BRFR Cake Stop 'breaking news' miscellany

[briantrumpet]

It is true, but if you are 20 minutes and a useless parking app from the nearest high street that may or may not have what you need, ordering online while you are trying to find opening times and whether or not the local shop might have what you need is more convenient. It also amazes me how I can get hold of something online quicker than someone in a shop hoping to sell it to me.

Small and unique places can help, but I don't understand the business model of pricing rents and rates at a level that leaves all of the units empty. Round here only barbers seem to survive, and I can't help but wonder whether cutting hair for £12 is really what funds my barber's Mercedes.

I suspect yours and my access to thriving High Streets in Devon & Cornwall might be somewhat different from Mr Penguin's.

 

[PurplePenguin]

Yes, business rates are an issue, sure, but dealing with that is a minefield (loss of revenue for councils), and isn't going to suddenly get people to stop using Amazon and buying beers from Lidl. I agree re the everyone staying home, but the shift in people's habits has its echo in the Cnut legend.

I think the issue is how the inevitable (at least partial) decline of the High Street is managed, whether that's by creating more welcoming experiences for shoppers (e.g. Oxford St pedestrianisation), or other means, (for which I haven't got sufficient imagination). It's always hard to 'manage decline', as the word 'terminal' then tends to hove into view.

So you recognise that there is an issue with business rates, but are not happy when people moan about it?

Plus, Amazon is now expensive and full of tat and sponsored stuff, so I could easily see people pivoting away to places like Argos and large supermarkets.

 

[midlandsgrimpeur]

Or, viewed another way, it might be the media actively trying to amplify an issue that will benefit a party that promises unicorns, as the media would enjoy the spectacle of Reform doing well in the polls: see how they promoted Trump's framing of issues (price of eggs, etc) and gave him a free pass on things that they hammered Biden on (inflation, age & cognitive decline, corruption etc)

Very good point, I hadn't thought of it that way.

 

[midlandsgrimpeur]

Plus, Amazon is now expensive and full of tat and sponsored stuff, so I could easily see people pivoting away to places like Argos and large supermarkets.

True with regards Amazon, but other large consumer/retail outlets are not really high street shops. I think the real killer has been the death of smaller retail groups and independents that could previously have afforded to occupy a smallish retail unit. Those are the types of shops that are sadly never coming back.

 

[PurplePenguin]

I suspect yours and my access to thriving High Streets in Devon & Cornwall might be somewhat different from Mr Penguin's.

It's still not great e.g. trying to buy something sports related from Lillywhites (sports direct) rarely fails to disappoint and brings back that feeling of nostalgia for the days when sports shops sold sports stuff, and the biggest one in the country sold lots of sports stuff.

There aren't even many bike shops, so I have no idea what the majority of people do for maintenance.

 

[briantrumpet]

So you recognise that there is an issue with business rates, but are not happy when people moan about it?

Plus, Amazon is now expensive and full of tat and sponsored stuff, so I could easily see people pivoting away to places like Argos and large supermarkets.

There's a difference between justified moaning about business rates and making the (impossible) revival of the High Street to what it was in times past a central political 'wedge issue'. Dealing with high business rates isn't going to reverse inevitable decline, merely ameliorate the rate of decline. Reform are picking an issue which they will claim that only they can solve, as other parties know it's not solvable and won't make that promise. (Well, if they do make that promise, they are simply deluding themselves that their unicorns are more attractive than Reform's.) It's probably a good bet that people will vote for unicorns yet again, because they want to be lied to, and it's more comforting in the short term than accepting reality.

Reform need another 'wedge issue', now that we've left the EU, and immigration has collapsed. Obviously I'm not in the Reformy bubble (any more than their supporters are part of my wokey-liberal bubble), but I'd be amazed if the High Street & pub thing isn't plastered over every single social media channel they inhabit. Well, that, and people with brown skin needing to be deported, obvs.

 

[briantrumpet]

It's still not great e.g. trying to buy something sports related from Lillywhites (sports direct) rarely fails to disappoint and brings back that feeling of nostalgia for the days when sports shops sold sports stuff, and the biggest one in the country sold lots of sports stuff.

There aren't even many bike shops, so I have no idea what the majority of people do for maintenance.

I'm not going to deny that. I don't like the decline of the High Street, but that regret is what makes 'nostalgia' one helluva drug, if you ingest it. Reform peddle it relentlessly, and people get hooked.

 

[CXRAndy]

Biden had cognitive decline. It was clear for the world to see. The MSM tried to spin he wasn't.

 

[midlandsgrimpeur]

I'm not going to deny that. I don't like the decline of the High Street, but that regret is what makes 'nostalgia' one helluva drug, if you ingest it. Reform peddle it relentlessly, and people get hooked.

Right on cue.

https://www.theguardian.com/busines...-high-streets-fuel-far-right-sympathies-in-uk

 

[First Aspect]

I suspect yours and my access to thriving High Streets in Devon & Cornwall might be somewhat different from Mr Penguin's.

Perhaps, but it's even the case in cities from what I can see. Princes St has lost its department stores and they are replaced by open fronted places selling Nessie toys and betartaned haggises, all whilst playing bagpipe music to anyone unfortunate enough to be nearby. And the Royal Mile is worse.

 

[C R]

Right on cue.

https://www.theguardian.com/busines...-high-streets-fuel-far-right-sympathies-in-uk

Wasn't a link to that article further upthread that started the high street discussion?

 

[PurplePenguin]

There's a difference between justified moaning about business rates and making the (impossible) revival of the High Street to what it was in times past a central political 'wedge issue'. Dealing with high business rates isn't going to reverse inevitable decline, merely ameliorate the rate of decline. Reform are picking an issue which they will claim that only they can solve, as other parties know it's not solvable and won't make that promise. (Well, if they do make that promise, they are simply deluding themselves that their unicorns are more attractive than Reform's.) It's probably a good bet that people will vote for unicorns yet again, because they want to be lied to, and it's more comforting in the short term than accepting reality.

Reform need another 'wedge issue', now that we've left the EU, and immigration has collapsed. Obviously I'm not in the Reformy bubble (any more than their supporters are part of my wokey-liberal bubble), but I'd be amazed if the High Street & pub thing isn't plastered over every single social media channel they inhabit. Well, that, and people with brown skin needing to be deported, obvs.

I'm not sure I agree with your assumption that correcting business rates won't have a significant impact. As I said before, why should personal home delivery be the cheapest option?

 

[First Aspect]

I'm not sure I agree with your assumption that correcting business rates won't have a significant impact. As I said before, why should personal home delivery be the cheapest option?

It often isn't, but it is much more convenient.

E.g. I'm waiting for gear cables from Amazon today that are probably 20% more expensive than a local shop. But said shop is either Halfords and hour away which will probably have only one in stock, or will never have heard of such a thing, or 40 mins away but with a complex matrix of not open times, combined with the need to be patronised by a bike shop person if I ever find a day they are open. I would happily pay double to get them to my door.

 

[Pblakeney]

I have always had this idea that all these tech bros are so consumed by an artificial world because they are actually joyless people who struggle to engage with real life and are unable to understand the value of actual human interactions and experiences. It seems they actually need technology to live their lives for them as they are unable to cope with it themselves.

I do find reading that on here ironically funny.

 

[Pblakeney]

Aren't business rates still an issue? Why is having something personally delivered more cost effective than getting it yourself? Also, high streets don't need to be a load of shops they can be other things, but creating an environment where everyone just stays at home sounds pretty miserable to me.

The people have decided though.