It's A very Depressing Sight !.

I went out yesterday for a run on my Cycle.
I Cycled about a 6 mile radius and I was Shocked by what I seen on my travel.

I counted around 50 plus shop Premises and some Pubs and Club premises closed,with for rent and for sale signs on display.
It was a very depressing sight to see this in what was once thriving communities

I lost count of the number of homes up for sale,also the Chemical Plant I spent 34 years of my working life in, has gone ,it is now green fields and Trees..

How are things in your areas regarding the above ?.

 

Pubs & clubs are closed due to the smoking ban, shop premises closed due to the internet, yes depressing and it won't get any better!! In Surrey where I used to live shops were fast being replaced with charity shops, pubs just vanished overnight, here in Hay it is different the 'outside world' hasn't affected it yet and the local people are very dilligent to keep it that way, I LOVE it!!!!

Val

 

I think drink driving laws and cheap alcohol in shops is also a contributor to pub and club closures.
The world has moved on, things change. Unfortunately some things fall by the wayside in the process.

 

And the saddest part of that is ... communities!

When I first moved into my previous house, we had a post office at the end of the road; that is how I got to meet the members of my new community. It closed down. People took to using the PO at the big Tesco's (3 miles away!)

Next road down was a pub. Didn't go very often, but on the rare times down there, I'd bump into one or two people I'd met in the post office. It closed down. Don't know where others went, but we bought cheap stuff from the big Tesco (3 mile away) for those times we have celebrations and gatherings

There was a corner shop. It closed down.

For my final 5 years in that house, neighbours changed but you never knew who took over the properties because ... you never saw them! Unless you caugh them jitting between the front door to their car to drive 3 miles to the big Tesco's to buy their milk, cheap booze and use the PO on site.

The very saddest part? Someone lay dead for a number of weeks at the other end of the street. First I heard about it was when it hit the headlines of the local paper. Everyone had become so isolated and alienated by "modernity" that no one actually realised this person hadn't been seen for weeks. Only when someone reported an alleged sewer problem were they finally found That's not a way I'd choose to go!


RIP Local Communities - you are the real victim of "progress"

 

One of the reasons the pubs are closing at such an alarming rate is that the government has made them unprofitable. The most obvious part of it is the repeated hikes on beer tax, forcing landlords to make the tough choice between passing on that extra cost to the customer, and therefore losing customers, or absorb the costs themselves, and therefore lose money. A less obvious part of it (because it never got any media coverage) is the extra costs associated with keeping your license. I think its different in every area, but here, when the new licensing laws came in, every licensed premise had to have CCTV installed. At the time I did some freelance tech work for a licensee, and he showed me the criteria to meet the minimum specification for his CCTV setup just to keep the license terms he already had. He was a long term mate of mine, he'd built up his modest empire over maybe 30 years, almost working himself to death so that he could leave something to his kids. When I read the document outlining the minimum specification for the setup he had to have to keep his license, I nearly wept for him. I spent about a month, unpaid, trawling through catalogues of every supplier I could find, calling contacts I'd built up over the years, trying to find the cheapest possible way to do it. I even included in the proposal the suggestion that he negotiates with over licensees in the same predicament to see if they would do a bulk purchase to drive the price down. The cheapest I can find, making no profit whatsoever myself, was around £4000 per premise, just to buy the kit he needed to install, not even including installation costs (I had mates willing to do it for a few pints of beer as it happened). We're not even talking big establishments, just a couple of little pads. When I went to see the chap, and I explained it all to him, he held his head in hands, and then just said told me in plain and simple terms, he couldn't do it, he'll have to close down and sell up. He was already being squeezed from every angle, and this was the final straw. I too was gutted, I'd known the chap most of my life. He did indeed close down, quite suddenly as it happened. I saw his son a few months later, and he confided in me that his dad was now 'enjoying retirement in warmer climes'.

As for the demise of communities. I used to think supermarkets were to blame, having destroyed the local shops by pricing them out, but more recently I realised its entirely the people's fault. Community spirit boils down to simply acknowledging each other. It costs nothing to say hello to your neighbour as they pass, and in time that simple hello, or even a simple nod, often leads to a conversation, then friendship. You don't have to go to the supermarkets to shop. Granted the local butcher is likely to be be a bit more expensive than Tescos or Morrisons, but he'll get to know you and vice versa, and you get a good chat. In terms of monetary cost, while sausages are cheaper in Morrisons than they are in the local butcher, you'll spend more overall because supermarkets are masters of temptation. They are usually located such that you have to use petrol to get there, which of course they tempt you to buy from them by offering a whopping 5p per later (equating to £3 off a full tank of fuel in the average car), and only when you spend £50 or whatever in the shop first.

 

Our pub closed down this year, although we still have the post office.

Still got the smokery and you can buy a £25,000 handmade kitchen should you need one.

 

Clue, that is very intesting re: pubs

On the local news "debate" today, someone pointed out that to buy a can of "Ste!!a" could cost you less than £1 per can (from a supermarket ). The equivalent in a pub would cost you between £3-4 !!! Someone chimed in that in one Country (I think it may be Stockholm, but don't quote me on it - it's been a very drab and weary day for me here) the tax on supermarket alcohol is something like 25%, but the tax on the pub would be nearer 5%!

Now, if *that* were applied here .... think about it. Pubs would become a more welcoming place;thus, small businesses would floursih; landlords would still retain the right to refuse sale on the basis of a person's perceived drunkeness and the tax man would still be quids in!

A far fairer way methinks

 

Hi Fat Controller. sorry I did not Reply earlier ,but I was working Last Night,and this is my first Opportunity to reply. I now live in the Forth Valley. Moved from Glasgow some 40 Years Ago to the Forth Valley to make my Fortune and Retire .

STILL WORKING, STILL NO FORTUNE, STILL NO RETIREMENT..

 

Did I read in the Bible or somewhere? "Go forth and multiply?

So you haven't multiplied, Music? Don't believe all you read, then.

 

Hi Kindred. That's The Problem ,I Have Multiplied Too Much .
I Now Have Grandchildren And Great Grandchildren .
The Multiply I Was Looking For Initially Was Monetary Multiplication.
Now Any Money I Accrue Goes On All These Little Darlings..

But I Would Not Change That For The World ..