Whitebirk (Again!)

[Guinness]

Finally it seems our councillors have seen sense....

Controversial store at Whitebirk retail park will be outlet for discount chain Aldi (From Lancashire Telegraph)

Controversial retail park supermarket plans 'could be subject to judicial review' - Accrington Observer

Most of us posted months ago that the majority of trade that would be affected by a shopping centre here would be in Blackburn....and it's telling that the main objections here come from....wait for it...Blackburn!

Apparently, we also have the hyndburn board of trade halfwit stating that only car drivers would have access, without even considering that if there was a need any enterprising bus company with half a brain would create a service and could probably negotiate a subsidised deal from Peel for a few years. (I would like his overpaid job because he so very obviously has an underused brain)

[Margaret Pilkington]

Spot on Guinness. They are improving(or that is the intention... Can't see much improvement right now) the road network between Accrington and Blackburn as part of the Pennine Reach. Surely it would make sense for some of the routes to go via the Whitebirk Retail area. It would give shoppers more choice about whe re they want to spend their money.

[Neil]

Originally Posted by Margaret Pilkington

Spot on Guinness. They are improving(or that is the intention... Can't see much improvement right now) the road network between Accrington and Blackburn as part of the Pennine Reach. Surely it would make sense for some of the routes to go via the Whitebirk Retail area. It would give shoppers more choice about where they want to spend their money.

Do you mean by bus because it couldn't be much easier to get to by car?

[Margaret Pilkington]

Yes, Neil.
There is no problem for car drivers.
Guinness was saying that the Hyndburn member for trade noted that this development would only be accessible to car owners.

[accyman]

Originally Posted by Margaret Pilkington

Yes, Neil.
There is no problem for car drivers.
Guinness was saying that the Hyndburn member for trade noted that this development would only be accessible to car owners.

dont worry im sure the council will rectify this oversight and make sure that everyone is diverted or encouraged away from town center

[Guinness]

Originally Posted by accyman

dont worry im sure the council will rectify this oversight and make sure that everyone is diverted or encouraged away from town center

*sigh*

Why is that a bad thing?

What is so important about a ‘high street’ or a ‘town centre’?

Times have changed...gone are the days of lugging brown carrier bags with string cutting off the blood supply to your fingers. Full buses at 9am on Saturday mornings with the little woman ‘traipsing’ round the butchers, bakers and candlestick makers. Looking through swatch books of wallpaper making an order and waiting for a week or so for delivery (and having to ‘piece up’ because you screwed up with the number of rolls you really needed). Having a choice of three or four ovens in the Electric showroom, renting crappy TV’s at exorbitant prices. Actually needing to go into a bank to withdraw or deposit money. Going into a travel agent to get brochures with pictures of hotels and ultimately paying them to make a booking on my behalf…..all gone!

I’m a bloke and I hate clothes shopping, but I detested Burtons, Greenwoods etc…dingy poorly lit shops with dark oak cabinets and drawers, same with shoe shops, I don’t need some guy shoving a piece of wood against my toes to measure my foot size and I can quite easily try on a pair of shoes by myself.

I, and I guess many others, want to park close to the shops, transfer from supermarket trolley to boot, I want to browse lots of ovens, carpets and wallpapers. I want clothes and shoe stores that are light and airy where I can browse and choose and I don’t need some obsequious hand wringing muppet to help me.

I want to do my shopping in comfortable surroundings, and if possible I want to be able to throw it in the back of the car.

And good specialist shops will survive…because if you are selling something that people want it don’t matter where you are based.

And finally, in all the shopping outlets I’ve been to, from Gretna Green to St Austell...I have never been asked for a fag, money for a cup of coffee or felt threatened and benches have been full of shoppers not drunks and smackheads!

[Margaret Pilkington]

The way things are going in Accrington, the town centre will be a ghost town.

What has to be remembered though is not everyone has a car, or access to one.
Not everyone is glued to the Internet, or has a smartphone.

I received my letter yesterday about the closure of the Accrington branch of the Yorkshire Bank.
In the letter was a leaflet about telephone banking and internet banking.
This bank still has customers that are in their eighties........they do not find telephone banking or Internet banking easy or convenient.
Yes, they are a minority, but they still want to be able to have this service.

Out of town shopping parks are fine and dandy if you have transport, they are not much good if you haven't.
It would be advantageous to these retail parks for them to fund bus services.....or at least subsidise services.
That way they tap into a seam of customers that would find their outlets out of bounds purely because they can't get there.

I don't mind an occasional visit to shopping outlets, but they have very little character, no soul and in my opinion can be pricey(because they have wiped out the competition from the town centre - once you do that you can charge what you like).

[cashman]

Thing is, is usually those that can access things easily,that have NO concept of how it is from those who can't. its mainly part of the society Thatcher created imho.

[Margaret Pilkington]

You mean that those who consider themselves 'elite' don't know how the plebs live?
Even those who used to be plebs, but have become (in their own eyes) part of the elite forget what an ordinary life is like.
Cashy, it has always, always been like this.....and it started way before the Thatcher Era.

[Margaret Pilkington]

There will always be those who 'have' and consider themselves above those who 'have not'.

History is littered with their stories. People who just want a chance to have better homes, better jobs, a life that is not all drudge.
I can't see it changing anytime soon because those who 'have' care little for those who 'have not'.
Maybe they should walk a mile in each other's shoes.