On November 28th New Look will be moving into one of the larger new shops along Bury Street.
At about the same time Philosophy Hairdressers will be moving to the Market Place.
The newsagents currently known as ER Goff are approaching the end of their lease at Bridge Street, and think a move just around the corner into the premises vacated by Philosophy will make sense.
They will become Simon’s News. Mr Simon Escreet is the Proprietor.
Just over the road from Simon’s News, the premises vacated by The Bowls Shop – and used by Outdoor Traders as a second shop between whiles, is to become Sean Antony Hairdressing. Sean is moving in town from Ock Street.
Good Luck to all of them.
Anyone know who is going in where New Look are moving from?
Other shop closures, I see this time Blockbuster in Abingdon are having a Closing down sale in Peachcroft.
This 2nd administration has hit harder, this time they closed the By Post service, and closed all subscriptions/accounts as well. People are promised refunds, especially pre ordered games consoles.
Another hairdressers? …… how many does that total now. At least the Abingdonians will look a cut above the rest of other townsfolk 🙂
Both the hairdressers are already established abingdon businesses – they are just moving premises.
Shame about Blockbuster. Anyone know where I can rent videos now?
Thanks for the post about the shop! I am very excited to open up. Good luck to all the other business’ . Simons News will be a great addition to the street and by the looks of things they will be sharing our retro theme. Love the sign! We will be a unisex salon offering all Hairdressing services. Traditional Wet Shaving for the Gentleman and Dukes of Abingdon. Look forward to welcoming all new customers. Mamy thanks. Sean and Team!
Abingdon really is dire…..another hairdresser,no new shops, just same shops moving around.
Rolf – what would you like to see instead? What’s your plan? Who are you speaking to to help make it happen? What responses have you had to date? Keep us posted and let us know if there’s anything we can do to help you out.
i would like to see new shops instead of empty units, and you?
Great Plan!
I don’t really have a problem so don’t really have a plan I’m afraid.
well done, Daniel.
Rolf The businesses moving around is a GOOD sign that they are still in business, not a bad sign that they are still in business.
All these businesses employ people who will now have better workspace and continuing employment.
If you think that is a bad thing I, like Daniel, would like to know what your plan is. Do you want to open a business in Abingdon? Is there something you can provide that is not currently on offer? What would you call your shop and what would you sell?
At the moment Blockbusters is on hold, accounts frozen. Don’t know if they will transfer to a new owner to open again online. Seems to be a major asset strip this time round….closing the remaining shops/warehouse/ by post distribution. It seems downloads to devices are replacing DVDs/BluRays….
Rachel/Daniel, I am interested as to what “new” shops are actually coming into the town, that is all.
Your questions asking me what my plans are etc. are irrelevant. As a consumer, with disposable income I would prefer to spend that income within my local area rather than having to travel to Didcot or Oxford. The units have been empty now for a significant time, it is the job of those in the appropriate positions to put in place strategies to achive the objectives of attracting new business and generating further revenue for Abingdon. Not mine.
I agree with Daniel and Rachel – we all recognise the problem and there are a lot of people trying very hard to solve it: unfortunately no-one has a magic wand to wave to make businesses come here (and lest we forget this is not just an Abingdon problem).
Also, the situation divides in two:
– the Bury Street area, owned by Scottish Widows who have spent many millions on it so want to recoup their investment – why would they not be trying? Yes they probably could fill some of them with cheap tat shops – possibly on a temporary basis – is that what we want? Alternatively they could offer low starter rents to lure people in – how would you feel if you were an existing retailer there having to pay the higher amount?
– the other streets where properties are owned by private landlords. These are the ones which are most attractive to small independent businesses – we have a lot of these and many people would welcome more. But a lot of people don’t support them – for all sorts of reasons – and the retailers don’t have an easy life so it is a big step for someone to set up a new business.
But back to the point – there is a lot being done to promote Abingdon in the way you suggest – look at the new Vale4business website, the new Abingdon portal etc – also the Local Excellence Markets, Extravaganza, Independent Christmas Challenge etc etc. There IS something we can all do to help to make the town attractive to potential businesses: get out there and support it, make the streets buzz and the tills ring!
Ive just been into town to make the tills ring and give it a buzz but it was dead.
