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

[Soapy FFC]

10 hours ago, alta-pete said:

Mid 80s and every town centre of a certain size was developing a covered shopping mall. The Council got involved with a JV to develop Callendar Square. 

In a moment of WTAF were they thinking? the Council then also granted a Planning Permission (PP) to develop the Howgate Centre. The Howgate Centre developers (being considerably more commercial and less bogged down by being involved with the Council in a JV) got on with things, built their scheme and hoovered up all the available retailers to take space.

Callendar Square was completed years late, anchored by only (I think) a BHS it just couldn’t find any retailers wanting representation in the town that weren’t already there. It has never been above 50% occupancy. 

Then the 90s turned up and out of town shopping took off. The Council granted PP for Central Retail Park and all the bulky goods retailers went there.

Then in the 00s they relaxed the PP to allow any retail on the park and it sucked the life out of the Howgate and the High Street. 

It happens all over but for the sheer transparency of how by toppling one domino it takes out a much larger one you could write a phd thesis on just how spectacularly both Central Region and then Falkirk Council have mismanaged their domain. 

I can remember the original outdoor shopping centre that was there before Callendar Square. 50 or so years ago, the biggest shops I can remember were Goldbergs and Templetons, although I also remember a Currys (or maybe it was a Dixons) and a Radio Rentals (where we used to rent our TV from).

Edited December 31, 2022 by Soapy FFC

[pozbaird]

6 hours ago, The DA said:

Aye, but did you buy anything?

Bought a Scotland coffee mug and a Juventus key ring from the football shop, and some chocolates from the shop in Abbot House.

[Scary Bear]

On 24/12/2022 at 17:30, Richey Edwards said:

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?

A demolished shopping centre and a nice mural that some locals have vandalised. Not sure Kath Duncan would want to be remembered this way, but I do admire the tartan colour scheme. I also like that all eyes are on Kath trying to get an enormous cock in her moof while a much more handsome than reality Gordon Brown smiles at the scene.

Communist Kath the cock sucker.

Edited May 30, 2023 by Scary Bear

[btb]

On 24/12/2022 at 18:40, Newbornbairn said:

On 24/12/2022 at 18:07, 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

But their wallets would bulge!

[beefybake]

When I was a kid in the early '60's, my family lived in Milngavie , just outside Glasgow.  For major household purchases

there would be an expedition into the city.  The go to place was Lewis's department store in Argyll St.  I well remember all those

(seeming ) hours being dragged around the various floors as choosing minds were made up, then changed, and finally it was

time for lunch..  The cafe restaurant on the top floor ( as I recall ) was great. Fish and chips brilliant.

 

Another big department store was Coplands in Sauchiehall St..  Not a regular destination for the family, but around 1970 I did buy some

stuff there when I went in on my own.  As my clothing choices were more on the lines of John Lennon glasses, purple loon pants, 

tee shirts etc, Coplands wasn't really my style.  But I needed some socks.  For payment, they had a marvelous system.

You'd give your money to the counter assistant. She, always a she, would put the money and receipt, into a cylindrical capsule.

She'd then put the capsule into a system of pipes that whooshed the capsule up to the accounts dept.  They'd mark up the sale, put

whatever change was due into the capsule along with receipt, and it would all whoosh back down to the counter. It was wonderful.

All done by vacuum.

 

Elon Musk, and his Hyperloop, definitely did not get there first.

 

 

 

 

Edited May 30, 2023 by beefybake

[Boghead ranter]

35 minutes ago, beefybake said:

.  For payment, they had a marvelous system.

You'd give your money to the counter assistant. She, always a she, would put the money and receipt, into a cylindrical capsule.

She'd then put the capsule into a system of pipes that whooshed the capsule up to the accounts dept.  They'd mark up the sale, put

whatever change was due into the capsule along with receipt, and it would all whoosh back down to the counter. It was wonderful.

All done by vacuum.

 

Elon Musk, and his Hyperloop, definitely did not get there first.

The Co-op on Dumbarton High St also had this engineering wonder.

[Musketeer Gripweed]

I see they are knocking down the St Enoch shopping centre. A horrible monstrosity that won't be missed by many.

But, it's wher I served my time as a surveyor with Balfour Beatty. Was my first real job and I spent about 4 years of my life working there seven days a week. I made so many great memories at that place.

You'll be lucky if I was in it more than half a dozen times since it actually opened though. Shitehole.

I was transferred to Parkhead Forge after working at the square. That is bound to be next to go.

Makes me feel old though.

