Dress windows in empty shops ‘to save town centre’ (From Southend Standard)

Nigel Holdcroft said: “We are looking at all ways of keeping the High Street as a busy and prosperous area"

Nigel, what you would be doing there is FOOLING everybody into thinking it was a busy high street.

Whats next?
Mannequins posing a shoppers, fake cars in car parks?

I suppose we could have mannequins acting as councilors, they'd probably do a better job!

What you need to do nigel is stop the root cause of the problem which is your council and its ridiculous bureacracy, sky high rent for local business, table and chair taxes, adboard charges, etc.

You need to make it a priority that existing businesses dont continue to bail out of the high st.

What help are you giving them?

None i presume!

...and stop letting so many 'poundshop' or '99p store' type shops in to the town! Its becoming a bit 'cheap' round here...

Peter Pantsless wrote:
Nigel Holdcroft said: “We are looking at all ways of keeping the High Street as a busy and prosperous area" Nigel, what you would be doing there is FOOLING everybody into thinking it was a busy high street. Whats next? Mannequins posing a shoppers, fake cars in car parks? I suppose we could have mannequins acting as councilors, they'd probably do a better job! What you need to do nigel is stop the root cause of the problem which is your council and its ridiculous bureacracy, sky high rent for local business, table and chair taxes, adboard charges, etc. You need to make it a priority that existing businesses dont continue to bail out of the high st. What help are you giving them? None i presume!

There's not a lot the council can do about rents - they're determined by the market, meaning greedy landlords and agents. Business rates are collected by the council on behalf of central government. What do you suggest the council can actually do?

Why not charge a "Boarding up Tax" and a "Left Blank Tax" That might do the Job or persuade the Landlords to go down on the Rents.

"Why not charge a "Boarding up Tax" and a "Left Blank Tax" That might do the Job or persuade the Landlords to go down on the Rents."

sounds an interesting avenue of investigation...
maybe, if any shop is left 'unrented' for 90 days, an empty business premises tax plus extra duration penalties should apply...
either rent it out sensibly or pay an ongoing penalty for holding out due to greed..
Lets face it, the government would at the least gain a tidy sum, if all shops were in made to be full use, one way or another..

Shops simply being left empty through greed don't just affect themselves, they will only succeed in killing off remaining shops in their vicinity, leading to a ghost town, now thats a terrible price us to end with..

Who needs a re-run of the death of Laindon Shopping Center....

sav its is not leigh broadway ,to my knowledge there is only one pound shop and 99p shopin the town .Can i suggest you visit the high street firstbefore making incorrect remarks

Peter Pantsless wrote:
Nigel Holdcroft said: “We are looking at all ways of keeping the High Street as a busy and prosperous area"

Nigel, what you would be doing there is FOOLING everybody into thinking it was a busy high street.

Whats next?
Mannequins posing a shoppers, fake cars in car parks?

I suppose we could have mannequins acting as councilors, they'd probably do a better job!

What you need to do nigel is stop the root cause of the problem which is your council and its ridiculous bureacracy, sky high rent for local business, table and chair taxes, adboard charges, etc.

You need to make it a priority that existing businesses dont continue to bail out of the high st.

What help are you giving them?

None i presume!

Now I can usually read your repetitive, tedious tripe and simply pass it off with a smirk and a roll of the eyes, but you seem more deluded than usual this time.

Particularly with "stop the root cause of the problem".

I don't know if you've ever ventured beyond the confines of this town, but the problem is mirrored up and down the country with high streets featuring empty units all over the country.

Woolworths closed nationally, Barratts closed nationally, Zavvi closed... wait for it... NATIONALLY!

The root cause of the problem is the state of the economy, and the previously complacent, financially unviable chains and naff independents are going under, leaving units empty. Fledgling businesses won't take a chance in the current market, so they stay empty.

If the council want to tart up the shop windows to make it look better, then why not. It's something I don't see done in other towns that have an equal amount of sad looking empty shops.

x2k wrote:

Peter Pantsless wrote: Nigel Holdcroft said: “We are looking at all ways of keeping the High Street as a busy and prosperous area" Nigel, what you would be doing there is FOOLING everybody into thinking it was a busy high street. Whats next? Mannequins posing a shoppers, fake cars in car parks? I suppose we could have mannequins acting as councilors, they'd probably do a better job! What you need to do nigel is stop the root cause of the problem which is your council and its ridiculous bureacracy, sky high rent for local business, table and chair taxes, adboard charges, etc. You need to make it a priority that existing businesses dont continue to bail out of the high st. What help are you giving them? None i presume!

Now I can usually read your repetitive, tedious tripe and simply pass it off with a smirk and a roll of the eyes, but you seem more deluded than usual this time. Particularly with "stop the root cause of the problem". I don't know if you've ever ventured beyond the confines of this town, but the problem is mirrored up and down the country with high streets featuring empty units all over the country. Woolworths closed nationally, Barratts closed nationally, Zavvi closed... wait for it... NATIONALLY! The root cause of the problem is the state of the economy, and the previously complacent, financially unviable chains and naff independents are going under, leaving units empty. Fledgling businesses won't take a chance in the current market, so they stay empty. If the council want to tart up the shop windows to make it look better, then why not. It's something I don't see done in other towns that have an equal amount of sad looking empty shops.

If that is what you believe then so be it in southend. if you read the echo you would know the friction between council and traders. i suggest you talk to thosepeople that want to sell up. but letting the Arty F@rtys take over is not going to help.

x2k wrote:

Peter Pantsless wrote: Nigel Holdcroft said: “We are looking at all ways of keeping the High Street as a busy and prosperous area" Nigel, what you would be doing there is FOOLING everybody into thinking it was a busy high street. Whats next? Mannequins posing a shoppers, fake cars in car parks? I suppose we could have mannequins acting as councilors, they'd probably do a better job! What you need to do nigel is stop the root cause of the problem which is your council and its ridiculous bureacracy, sky high rent for local business, table and chair taxes, adboard charges, etc. You need to make it a priority that existing businesses dont continue to bail out of the high st. What help are you giving them? None i presume!

Now I can usually read your repetitive, tedious tripe and simply pass it off with a smirk and a roll of the eyes, but you seem more deluded than usual this time. Particularly with "stop the root cause of the problem". I don't know if you've ever ventured beyond the confines of this town, but the problem is mirrored up and down the country with high streets featuring empty units all over the country. Woolworths closed nationally, Barratts closed nationally, Zavvi closed... wait for it... NATIONALLY! The root cause of the problem is the state of the economy, and the previously complacent, financially unviable chains and naff independents are going under, leaving units empty. Fledgling businesses won't take a chance in the current market, so they stay empty. If the council want to tart up the shop windows to make it look better, then why not. It's something I don't see done in other towns that have an equal amount of sad looking empty shops.

If that is what you believe then so be it in southend. if you read the echo you would know the friction between council and traders. i suggest you talk to thosepeople that want to sell up. but letting the Arty F@rtys take over is not going to help.

I've read of the friction between traders and the council and agree the extra board/table/chair charges are ridiculous & unacceptable, but they're not the spiralling costs that would send a business under.

From this article I've understood that it won't be "artsy fartsys" taking over empty units, but just static displays placed in empty windows to make it look less grim.

Non-one will want to invest in a dilapidated looking shop.

why do the lights need to be left on in these empty units? It's a waste of money and an environmental disaster.

why dont the council use existing empty property legislation to buy these units then (wait for it) let them out at low cost under a regeneration program! oh wait a minuet thats common sense. Whats is more it involves actual work by the lost and pointless council. oh well.