The problem for whatever reason is footfall, this year has been the same as last and i cant cut anymore costs out, we are fully stocked out for xmas with gifts under a fiver yet no body is buying or even coming to look, we took £17 on Monday this week, regardless of who owns what retail property, unless Abingdon attracts some big stores, Next, M&S etc to stop people going to other towns or Oxford this isnt going to change. I will get through to Xmas but post that i either need to come up with a new idea for selling Sweetie gifts or walk away… use us or loose us….
MAY BE OF INTEREST
http://www.heraldseries.co.uk/news/10819668.Relocation_of_Abingdon_clothes_shop_is_branded_a_publicity_stunt/?ref=mr
see it, having a bigger choice and range can only help, regardless of what anyone in th ebookstore says
http://www.oxfordtimes.co.uk/news/10819668.Relocation_of_Abingdon_clothes_shop_is_branded_a_publicity_stunt/
sweetchocolate – I think you have summed it up perfectly
Although we have empty units – there is much that is still good about the town. I regularly shop in Masons, Prices Stationers, The Bookstore, Mostly Books, etc – and try to use our other indie shops as much as I can. I really want to be able to shop locally.
Of course we need some bigger shops – Scottish Widows need to get their finger out to fill their vacant units, but if we support what we already have, it’s not going to help the town’s prospects. It’s also great that jobs are being preserved with these shop moves – I wish them all every success.
Be fair to the people at the Bookstore and all of the other retailers in the Precinct. They have had a tough time of it. They had to cope with the disruption, and probable loss of trade, caused by the long drawn out refurbishment. And now to find that there seems to be little progress in filling the units, and thus attracting more footfall, must be very disappointing.
We need a Marks and Spencer!!!!!
Many thanks for the post. As Rachel has said, by moving premises it will secure the future of all these businesses. New look are moving to a larger unit so presumably will be employing more staff?
We are taking the opportunity to rebrand, as Mr Simon Escreet has now owned Goff’s for almost 10 years & we feel that this is the ideal time to put his name over the door. Whilst rebranding we will also be expanding our range of products including stocking a wider range of tobacco’s including many more pipe tobacco’s, cigars & snuff’s.
We will also be expanding in other area’s which you will see when we open on Monday 9th December.
As well as attracting new shops, Abingdon needs to sort out its traffic problem, always worse since the new system was brought in. It’s not always bad, but enough to put off people driving here.
It’s quite funny really that having knocked down buildings (Victirian/Edwardian were they)? back in the 60’s to make way for a shopping centre, Scottish Widows spend millions making the shops look like mock Edwardian town buildings again. Should have kept the old ‘uns 😉 And the most useful thing that was lost? Yup, the canopies. Kept you dry and kept the sun off you. Hey ho ….. long as it looks right, doesn’t matter about being functional.
Joking aside, I’d like to see Wilkinsons, a butchers, green grocer ….. oh god a green grocer drool, Iceland, Robert Dyas, Childrenswear, toy shop, Game, The Works, Next, M&S, The Body Shop, Curry’s, Hawkins Bazaar, Menswear shops, Claire’s, Antiques, hairdressers …. oh, maybe not 😉 and individual independent retailers ……. the list is endless…….
There is a butchers called Hedges in Queen Street, behind the precinct. Please support them as the quality of produce and personalised service is so much better than Tesco’s.
Hedges shop is in the Covered Market Oxford. The Abingdon was the cold store, where you could purchase meat but only ‘bulk’ packs. I work in Oxford so visit the Covered Market and shop around (There are a few traditional butchers shops there). So I cannot comment on Abingdon now. I remember back in 1976, the greengrocers/butchers etc, in The Precinct, doubt if it will ever return back to that. What news of Phase 2 of the precinct?, demolition of the Charters?, I know a few ‘users’ of the Adult Care Day Centre who don’t know, if/when they have to move.
Hedges in Queen Street definitely sells to retail customers and Sasha is right that their meat is excellent.
E R Goff good luck with the move, hopefully none of the Superstores or Poundland will start to replicate your new tobbaco products, Tesco and Waitrose seem to have a policy of visitng Independants then copying them – we have seen this many times in the last 5 years with Sweeite gifts we have handmade and more recently American candy, which tesco can sell at less than we can buy bulk. We are constantly having to change our product range so not to compete , when we cant. Looking forward to coming and seeing your new shop in Dec….
