O/T I walked through the town centre yesterday...

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nil_desperandum
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Re: O/T I walked through the town centre yesterday...

Post by nil_desperandum » Tue May 18, 2021 1:12 pm

I believe that shops and town centres fulfill an important social role. The demise of town centre shops has been entirely predictable.
It's a radical move, but I have long felt that a 10% tax being levied on all internet purchases with the revenue being passed on to those who keep a presence on the high st would go a long way to redressing the balance.
As it stands you can buy virtually everything cheaper online than in the shops. Shops need to be supported.

LS7
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Re: O/T I walked through the town centre yesterday...

Post by LS7 » Tue May 18, 2021 1:16 pm

Towns need to move to a new model e.g. fresh produce, community spaces, leisure, learning. High st retail is dead in most towns (other than wealthy small towns or tourist locations), 10% tax or not. People had abandoned the smaller towns' retail offerings for Manchester/ Leeds/ Trafford centre anyway irrespective of the internet.
Last edited by LS7 on Tue May 18, 2021 1:18 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Rileybobs
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Re: O/T I walked through the town centre yesterday...

Post by Rileybobs » Tue May 18, 2021 1:17 pm

nil_desperandum wrote:
Tue May 18, 2021 1:12 pm
I believe that shops and town centres fulfill an important social role. The demise of town centre shops has been entirely predictable.
It's a radical move, but I have long felt that a 10% tax being levied on all internet purchases with the revenue being passed on to those who keep a presence on the high st would go a long way to redressing the balance.
As it stands you can buy virtually everything cheaper online than in the shops. Shops need to be supported.
Why artificially raise prices for consumers to support a method of retailing that has obviously fallen behind the times and doesn’t serve a purpose?
This user liked this post: LS7

LS7
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Re: O/T I walked through the town centre yesterday...

Post by LS7 » Tue May 18, 2021 1:55 pm

PS Hebden Bridge is a small, wealthy town with significant tourism. Not comparable in any helpful way.

nil_desperandum
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Re: O/T I walked through the town centre yesterday...

Post by nil_desperandum » Tue May 18, 2021 3:04 pm

Rileybobs wrote:
Tue May 18, 2021 1:17 pm
Why artificially raise prices for consumers to support a method of retailing that has obviously fallen behind the times and doesn’t serve a purpose?
That's the alternative view to mine.
As I implied in my post, there's far more to "shopping" than just buying stuff.
For my dad, aged 89, taking a daily (short) walk into Colne centre to the shops is the highlight of most days.
I could do all his shopping online and get it delivered but he enjoys the social interaction, often bumps into friends and would gladly pay a bit more for this experience.
If a big company like Amazon had say a 10% levy to pay on all online sales then it would be up to them how much of this they passed onto the buyer.
The billions in profits that the large companies make could be used to help sustain our local shops for the community.
That's my broader point.
I realize that there will be many who disagree since they simply want things as cheaply and conveniently as possible.

Pstotto
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Re: O/T I walked through the town centre yesterday...

Post by Pstotto » Tue May 18, 2021 3:08 pm

LS7, Burnley is miles better than Hebden Bridge as a tourist destination, the views from Sandygate Square are absolutely magnificent, Burnley is the edge of civilization and fantastic as that, better than Hebden Bridge by a mile and that's not including the canal and railway mile.

claret2018
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Re: O/T I walked through the town centre yesterday...

Post by claret2018 » Wed May 19, 2021 11:43 am

Not that we didn’t know this already, but Burnley is near the bottom in the U.K. rankings when it comes to prosperity

https://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/n ... years-ago/

Makes the question of how to revive the town centre even more difficult

Jakubclaret
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Re: O/T I walked through the town centre yesterday...

Post by Jakubclaret » Wed May 19, 2021 4:19 pm

nil_desperandum wrote:
Tue May 18, 2021 3:04 pm
That's the alternative view to mine.
As I implied in my post, there's far more to "shopping" than just buying stuff.
For my dad, aged 89, taking a daily (short) walk into Colne centre to the shops is the highlight of most days.
I could do all his shopping online and get it delivered but he enjoys the social interaction, often bumps into friends and would gladly pay a bit more for this experience.
If a big company like Amazon had say a 10% levy to pay on all online sales then it would be up to them how much of this they passed onto the buyer.
The billions in profits that the large companies make could be used to help sustain our local shops for the community.
That's my broader point.
I realize that there will be many who disagree since they simply want things as cheaply and conveniently as possible.
Old people like looking at things & browsing, most of the time we set off without even thinking of making a purchase, absolutely no intentions of buying something but on occasions you’ll see something & be drawn to it & sometimes it might not be an item you necessarily need but more of a upgraded replacement for an existing item you already have on display in the house & also as you correctly say you bump into people & start chinwagging.

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