[Bert Raccoon]

24 minutes ago, Musketeer Gripweed said:

I see they are knocking down the St Enoch shopping centre. A horrible monstrosity that won't be missed by many.

But, it's wher I served my time as a surveyor with Balfour Beatty. Was my first real job and I spent about 4 years of my life working there seven days a week. I made so many great memories at that place.

You'll be lucky if I was in it more than half a dozen times since it actually opened though. Shitehole.

I was transferred to Parkhead Forge after working at the square. That is bound to be next to go.

Makes me feel old though.

Not surprising with the way high streets are going but seems odd considering they've just opened a cinema etc.. inside 

[Musketeer Gripweed]

1 minute ago, Bert Raccoon said:

Not surprising with the way high streets are going but seems odd considering they've just opened a cinema etc.. inside 

I read it was a phased demolition, so I reckon the new bits will be kept for a while. The plan was new hotels, flats and shops I read.

Personally, I don't frequent that bit of the city as I used to. Used to love Argyle Street, but it has just got worse as the years have gone on. The only reason to go down there for me now is HMV and even that is a bit shit now.

Mind you, I am old enough to remember Sauchiehall Street being a good place to visit.

[BFTD]

2 hours ago, beefybake said:

When I was a kid in the early '60's, my family lived in Milngavie , just outside Glasgow.  For major household purchases

there would be an expedition into the city.  The go to place was Lewis's department store in Argyll St.  I well remember all those

(seeming ) hours being dragged around the various floors as choosing minds were made up, then changed, and finally it was

time for lunch..  The cafe restaurant on the top floor ( as I recall ) was great. Fish and chips brilliant.

 

Another big department store was Coplands in Sauchiehall St..  Not a regular destination for the family, but around 1970 I did buy some

stuff there when I went in on my own.  As my clothing choices were more on the lines of John Lennon glasses, purple loon pants, 

tee shirts etc, Coplands wasn't really my style.  But I needed some socks.  For payment, they had a marvelous system.

You'd give your money to the counter assistant. She, always a she, would put the money and receipt, into a cylindrical capsule.

She'd then put the capsule into a system of pipes that whooshed the capsule up to the accounts dept.  They'd mark up the sale, put

whatever change was due into the capsule along with receipt, and it would all whoosh back down to the counter. It was wonderful.

All done by vacuum.

 

Elon Musk, and his Hyperloop, definitely did not get there first.

I remember hearing about the vacuum tubes in shops, but they seemed to be gone by the time I was a kid in the Eighties. Wasn't there some apocryphal tale about someone putting something untoward in the pipes, with it being sucked throughout the whole system and fucking it up?

I was surprised to see vacuum tubes operating at Wells Fargo drive-thru banks in the US in the 2000s. You drove up to a wee box with an intercom, told them you wanted to make a deposit (for example), and they'd send you through a capsule. You put in your cash/cheques and a paying-in slip/ATM card, put your capsule back in the tube, and it'd zip back into the branch. After a few minutes, the capsule would return with a receipt and/or your card.

It did rather strike me as indicative of the laziness of people in cars. There were usually about 8-10 cars queueing for the drive-thru terminals, but you could normally park at the front door and walk straight up to the counter.

[tamthebam]

They still had vacuum tubes in Jenner's when I was a lad. Quite fascinating.

Now Jenner's is just owned by a vacuous tube (Mike Ghastly)

[Boo Khaki]

Place at the junction of Victoria Road and Hilltown in Dundee had the vacuum tubes thingy when I was a nipper, and aye, it was fascinating. Cannae mind the name of the business, but it was a typical clothes shop of the era, with pre-packaged school shirts and so on in individual drawers according to size, and an assistant with a tape measure around their neck.

Edited May 31, 2023 by Boo Khaki

[Sergeant Wilson]

Watt Brothers in Glasgow had them, so did Orr's in Airdrie. Old fashioned shiteholes, now closed.

[hk blues]

7 minutes ago, Boo Khaki said:

Place at the junction of Victoria Road and Hilltown in Dundee had the vacuum tubes thingy when I was a nipper, and aye, it was fascinating. Cannae mind the name of the business, but it was a typical clothes shop of the era, with pre-packaged school shirts and so on in individual drawers according to size, and an assistant with a tape measure around their neck.

McGill's.  My old man and old dear had an account their so the McGill's collector used to come on a Friday to collect.

[Boo Khaki]

1 hour ago, hk blues said:

McGill's.  My old man and old dear had an account their so the McGill's collector used to come on a Friday to collect.

That's it. 

Department store on the Wellgate side of the road, with the Sports department across the street on the corner. 