I know they sell to retail customers, we used to stock our freezer up with meat from them…but can you purchase a single steak or chop from them, only packs of 6. In their butchers shop in Oxford they do.
There used to be 2 or 3 butchers shops in the precinct.
I doubt they will return, and when the ‘Anchor’ large supermarket is built what then?, if a Morrisons they have their own bakery/butchers, {if you believe the Advert}
I predict further reductions in Foot Fall…
Article in yesterdays Oxford Mail, saying move is one publicity ‘stunt’. It seems the ‘Old’ New Look may be empty, it was recently repainted a few weeks ago, which really surprised me.
http://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/10819668.Relocation_of_Abingdon_clothes_shop_is_branded_a_publicity_stunt/?ref=mr
Houdini, at least 3 of the names you mentioned have gone bust and another 2 of them have been in the precinct in the past 5 years and since closed
Maybe we all need to just have realistic expectations?
Put a cinema in Bury Street, or build a multiplex instead of a supermarket on the Charter site … there’s plenty of room in Bury Street to house the current ‘Charter facilities’. The former is now less practical as one of the larger units has now been let, but the latter is an alternative. A cinema would pull people into the Town centre and not provide competition for existing retail categories. Another supermarket would be another rod on the back of the independents.
The super market debate is an interesting one – the challenge is that the supermarket chains see the abingdin area as a suitable location. Its population will supportthree large supermarkets and we currently have two. This means they will keep looking for suitable sites. The question therefore for us as a town is would we rather they sited in the town centre or out of town?
It’s not a straightforward decision as there are pros and cons both ways, but i favour the town centre option as at least it draws shoppers into the town centre which gives the other retaillers a chance to sell to them.
The multiplex is very unlikely to be an option. I spoke recently to a substantial retail landlord about this very topic. Their view was thatmultiplexes are big loss leaders for landlords and they are only really viablewhere a landlord is seeking to establish a greenfield retail area.
Iain, I’m hopefully one of the many that thinks we don’t need another supermarket, we have enough choice as it stands.
After the disaster of the ABITS traffic system are you really suggesting more cars are encouraged to come into the heart of Abingdon… I hope not.
I am not well-versed in the thinking of the Retail World, so I could have this completely wrong. However I would have thought that shoppers visiting a large Supermarket (such as the one proposed for the Charter Anchor Store) would arrive by car, load their shopping, and drive home again. Would many of them actually wander into the Town Centre?
I believe that the argument goes that if there is an “anchor” supermarket then other mainstream retailers tend to follow so we would get a better range of shops in Bury Street. I must admit that personally I am sceptical – but that is what the set-up in Didcot is so it would be interesting to hear from the people who post on here who say they go to Sainsburys there – do they go into the shops round the corner as well? If they do, maybe there is hope….
Spoke to some independent shops both took under £20 on Monday
I dont think the issue is whether we think there should be another supermarket – my point is that if a supermarket decides they want to set up in abingdon theres not a huge amount that can be done to stop them.
What is possible is to influence where they choose to locate. I completely agree about the issue of parking – this is exactly what i was referring to by there being sone cons. I think there is some evidence that town centre supermarkets are better for the rest of the town centre than out of town equivalents. There was a report from university of southampton a couple of years ago which examined wider business impact of town centre supermarkets which had some encouraging results, although it was a fairly limited sample set.
Said parking but i meant to say traffic in previous post
Chit-chat with someone having property interests is no substitute for talking to Scottish Widows about the options as it’s obvious that Plan A (written on the back of an envelope?) isn’t working. At the moment Bury Street looks like a conspiracy of amateurs.
As for multiplex cinemas being a loss leader … that sounds a load of tosh. I’d imagine that they’d be more viable than a non-commercial, 100-seat cinema grafted onto the Guildhall, which would cost council tax payers a fortune in capex and ever-continuing operating costs.
It’s time to ditch the Fantasy Finance and talk to Scottish Widows about a cinema (the Charter would be the best option) before the Town Council starts sloshing more of our money around like sailors on leave. I just wonder how much the planning exercise for the cinema-folly has cost already … anybody know?
I’ve commented on your ‘plan’ before newcomer so wont repeat myself.
