Do you remember the good old days before the Ghost Town?

[Richey Edwards]

I used to love going into Ayr town centre and browsing all the shops - Woolworths, the record shops, the video shops, the sweet shops etc. Now the town centre is an empty shell full of empty spaces, pop-up shops and phone repair shops. Independent retail is dead. Family businesses that existed for generations are dead. I once had to write an essay for school about my "favourite place in the world", and I chose Ayr. It used to be an absolutely tremendous place to go for a day out. Now I cannot bear to be there for more than an hour or so, because the decline is so depressing.

What's your local town centre like? Has it suffered the same fate? What were your favourite things about it?

[Shandon Par]

Dunfermline town centre is so sad these days. It was always a physically nice looking place. Lovely buildings, beautiful park, the Abbey, not far to East End. Now it’s shocking how dead it is. 

[velo army]

East Kilbride town centre was always a bit soulless. It's a recent invention of a town after all. Nowadays, however, the front near the bus station is horrifically depressing (boarded up hotel that hasn't looked nice since the 90's) and the rest is just an indoor shopping mall populated by thon American Candy shops, chain coffee shops and charity shops. 

Mingin'.

[G_&_T]

Love The Specials.

 

So many questions. Is it the internet that has killed the high street? Or is it shopping malls? A bit of both? 

With 70% of pubs and restaurants forecast to close, it will be interesting to see what will become of them.

[Florentine_Pogen]

Princes St. in Edinburgh, which really should be one of the world's premier shopping streets given it's situation and outlook, is a dusty carapace of it's former self, with Woolies long gone, Jenners gone, Binns (House of Fraser) gone, Debenhams gone, Littlewoods gone, BHS gone............................

The only saving grace amongst the phone shops, candy shops, burger joints, Ann Summers and a raft of empty units/To Let signs, is a very decent M&S.

[HeartsOfficialMoaner]

All the shops should be closed on Princes Street so that hotels can take over the place with casinos and strip bars and night clubs.

[Richey Edwards]

13 minutes ago, G_&_T said:

Love The Specials.

 

So many questions. Is it the internet that has killed the high street? Or is it shopping malls? A bit of both? 

With 70% of pubs and restaurants forecast to close, it will be interesting to see what will become of them.

Online shopping, big supermarkets and shopping malls have all contributed to the death of the high street.

Even prior to that, big nationwide retail chains killed the small independent and family-run businesses. These were people who were working for decades to make their living, but consumers would rather boost the coffers of multi-billion pound companies who pay their workers minimum wage. A shame really.

[Silvio Tattiescone]

32 minutes ago, HeartsOfficialMoaner said:

All the shops should be closed on Princes Street so that hotels can take over the place with casinos and strip bars and night clubs.

Edinburgh Councillor's heads would explode

[TxRover]

14 minutes ago, Richey Edwards said:

Online shopping, big supermarkets and shopping malls have all contributed to the death of the high street.

Even prior to that, big nationwide retail chains killed the small independent and family-run businesses. These were people who were working for decades to make their living, but consumers would rather boost the coffers of multi-billion pound companies who pay their workers minimum wage. A shame really.

It’s not even just the High Street, even in the God forsaken Suffolk town I spent a good bit of time growing up in, you had good little corner stores, a few rows of shops and the Main Street, compete with Tuttles and Hannants (in a horribly crowded four story fire trap that was magical for kids).

Visiting Kirkcaldy, the High Street was a hive of activity, the little Victoria Arcade, the Mercat, a Menzies, BHS, etc. It’s been years since I strolled along the High a street in either place, but a quick Google Images/Maps trip shows me it’s gone, done…as are most of the little corner post stores and such…and the bakers…and so on.

It’s not that it was automatically better “back then”, cause you were liable to get the hell knocked out of you some days if you had the wrong colours on, but todays shopping seems much more sterile and prepackaged…and, oh so generic!

[Florentine_Pogen]

35 minutes ago, HeartsOfficialMoaner said:

All the shops should be closed on Princes Street so that hotels can take over the place with casinos and strip bars and night clubs.

Don't forget the 'Streetwalker Zone' in front of the Caley Hotel and the 'Safe ShootUp Zone' in Princes St. Gardens.

[HeartsOfficialMoaner]

23 minutes ago, Newbornbairn said:

Edinburgh Councillor's heads would explode

 

19 minutes ago, Florentine_Pogen said:

Don't forget the 'Streetwalker Zone' in front of the Caley Hotel and the 'Safe ShootUp Zone' in Princes St. Gardens.

[carpetmonster]

1 hour ago, HeartsOfficialMoaner said:

All the shops should be closed on Princes Street so that hotels can take over the place with casinos and strip bars and night clubs.

I'd be in favour. Loved living in Edinburgh as you can get around on your bike and explore the place, away from the tourists and bawbags. Newhaven round to Cramond along the shoreline and then back up into Leith for a panini at the wee Sicilian bakery at the back of Easter Road; magic. I hate visiting because you're on the train (f**k taking a car into Edinburgh) and it's much more of a schlep to get to the fun bits and you need to navigate the bawbags and tourists to do so. 

33 minutes ago, Newbornbairn said:

Edinburgh Councillor's heads would explode

Would be in favour based solely on this also, TBF. 

[Scary Bear]

1 hour ago, HeartsOfficialMoaner said:

All the shops should be closed on Princes Street so that hotels can take over the place with casinos and strip bars and night clubs.

It’s like that lads nightmare in It’s A Wonderful Life.

[BFTD]

For the first time in years, I was around some busy shopping areas over the past few days.

As shite as it is that people's businesses have been gradually worn away by department stores, shopping malls, out-of-town retail parks, the internet, and multinational corporations using their profits to avoid paying tax and killing entire industries in the process, occasionally it's good to get a reminder that in-person shopping was fucking awful, and no amount of nostalgia will change that.

Also, where do all the morons come from at this time of year? The ones who slowly drift around like George Romero's mall zombies, not a fucking care in the world and seemingly nowhere else they need to be. Do we keep them in homes for the rest of the year?

[alta-pete]

1 hour ago, carpetmonster said:

I'd be in favour. Loved living in Edinburgh as you can get around on your bike and explore the place, away from the tourists and bawbags. Newhaven round to Cramond along the shoreline and then back up into Leith for a panini at the wee Sicilian bakery at the back of Easter Road; magic. I hate visiting because you're on the train (f**k taking a car into Edinburgh) and it's much more of a schlep to get to the fun bits and you need to navigate the bawbags and tourists to do so. 

Would be in favour based solely on this also, TBF. 

 

[Silvio Tattiescone]

1 hour ago, alta-pete said:

 

TBF, that Sicilian bakery used to be very, very good. 

[carpetmonster]

13 minutes ago, Newbornbairn said:

TBF, that Sicilian bakery used to be very, very good. 

Is it away?

[Silvio Tattiescone]

6 minutes ago, carpetmonster said:

Is it away?

Dunno, I haven't been round that way in years 

[HeartsOfficialMoaner]

9 minutes ago, carpetmonster said:

Is it away?

No. 

A busy place still.

[carpetmonster]

1 minute ago, HeartsOfficialMoaner said:

No. 

A busy place still.

Excellent, their omelette paninis were a fantastic hangover fixer. Not that I could afford to get pished in Edinburgh these days, likely.