Jan Higgins
- Location: Dover
- Registered: 5 Jul 2010
- Posts: 13,803
Good news.
Today they have been moving the gym from the old sorting office into the old Sainsbury building, so I expect it will be open very soon. Monday has been mentioned but that is by no means a definite only rumour.
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I try to be neutral and polite but it is hard and getting even more difficult at times.
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Sue Nicholas- Location: river
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 6,018
I’m pleased they have found new premises .I know the person who runs it.
Keith Sansum1
- Location: london
- Registered: 25 Aug 2010
- Posts: 23,860
seems a lot of gyms about(and bert's lol)
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Captain Haddock
- Location: Marlinspike Hall
- Registered: 8 Oct 2012
- Posts: 7,939
From the FT:-
Back in the long, hot summer of 2018, when Futureville lost the Edwardian-era department store that had been the flagship of its typically British high street for decades, things looked bleak. Several big chain stores had already closed. Online retailing was draining the lifeblood from many that remained. Discount shops, charity shops and boarded-up stores seemed the only ones that were multiplying.
A dozen years later, Futureville is bustling again. The town dwellers — and many live on the high street once more — stroll from new apartments to modern co-working spaces, the micro-cinema and craft brewery, the gym and wellness centre, and varied attractions that make up the high street of 2030. In 2018, many said it could not be done.
The local council proved them wrong. It hired a town manager who put together an imaginative and entrepreneurial team to rethink the main street. With the UK estimated even then to have up to 40 per cent too much retail space, they knew many shops were never coming back. Their mission was to turn the town centre into a modern take on the more diverse environment it had once been — before retailing expanded to squeeze out almost everything else.
They had two guiding principles. The high street had to offer a mixture of retailing, entertainment, culture and wellbeing. It had to focus on physical services, experiences, and social interactions that the internet, even with advances in virtual reality, could not provide. Like most British towns, Futureville had a severe housing shortage. With little greenbelt land available, turning some vacant town centre space into housing made sense.
Central government helped too. It rewrote restrictive planning rules to make change of use easier. Its comprehensive 2020 reform of the outdated business rates system was a turning point. A new retail tax ensured all retailers — including big multinational online sellers — contributed fairly to financing urban regeneration.
Futureville 2030 is, of course, a fiction. Some might call it fanciful. It is, however, not an implausible vision. Towns in Britain — and elsewhere — are already trying elements of it. Achieving anything like it will require creative thinking by businesses and government; it cannot be left entirely to the market. But, even as ever more retail chains close, there is no reason high streets have to become ghost towns.
The local authority used its powers to borrow cheaply and compulsorily purchase the old department store building. In partnership with a developer, it turned the ground floor into a space for cafés and street food, and the rest into apartments and a roof garden. Some residential space was designed specially for retirees, who now feel less isolated living by the amenities and rub along happily with younger residents.
There is still retail, but less. Some stores are geared to convenience — items locals need immediately. Others focus on the customer experience. A couple of book lovers, and a wine enthusiast, opened shops where staff pride themselves on having personal recommendations for anyone. Two online clothing retailers opened showrooms where shoppers can consult stylists, pick up items bought online and try them on, and get them altered by on-site tailors. The need for shops to hold and manage lots of stock has gone.
The resulting decline of big-van deliveries has reduced traffic, pollution and noise, and made the high street a more pleasant place to live. So has the shift to electric and driverless shared cars. The ugly, 1970s multistorey car park (*) has been demolished to make way for an all-weather tennis centre.
(*) N.B. DDC! Just saying. ;-)
"We are living in very strange times, and they are likely to get a lot stranger before we bottom out"
Dr. Hunter S Thompson
Keith Sansum1- Location: london
- Registered: 25 Aug 2010
- Posts: 23,860
just a bit of joined up thinking,,,,,,,,
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howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
A tattooist has opened near the physiotherapist in the High Street nearly opposite the Charlton Centre.