As far as your opinions on commercial viability of multiplexes then i’m much happier to listen to someone who owns retail estates and has investigated setting up a multiplex than some bloke posting on the blog
but surely, you are just “Some blog posting on the blog”, Iain?
True – good point Rolf 🙂
.. but I’m also the bloke trying to get the cinema going in the Guildhall so have investigated the subject a bit
It would be nice for the town though Iain if the cinema was actually in the centre, give the town a bit of life and a buzz.
Like that new Giraffe restaurant on the side of Tesco, be much better if it was in the town centre.
The Guildhall is pretty central Rolf, completely agree with you about giving the centre a bit of life which is very much our aim.
There isn’t that much choice on location really, as it’s the sunk costs of operating the existing guildhall swrvice that allow the scheme to be economically viable.
If the town attracts all the above suggested retail outlets, where is the space to put them? Successive district administrations have allowed the best places to be used for housing. The station/maltings/market/old car park/garage site, cinema site, brewery site, Old Gaol site and the old post office(this would have made a lovely arcade between the high street and precinct). Without lots of space we won’t get lots of shops. (Critical to the big boys) Then our great independents will do well.
Just an idea but if the District offices are under used why not use it as a shopping centre?
The biggest population centre in the Vale, by far, deserves much better. Been to Newbury or Banbury or Witney? Not to mention Didcot.
Faringdon looks doomed now they have a Tesco.
I agree Rolf about the site of the proposed Giraffe (and the Macdonalds also), but for different reasons!!! I live en route to and from said Giraffe and Macdonalds and I am fed up with the piles of takeaway rubbish (not to mention beer cans) which litter the pavements and open spaces/gardens in that area. (The Giraffe no doubt will only add to this).
There should have been a ‘pasty tax’ on food take-aways, the monies being dedicated to street cleaning. That way the poor old law-abiding Council Tax payer would not have to foot the bill for the clear ups.
Yep, a bit NIMBYish of me but I feel strongly about the litter.
Cassandra – Unfortunately these businesses also have positive impacts on society and that is jobs, especially for young people who are having a hard time at the moment with finding work.
Why does everything have to be out of town these days? surely subway could have filled a unit, as could have that Giraffe restaurant, better than having empty units.
James, all the shops I mentioned are still trading. Game took over Gamestation, Currys and PC World stores have been re branded as Currys PC World, as are all the other shops……. only ones I remember being there originally and closing are the butchers (2 of them) and the green grocers.
Don’t know which shops you’re thinking of.
Gosh a cinema! Something else we had once and was knocked down! 😉 Next thing we’ll be having a new gaol, station, brewery, maltings …… etc. Seems to be ‘knock it down, doesn’t work, stick it back up’. Gives you a lot of faith in our planners……
Re the proposed supermarket ….. now I may be wrong (please don’t stone me) but I thought the only reason they were coming to the town centre was because they were funding the redevelopment…….
Not sure if i understood your point houdini but the proposed supermarket development will be funded by scottish widows – in turn they are investing £50m because they can get a good rent from a supermarket. To be clear the development isnt public money
Rolf – on you point about giraffe – they are a cafe chain owned by tescos so their focus is on driving footfall/spend on tge marcham road rather than the town centre i’m afraid
Well as .long as the Giraffe does not send the footfall back up the Marcham Road to dump beer cans and takeaway debris near my house….!!!!
I trust that people are aware that the building of a Guildhall cinema will have to be funded from an increase in Council Tax and that the project will require continuous support from our council taxes as it will not be commercially viable on an ongoing basis. Homeowners who never use the cinema will have to pay for it.
As I’ve written here before, many times, the store’s Marcham Road branch is part of Tesco’s plan to develop a ‘mall concept’ at their larger outlets. Giraffe is just part of this process. Abingdon’s new market place will be the Tesco car park and not where it is now.
Sorry about banging-on about a Town Centre cinema, Iain, but I thought democracy in action involved the public putting ideas forward. But, of course, this is Abingdon and the politicians prefer democratic ‘inaction’.
Newcomer – I have no involvement in the Guildhall development and no axe to grind – but I have been actively interested in the whole cinema/arts centre issue since 2005 and observed the options being considered and the processes of research and consultation which have gone on in that time. To pick up on some of the points in your posts, I know that the TC has had professional advice from people with real knowledge and experience in this area about the commercial viability of a cinema, appropriate size and opening arrangements etc. They have also consulted very widely – both face to face with community groups and with the general public – reaching a wider spread of the population than those few of us who follow the comments on this blog!
