Keith Sansum1
- Location: london
- Registered: 25 Aug 2010
- Posts: 23,860
is that altogether Andy?
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Sue Nicholas- Location: river
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 6,018
The shop in Church street will be closed permantly and the one in the High Street will remain open .
Keith Sansum1- Location: london
- Registered: 25 Aug 2010
- Posts: 23,860
Shame, the one in church street appeared to do ok
ALL POSTS ARE MY OWN PERSONAL VIEWS
Sue Nicholas- Location: river
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 6,018
Family business and suppose members are getting older.
Jan Higgins
- Location: Dover
- Registered: 5 Jul 2010
- Posts: 13,803
Sue Nicholas wrote:Family business and suppose members are getting older.
More likely the cost of overheads made it not worth keeping the place open.
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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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ray hutstone- Registered: 1 Apr 2018
- Posts: 2,158
The staff there were always friendly. Their crusty white rolls were so much better than the supermarket alternatives. I miss them already. I just don't get up to the London Road end of town very often.
Andy B
- Location: dover
- Registered: 10 Nov 2012
- Posts: 1,741
The bakers in London rd is very good and always busy.
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
Ruth Davidson writing in the Telegraph.
Think of Kuwait. A small Gulf state with the 6th largest oil reserves in the world. Glass towers stud the skyline in between the cranes that are adding peaks to the central business district daily. More than 70 per cent of the population are now ex-pats, yet wealth per head is comfortably in the world’s top five. There is no other way to describe Kuwait’s economy than rich. Yet Kuwait’s entire GDP is outstripped by the place you go when you’ve forgotten your nephew’s birthday. That’s right, at $117,900 million, the online retailer Amazon had a greater revenue stream than the entire economy of the “Hollywood of the Gulf” last year. In the UK, Amazon UK Services paid £4.6 million in tax, down a third on the year before, despite tripling its profits. With a deal to defer payments on its warehouses and a share issue for some staff, it managed to reduce its payments further, with the Treasury netting just £1.7 million, less than Tuesday’s National Lottery jackpot.
And it’s not just Amazon. If the online music streaming platform, Spotify, was a country, it would have a GDP higher than Mauritania’s. Last year, Facebook revenues outstripped those of Serbia, and the income of Google’s parent company, Alphabet, was more than double that of Bulgaria.
With huge behemoths operating across borders, their incomes greater than whole countries – and a business model that largely eschews physical footprints for the digital marketplace – how can individual nations ensure such online giants play by the rules? Indeed, which rules should apply?
First, there needs to be an acknowledgement that online firms – and retailers in particular – offer an attractive product. That’s why they have hundreds of millions of customers worldwide. With no need to venture outside the house in inclement weather, fight the traffic to the town centre, pay parking charges and be restricted by the physical selection of shops in front of you; customers can receive greater choice, at lower prices, delivered to their door, with less hassle, by shopping online.
As a country that believes in free markets, shouldn’t Britain embrace this digital revolution? Well, quite. But Britain hasn’t just believed that markets should be free – successive governments have tried to ensure that they are also fair. Consumer protections, transparent taxation and rules regarding restrictions and monopolies have existed for decades. There are tremendous efficiencies from the innovation associated with leading companies and their scale. But the network effects also create tremendous barriers to entry in areas like online advertising, search, and operating systems for mobile phones and computers. Countries have been playing catch-up for years, but are beginning to find ways of keeping online firms honest – and impose sanctions when they don’t live up to their responsibilities. However, if it seems like some sort of equilibrium has emerged, a number of the UK’s most established firms would seek to differ.
Last month, Sainsbury’s boss, Mike Coupe, called for the government to overhaul its approach to “total business taxation”. The supermarket had paid £560 million in business rates last year – 6 per cent of its total tax bill and more than three hundred times the Treasury take from Amazon. The British Retail Consortium warns that thousands of shops have shut their doors permanently on the UK’s high streets and more than 20,000 jobs have gone in the sector so far this year. They say the tax burden on brick-and-mortar retailers is disproportionately high and unsustainable. The retail sector currently makes up 5 per cent of the UK economy but pays 25 per cent of all business rates, over £7 billion per year.
You don’t have to look far for what that means in practice – House of Fraser entering administration and marque names like Marks & Spencer withdrawing from “secondary towns” across the country could change the face of local high streets once again. The Chancellor, Philip Hammond, warned last week that imposing some kind of sales tax on online retailers could require the rewriting of international treaties. He also suggested it was something he was willing to examine – even going so far as to say Britain could pioneer its own, temporary, measures until agreement could be reached. It’s something he should get his department’s brightest minds to look at immediately. The advance of online firms was designed to offer customers a new way to do business. But if there isn’t a more even playing field between traditional and online businesses, then internet shopping might become the only choice we have.
ray hutstone- Registered: 1 Apr 2018
- Posts: 2,158
She talks a lot of sense at times, Howard. That's probably why she's unlikely to cut much ice with the current Tory regime.
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howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
Noticed that work is going on in the old "Internacionale"" shop, will be interesting to see what business opens there.
Guest 782- Registered: 4 Oct 2012
- Posts: 357
It is entered in to the Clive Emson Auction next month Howard, so there are no imminent occupiers.
Also Burtons shop in the Market Square is available for rent if you fancy being closer to where the action is?
howard mcsweeney1 likes this
Brian Dixon
- Location: Dover
- Registered: 23 Sep 2008
- Posts: 23,940
I thought it was still trading as burtons simon.
Guest 782- Registered: 4 Oct 2012
- Posts: 357
It is, but Caxtons are offering a new lease, so they must be going.
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
I'm just surprised they have survived so long as other than market day the footfall is very small and every time I have been in there never more than one potential customer looking around.
ray hutstone- Registered: 1 Apr 2018
- Posts: 2,158
I wonder how long Hughes the tailors will survive. Pity - I used to get my suits there when I was working. Nice people but nowadays competing with on-line shopping....?
Andy B- Location: dover
- Registered: 10 Nov 2012
- Posts: 1,741
Burtons have been there a long time,must be at least 40years,will be a shame when they shut but as mentioned they never seem to be that busy any more.Was the place to buy clothes as a teen in the early 80s,we all went there,took out a dreaded instore card as many of my mates did,i always looked smart but the bill never seemed to come down on the card with the sky high interest rates. Was still paying it off long after the clothes had seen the bin,taught me a valuable lesson about getting in debt.I,ll miss the shop when it goes.
Sue Nicholas- Location: river
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 6,018
I used to shop in there when my sons were younger.Hughes a smashing shop .I buy items there for the special men in my life.No Howard not Nigel
Reginald Barrington likes this
Guest 2478- Registered: 6 Feb 2018
- Posts: 11
Hughes will be fine. I spoke with the owner today and there is no plan on closing its doors.
Jan Higgins likes this
Keith Sansum1- Location: london
- Registered: 25 Aug 2010
- Posts: 23,860
Sue
Nigel wont be happy lol
glad Hughes is staying
ALL POSTS ARE MY OWN PERSONAL VIEWS
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
A planning application has gone in to convert the former Vision Express outlet in Biggin Street into a cocktail bar. What with the application going through for something similar in the old Dorothy Perkins shop we could be heading for a vibrant evening economy.