Keith Sansum1- Location: london
- Registered: 25 Aug 2010
- Posts: 23,860
we haveto look at the positives
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Guest 1467- Registered: 30 Jan 2015
- Posts: 149
howard mcsweeney1 wrote:A tattooist has opened near the physiotherapist in the High Street nearly opposite the Charlton Centre.
I understand , rather like the Gym, it is not an new one, but an established one from London Rd that has moved further down. It's great to see that even that area of the town is gaining momentum again.
Keith Sansum1- Location: london
- Registered: 25 Aug 2010
- Posts: 23,860
yes and where a town centre should start/finish
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howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
The sooner B & M move into the former M & S building the better as doorways at the front and side have been colonised by our thirsty friends who don't always behave perfectly.
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
Reginald Barrington
- Location: Dover
- Registered: 17 Dec 2014
- Posts: 3,231
Would that be a tax on Amazon or a tax on the public,
Headline: Brits punished for companies success!
Arte et Marte
Captain Haddock- Location: Marlinspike Hall
- Registered: 8 Oct 2012
- Posts: 7,939
Reginald Barrington wrote:Would that be a tax on Amazon or a tax on the public,
Headline: Brits punished for companies success!
Online deals often much cheaper than buying in store, e.g. second hand books on Amazon. Makes all the difference if you're on a lower income. If Gov. introduces a TechTax this will simply put up prices. Fine if you're well off but impact harshly felt if you have less ££ to spare.
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"We are living in very strange times, and they are likely to get a lot stranger before we bottom out"
Dr. Hunter S Thompson
Jan Higgins- Location: Dover
- Registered: 5 Jul 2010
- Posts: 13,803
Captain Haddock wrote:Online deals often much cheaper than buying in store, e.g. second hand books on Amazon. Makes all the difference if you're on a lower income. If Gov. introduces a TechTax this will simply put up prices. Fine if you're well off but impact harshly felt if you have less ££ to spare.
Cheaper still if you use a charity shop like our local Age Concern, last time I looked 50p for hardbacks.
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I try to be neutral and polite but it is hard and getting even more difficult at times.
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Reginald Barrington- Location: Dover
- Registered: 17 Dec 2014
- Posts: 3,231
Jan Higgins wrote:Cheaper still if you use a charity shop like our local Age Concern, last time I looked 50p for hardbacks.
I've asked Jan but they just won't put pictures of stock online and drop them through my letterbox the next day, I blame that Pam woman! But I agree, also scope shop are 3 for a pound.
Don't think it will help the high street much though, even with a tax it will still be cheaper and more convenient online and the public will effectively have a tax increase.
Jan Higgins likes this
Arte et Marte
Keith Sansum1- Location: london
- Registered: 25 Aug 2010
- Posts: 23,860
On line is one of the reasons for our missing town centre
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howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
I have often wondered why bookmakers are not targeted as they make huge profits in town centre shops but are based in tax havens. Just say to them if you want to trade here then pay Corporation tax here, otherwise we won't allow you to trade.
Paul Watkins- Location: Dover
- Registered: 9 Nov 2011
- Posts: 2,226
But they do pay High St rent & business rates Howard. Of course they also rack it up with online betting as well.
ray hutstone- Registered: 1 Apr 2018
- Posts: 2,158
I used to use Hooked on Books regularly. The people were always so helpful. They kept an eye open for new titles for me. Sadly, I suppose they just didn't do enough business to survive.
Nowadays, I rely on KCC library service. You can open an on-line account and reserve new publications. You may have to wait a few weeks for new works from Gerald Seymour or Peter Robinson for example but they come through the system soon enough. I use the mobile library and get email notifications when they are ready to collect. Public services often rightly come in for a lot of criticism but whoever runs KCC libraries deserves a round of applause in my humble opinion. Credit where it's due.
Captain Haddock, Judith Roberts, Weird Granny Slater and
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Andy B
- Location: dover
- Registered: 10 Nov 2012
- Posts: 1,741
Vanes the bakers in Church street have now closed but are keeping the shop open in the High street.