Democratic government is not about giving credence to those who shout loudest and most often – it is about weighing up all inputs and taking a decision based on those and on professional advice.
Newcomer – please don’t let me stop you ‘bangin on’ about the cinema. I suspect we both actually agree that a cinema would be a good thing for the town. The only issue i have is that your scheme isn’t workable – and repeating the idea doesn’t make it workable. Personally I choose to put my time and effort into a scheme which i believe, having taken professional and expert advise, is workable.
On your point about council tax – the council is still investigating the funding of the scheme. The net subsidy of the Guildhall will be substantially reduced by the introduction of a cinema, which would give the council a food deal of funding flexibility before we would need to look at council tax. The exact funding will depend heavily on how much money the scheme is able to attract from grant funds, in particular we have bid for a significant grant from the heritage lottery fund.
I’d also point out that the current administration has not raised council tax since taking charge in 2011 despite reductions to the central funding we receive and the impacts of inflation.
One piece of news that should appeal to you Newcomer is that council should be moving its offices to the previously empty offices in Roysse court early in the new year. This is the first of the savings from the guildhall project, which should reduce our costs by about £30k pa in rent and rates.
Hester, I know what democratic government is supposed to be about.
Is there a guarantee that the cinema, on a capex and ongoing basis, will not be a burden on the council tax payer? What consultancy costs have been incurred thus far which the Town Council will have to pay regardless of whether or not the project goes ahead? Do the Town Council intend to publish a fully annotated business plan for the cinema to prove due diligence?
Whoops ‘good’ not ‘food’ – cant type
Newcomer – the council has already published the commercial viability assessment is commissioned – by necessity some of the detailed calculations are redacted as they are commercially confidential
Ah … commercial confidentiality … move on … nothing of interest to be seen here …
Perhaps you’d rather we exposed detailed finances to potential contractors and service providers?
‘Perhaps you’d rather we exposed detailed finances to potential contractors and service providers?’
… Why shouldn’t you?
It would be nice to see how our money is being spent, after all, we are the customers footing the bill. Finances and their rationale are objective and not surrounded by flim-flam intended to deflect attention from the real issues such as a proper costs and estimated revenues. I suspect the latter would get nowhere near to making the project viable in a commercial sense.
You can tell us these things. They aren’t state secrets. I’m sure Edward Snowden/Wikileaks wouldn’t be interested.
As a starter … do you intend to show first-run commercial films and have you checked-out with the studios that they will make these available to you? If so, how much would such films cost and what would be the consequent cost-per-seat/admission? You must have such information at your finger-tips if you’ve done comprehensive research and detailed costings.
Alternatively, is it the intention to run Charlie Chaplin movies and the occasional ROH opera transmission?
Because, strangely enough, you dont get the best price from contractors and service providers if you expose your detailed finances – welcome to the real world newcomer.
On your other point about screenings – yes – no particular restrictions on what we can screen. Cost per film vary from 25% to 65% sales depending on newness and studio. We’ve assumed a mix in our calculations – most cinemas average out at about 45%
It’s not their detailed finances we’re interested in, it’s the council’s, we only require detail at the council level. What needs to be secret about that in the real world?
As a matter of interest, who will you be sourcing your films from and your cost per film … is that on a per seat basis, at what level of ‘occupancy’ and over how many performances of a film is the total cost of the film amortised? Are you satisfied that local distributors like the multiplex in Didcot, don’t have exclusive contracts on first-run commercial releases which might preclude first-run release to a Guildhall cinema?
Thanks for the information. I have lots more questions.
The council’s finances are published every year and are completely transparent. The sort of information you are requesting is about potential future finances which, in this case would be commercially confidential. I’d point out that the stuff we have already published in the commercial viability assessment is beyond what we are obliged to share and we are trying to be as open as we are able.
In terms of distributors there are a number of companies who offer this service and this would be something we will tender for in the future. The issue that small cinemas used to have in getting access to films was driven by the logistics of the physical distribution of celluloid, where the larger distributors gave the reels to the larger cinemas first. this is no longer the case now that distribution is electronic.