Also remember it being a thrill to go to the Littlewoods cafe in the Overgate because there was a conveyor belt you put your tray on when your were finished, and you could watch it go all the way around the hall before it disappeared through a hole in the wall to the backroom area 

And the ancient arcade underneath the Caird Hall that would have been at the Bus terminus at one point (gone by the time I was there). Remember it being staffed by geriatrics and stuffed full of amazing auld slot-machines, bagatelle etc that must have been pre-war at least.

Walking into Dens Road market and being hit with the reek of Pea Busters. Nothing comes close to an authentic Dundee style Pea Buster. I've never found anywhere that does them anything like the amazing thing I remember from my childhood.

Edited May 31, 2023 by Boo Khaki

[hk blues]

13 minutes ago, Boo Khaki said:

That's it. 

Department store on the Wellgate side of the road, with the Sports department across the street on the corner. 

Also remember it being a thrill to go to the Littlewoods cafe in the Overgate because there was a conveyor belt you put your tray on when your were finished, and you could watch it go all the way around the hall before it disappeared through a hole in the wall to the backroom area 

And the ancient arcade underneath the Caird Hall that would have been at the Bus terminus at one point (gone by the time I was there). Remember it being staffed by geriatrics and stuffed full of amazing auld slot-machines, bagatelle etc that must have been pre-war at least.

Walking into Dens Road market and being hit with the reek of Pea Busters. Nothing comes close to an authentic Dundee style Pea Buster. I've never found anywhere that does them anything like the amazing thing I remember from my childhood.

Draffens was another high-end department store when I was a bairn - later became part of Debenhams. 

[Zen Archer (Raconteur)]

13 hours ago, BTFD said:

I remember hearing about the vacuum tubes in shops, but they seemed to be gone by the time I was a kid in the Eighties.

Get along to your local Asda, the conveyor tills with operators have them.

On a similar note, there was a shop in St Clair Street, Kirkcaldy that had a catenary wire system.

This was a series of wires between the sales and cahier points, when a sale was made your money flew on a tray to the cashier and change and receipt was returned.

[TxRover]

15 hours ago, BTFD said:

I remember hearing about the vacuum tubes in shops, but they seemed to be gone by the time I was a kid in the Eighties. Wasn't there some apocryphal tale about someone putting something untoward in the pipes, with it being sucked throughout the whole system and fucking it up?

I was surprised to see vacuum tubes operating at Wells Fargo drive-thru banks in the US in the 2000s. You drove up to a wee box with an intercom, told them you wanted to make a deposit (for example), and they'd send you through a capsule. You put in your cash/cheques and a paying-in slip/ATM card, put your capsule back in the tube, and it'd zip back into the branch. After a few minutes, the capsule would return with a receipt and/or your card.

It did rather strike me as indicative of the laziness of people in cars. There were usually about 8-10 cars queueing for the drive-thru terminals, but you could normally park at the front door and walk straight up to the counter.

Still operational all over the U.S. at banks, credit unions, and some pharmacies. It’s simply a multiplier, and allows them to offer two or four drive-thru lanes in place of one, reducing the size of the individual lines while not really impacting the delays. The drive-thru is often open for a hour before or after the lobby opens/closes.

I did see an amazing take on this system at a McDonalds in Boston. Due to the configuration of the lot and streets (one-way on two sides) it was on, it was impossible to have a conventional drive-thru at this location. So they had a remote booth to serve the drive-thru customers, fitted with an overhead conveyer that carried the food out to the booth from the main building, and also had tubes to supply the drink machine in the booth. Apparently they have had several like this over the years.

[Cosmic Joe]

1 hour ago, TxRover said:

Still operational all over the U.S. at banks, credit unions, and some pharmacies. It’s simply a multiplier, and allows them to offer two or four drive-thru lanes in place of one, reducing the size of the individual lines while not really impacting the delays. The drive-thru is often open for a hour before or after the lobby opens/closes.

I did see an amazing take on this system at a McDonalds in Boston. Due to the configuration of the lot and streets (one-way on two sides) it was on, it was impossible to have a conventional drive-thru at this location. So they had a remote booth to serve the drive-thru customers, fitted with an overhead conveyer that carried the food out to the booth from the main building, and also had tubes to supply the drink machine in the booth. Apparently they have had several like this over the years.

These multi-laned drive throughs cannot be good for the environment. 

[TxRover]

3 minutes ago, Cosmic Joe said:

These multi-laned drive throughs cannot be good for the environment. 

The American sub-urban sprawl, with its lack of mass transit isn’t either…a match made in heaven, and it explains the love of overstuffed car seats in ‘Merica.