Forum Topic

cheap shops taking over the high street

Interesting article in today's Guardian about ealing broadway and west ealing losing  their appeal because they're being taken over by pound shops, betting shops and loan shark shops.www.guardian.co.uk

Ben Owen ● 4848d12 Comments

Look peoples,the world has already changed. The precise (and still not fully realised) inmpact of Westfields on Ealing Broadway was fully known to everyone over 5 years ago.But this is just a local issue. Nationally,the "high Street" as we knew it is dead. You do your shopping on the internet, same as me. The sooner they are put back (yes, put back - look at them properly) to residential the sooner we can then deal with issues like local councils losing a massive portion of their income; and how to deal with distressed landlords trying to come to terms with the fact that things can go down, and not just up for ever...Not to mention...

Nicholas Cullum ● 4844d

Business rates are typically the same as rents.The relevant government department keeps a close eye on this by checking the values of actual rents levied in leases.

Tony Colliver ● 4847d

I too have marvelled at the number of coffee outlets everywhere.What amazes me is just how many of these places seem to manage to survive - indicating that there must be a real demand even though the average number of punters in any given cafe seems to be so woefully few whenever I am passing.

Tony Colliver ● 4847d

It is expensive running a small shop.I was speakin last year to one of the guys on Boston Parade (small shops). His Business Rates were over £5000 plus insurance but energy bills plus refuse collection etc. etc. etc.He said that he had to 'clear' (over £15,000 per year) £300 per week in pure profit before he could take a penny out of the business.

Nigel Brooks ● 4847d

How complex.  Who would be a shop keeper/owner in these difficult financial days?  Good luck to all of them.

Gerry Tan ● 4847d

The stop and shop argument is a complex one. For many who drive along Northfield Avenue they remember something they need to buy (say a loaf, sausages or a bit of cheese), see a parking slot, get in there, buy the article(s) and then they are off. This may be the majority of users.However for this retail strip and probably all the retail strips in Ealing no-one has ever done any comprehensive research of how these parking slots are used and how they might be used if different time durations were employed. For that matter I have never seen any statistics on just how many stop and shops you need to help sustain x number of shops. If we could be confident of that number of Stop and Shop slots really needed for Northfield Avenue one might suggest taking some of the CPZ space in the feeder roads (eg in Green, Graham, Kingsdown and Cambourne Avenues) for stop and shop use. As with all land use issues you have to trade off one need with another need.

Eric Alan Leach ● 4847d

approximate rent for a small premisis, (£15,000 would probably be almost the cheapest rent on northfields) although that is variable a larger shop would pay alot more and there is prime location like near the station which would prob cost more. God only know what they pay for rates on top. (ot to mention insurances etc) so the the traders need to entice customers to come to northfields, parking restrictions do not help them at all.

Marie Shelny ● 4847d

I agree, the "stop and shop" parking in Northfield Ave should be at least an hour long, not 30 mins.What's the £15,000 per annum payment for? Is it rates?

Gerry Tan ● 4847d

Only they are not thriving on  Northfields, avenue because of the new parking restrictions (the stop and shop are not nearly adequate - not enough and half hour is not long enough to visit hairdressers beauticians dentists etc etc), the parking restrictions are severely affecting lots of buisnesses on northfields just ask the traders, who by the way have big problems trying to park there themselves. when/if the rest of northfields get restrictions it could be the begining of the end for them. I do know that the shops on leeland road pay approx the same as northfields approx £15,000 per anum. (smaller units). I would imagine the uxbridge road is more expensive though.

Marie Shelny ● 4847d

Perhaps town centres are doomed without a massive rethink to make them more like peripheral areas such as Northfield Avenue. I assume that rents and rates are much lower there which, along with stop and shop parking, allows small businesses to thrive.

Susan Kelly ● 4848d

I hate the apparent transitory nature of the occupants of a large proportion of Ealing's shopping streets.The combination of landlord inflexibility and crippling Business Rates has meant that only the chains (which make virtually every High Street a clone of every other) and short-term 'pile 'em high, sell 'em cheap' shops on short-term leases are the only only ones able to meet the costs.How many coffee shops and bookies does an area need?Sadly that is all that the average visitor sees but there are some gems buried in amongst the dross often family businesses working hard to survive. I do fear though that, in many cases, the generation now running these places will be the last.

Nigel Brooks ● 4848d

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2013/jan/18/high-street-shops-retailers-revolution?INTCMP=SRCHFull link above. Just read it. I suspect many High Streets are in the same situation as ours but it still hurts.

Diane Gill ● 4848d