The charging is based on a percentage of the ticket sales on a per screening basis. The choice small cinemas face is whether to pay a higher % charge and get the film straight after it is released or wait for a bit and pay a slightly lower fee. There is also a difference in what different studios charge, for example Disney always charge very high rates for their films.
Hope this helps
My concern re. access to first run releases has nothing to do with celluloid, I know how films are distributed. My concern is that the studios are dependent on the goodwill of the distributors and a distributor, such as Cineworld (operators of the Didcot multiplex), could well be upset by a small cinema in Abingdon attracting a percentage of its custom on first release films. As you know, each extra customer contributes relatively more to the bottom-line. The loss of a relatively small number of customers would have a disproportionate effect on the bottom-line. A distributor might lean on a studio not to allow access to any competition, no matter how small, who is geographically close to one of its outlets. In the real world this sort of thing happens. Studio/Distributor contracts may well have non-competition clauses in them when in comes to any cinemas they consider too close to any of their outlets.
This is something you should check out sooner rather than later.
I have moved from a city which has Multiplexes but also a rthriving Arts Centre/Cinema. The latter did show lots of ‘first run’ films, i(f that is the term in this case.??) Allbeit perhaps a few weeks after the main cinemas had finished their showings.
These kinds of small cinema are also useful in that they often show films which the big chains do not keep for very long because they are not blockbusters.
Apart from that, the general atmosphere of such cinemas is much more pleasant, not to mention cheaper.
We’ve taken advice from a specialist cinema consultancy company who advise us that this isn’t an issue we are likely to face. There are a number of agencies who specialise in buying for large numbers of independent cinema operators to create scale, helping to avoid this sort of potential issue. The people who operate the Phoenix do this for example.
I suspect many in Abingdon will anticipate a cinema showing blockbusters on week of release else they may well go to Didcot while a new release is ‘hot’ … I know … I’m not all that bothered, either … but many are …
I think it needs to be more than just ‘likely’ that the cinema can show new releases immediately else it with not attract audiences scalable to a commercial level. Great if there are agencies who can provide this service, but it might be an idea to confirm this and ascertain costs.
There is a place for Art movies and transmissions from the ROH and Stratford, but Abingdon doesn’t have the demographics of Oxford so the market will be more limited. In any case, you’d need a more commercial bias to make the project viable.
I’m more interested in Abingdon tax payers seeing the overall feasibility study and the underlying assumptions, giving the townsfolk an idea of what their liability might be. The timely availability of films and their cost is an ‘assumption’ which should be firmly nailed down. It’d be interesting to know what other commercial assumptions are being made.
Since the last 20 posts on this have been almost exclusively between Newcomer and Iain, can I suggest they just talk directly to one another? It doesn’t seem to me that the majority of followers of this blog – let alone the other 30,000 + people in Abingdon – want to challenge this level of detail of the TC’s approach. To quote post 55 I can’t help but think this is what results in “democratic in-action”!
I would if he’d say who he/she was hester
Newcomer – have you read the report or are you just assuming it doesnt have the detail you need?
Are you referring to ‘The Guildhall Project’, which contains vague financial guesstimates, or is there a more comprehensive document that’s been slipped out under cover of darkness? If I’ve missed a detailed report on the money-pit which could be the cinema then, indeed, I am at fault.
I think the other 30K people in Abingdon might not be aware of the taxes this might cost them on an ongoing basis and have interpreted the cinema as offering commercial content. I’m trying to ascertain whether this is the case as it’d be the contents of the building and not the building itself which will determine success. We don’t want a Millennium Dome disaster in Abingdon.
Hester, I hope you’re not suggesting that discussing something as important to Abingdon as this is cluttering-up The Blog. I think backstreeter has done the town a great favour by developing this site and it’s the only ‘public forum’ for interested parties … the council has nothing similar, probably doesn’t want one and would heavy censor it were one to exist.
No newcomer – thats not what i’m talking about. If you look at the papers of the guildhall committee in the town council website you should find it – not under any darkness at all.
As Hester says, i suspect most people aren’t interested in this level of debate so i think we’ll leave it there.
The papers of the guildhall committee … they’re such a must read … how could I have missed the issue when they’re so well publicized.
A politician suspects something … it must be true … and so convenient.
Same tired old jibes – i’ve tried to answer your questions yet you end up resorting to insults – i’m not surprised ‘politicians’ keep stuff to themselves if your responses are indicative.
