsurprisingly. The jabber wasn't able to confirm if it had either the nanobots or the Bill Gates microchip in it. Suspect he wasn't in the need-to-know.

Got a sore arm and a bit of a headache, but otherwise fine.

You'll notice the improvement in phone signal once it's had 24hrs to circulate fully around your system

Ah, thanks for clarifying.

The high st was dying as people have said, unless these fabled town centres are nice places to go, people won’t.

A high st of wetherspoons, pound and charity shops won’t entice me back..

Zero deaths today. May as well carry on as we are as its such a success.

Are you mad that vaccination and containment are working now? I can't even tell anymore.

Broccers wrote: ↑Tue May 04, 2021 2:38 pm Zero deaths today. May as well carry on as we are as its such a success.

?

Ive actually read it was 7 uk deaths so some might have died since. Hardly worth making a fuss about.

Unfortunately bank holiday weeks are pretty crap data wise, so who knows what the real picture is. Anyway I think low numbers are good whatever you believe?