Well, I’ve printed-off the ‘Commercial Viability Assessment of November 2013’ (hot off the presses and well hidden, so how could I know?) in case you felt the need to redact it further … there are some absolute ‘peaches’ in there which I might come back to later with a view to my contacts at the usual Carlisle Street address being interested.
I know a patrician such as yourself, Iain, doesn’t like the plebs like us knowing as I copy this from the 12th September meeting of the Guildhall Committee:
That in accordance with section 1 (2) of the Public Bodies (Admissi
ons to
Meetings) Act 1060 (as extended by Section 100 of the Local Government Act
1972), the public (including the press) be excluded from the meeting because
of the confidential nature of the business to be transacted
That’s you, Iain, and not redacted.
I’ll be regarding the Guildhall minutes as a ‘must read’ from now on. Why would Monty Python dare to reform … you’ve got them beat for surreal..
BTW. My admiration to Dr Kenrick, who seems (from the minutes) to have been the only sentient being in the room. Dr Kendrick … you must have felt transported to being a character in a Kafka novel. Chin-up … the baddies never win.
Your making even less sense than usual
What’s your lack-of-comprehension, Iain?
Carlisle Street … I’d think that the PE address was imprinted on the remaining cortex of rapacious local government.
Dr Kendrick is the person you felt able to dispense with during the last committee meeting. I read the minutes.
The report is now ‘out there’ in a more public way than you might like.
BTW, Iain,
It’s ‘you’re’ not ‘your’ in the context you used.
Avoid the ‘possessive’ in such cases.
I feel as though I’m tripping over speech-marks.
So careless, I am … :0)
Newcomer, come out of hiding and say who you are then you can meet up with some people in the pub to chat without needing to resort to grammar pedantry.
People need to talk the town up, not talk the town down. I talk the town up whenever I can and you should do the same.
I’m not in hiding. I’ve known backstreeter since shortly after I moved here in 2006., and Iain knows who I am. I’m not an enthusiastic joiner of groups and certainly not a person who believes in any political party … they are all only worthy of contempt … politicians are poor managers with lack of vision.
If I didn’t love the town I wouldn’t have moved here and wouldn’t get so upset as to how the brain-dead are trying to destroy it.
Hi Newcomer – of course you can remain anonymous but I guess the question is what you are willing to do to help make the town a better place? Criticising is the easy bit – and if, as you say, all politicians are worthy of contempt, who do you think is going to make any of the positive things happen? There are a lot of people around trying to do just that – how about latching on to some of them and working to achieve something good – even if only on a small scale.
Hester, I’m a single-issue person, or, perhaps more correctly, a collection of single issues person. I don’t like getting involved with political parties,or other groups which involve me buying a complete orthodoxy.
My problem with the cinema is that it’s a poor idea which will cost the residents of Abingdon dear and spoil Checker Walk and surrounds.
I’d advise you all to look at the just published Viability Assessment, which is as good a piece of window dressing as I’ve seen … absolute amateur hour. This starts with 1.1 of the Executive Summary which mentions the vox pop, apparently regarded as a piece of valid and reliable research by the writers of this report. I can assure you, that as someone who has commissioned tens (perhaps hundreds) of thousands of pounds of qualitatiive research and wrote the spec for the largest, most costly ongoing quantitative research project in the ’80’s, that the vox pop in this cinema report is an insult to market research. If this project has a ‘dodgy dossier’ then this is it. Complete fabrication propping-up the flimsiest of arguments.
I don’t know whether I’d have the patience to stay in the same room as people who’d argue that this was a credible support for their case. Life’s too short.
If you get involved with groups then you get neutralised. I think it’s more effective to be a bit of grit and point out the errors of our betters ways (notice how much of the Assessment is redacted … we, the proles, don’t have the vision and might baulk at how much this folly will cost us).
The town is a very sad site indeed . no new shops in big units the town is always in oxford mail for lack of trade . The shops are taking under £100 per day my advice to Anyone do not open a shop here you will not be supported and you will be bankrupt . There is no help from local councils and there is no money
as another shop owner i have read through this thread and can offer the following:
We opened 5 years ago and had a buisness that covered all the costs,paid staff and made a small but acceptable profit.
At one point we had 3 regular staff…
in the last 2 years this has gone down hill rapidly, even though i have changed our stock, on request of customers and market conditions, more gifts under £5, greater range, including American candy, Australian and at one point south african. We have also increased our social media / web presence.
As some of the coments in this thread elude to , last couple of mondays taken less than £20, cant remember a day since last xmas where we have taken over £100 in a day, except Saturdays.
Last Jan decided to close, landlord came in with a rent deal at the last minute , reducing it by 50% , preferable to having an empty unit. decided to carry on with reduced hrs and better inventory mgt in the hope of business picking up. 12 months later i find myself in a worse position.
Business covers staff and the reduced costs rarely , so makes no profit and some weeks i have to bale it out from my own pocket, along with all the “free time i give up” admin and other tasks it takes to run a business.
Current status, have invested in stock for xmas, cant see a way forward from Jan next year or any reason to carry on.
And on top of that, no new stores in Abingdon to bring people in, no firm plans for next phase of precinct or firm time frame…
My view on the Towns issues for what its worth are the following.
1) resession – although its not impacted other small towns to the same degree as abingdon
2) Traffic – getting in and out of Abingdon at any point of the day or night is a nightmare
3) not enough “big” shops to warrant a trip into abingdon, resulting in a reduction in passing trade / footfall.
Its that simple
To add to it, the various bodys that represent Abingdon traders, are out of touch and change so frequantley i cant keep up with who does what. Although 2 or 3 people in the various bodies do a great job promoting the town, an example of this was Saturday, as i was looking out the shop window the Mayor, the deputy and a councillor came down stert street, stopped outside and began making notes o a clip board. I went out and said Hi, introduced myself and asked them what they were doing, apparently there was a competition running they were judging, as part of the extraganza shops were encouraged to dress windows with Cinderella themes, this was the first i has heard i told them, they pointed out that i had an extraganza poster in my window, to which i told them this was to promote the Abingdon independant challenge, collect stamps from independant shops to win a prize, this was advertised in the Abingdon manazine promoting the extravagaza… they knew nothing of this!!!
They then made some comments about many of the “chains” not knowing about the window dressing competition. we are not a chain i replied… they wandered off….
So , the people responsible for Abingdon dont know whats their today or have any idea of the real issues as far as im concerned.
One more point, i can be in the Abingdon precinct any day of the week and its all but dead, get in the car and head over to didcots new shopping area by Sainsburys and its busy…. I also always head to didcot for the cinemas and if i need anything can use , Next, Argos, Robert Dyas etc and visit some of the indepenants… This is whats missing from Abingdon.
Lucky for me i have a IT Career to rely on and use to bail out sweet chocolate in the past.
Off to ponder what i do come Jan now…. all suggestions welcome.
@sweetchocolate I totally agree with you our shop has not taken over 30 quid for months . The town has been ruined i spoke to people in Didcot and they say they have been to Abingdon for years as there is nothing there . I know me and sweet chocolate will get negative comments saying we are slating the town etc but we are in it we are running a business trying to improve the town keeping shops open with no money and zero help from town council . The market day on Monday the shops should be busy but they are not most are closed because people come to market go straight back home . The Abingdon extravaganza people were queuing out the door at costa coffee but nobody was in parsons coffee shop next door . Abingdon fashion empty new look packed the grapes pub empty the narrows packed and I’m sure more people bought sweets from pound land than sweetchocolate . The pattern is small independent shops are finished people want big faceless companies where the money goes to an off shore account and pay no tax . The indie shops are local people who will shop in other local shops and keep money local
what shop are you shop owner?
The question that does not seem to be asked is, does Abingdon need so many shops? Yes, it’s nice to find them when one wants something but I use them very little. The reality is that shopping has changed and Abingdon centre is too congested to attract people into town. Don’t blame Abits. You may remember the orignal plan was to close either Stert Street or the High Street and to make the other one two-way! Can you imagine the chaos that would have caused. The Abits solution is the least worst but the real culprits are the growth of in town housing and the growth in the number of cars. It is amazing that traffic through the town centre flows at all. But those in vehicles have to find alternative routes for that to happen.
So the question I would ask is: might Abingdon be better with fewer shops and with some of the units turned into housing?
I would also pick on another issue. A supermarket in Precinct phase 2 would increase traffic to breaking point. I was deeply saddened when the outline ideas for demolition of the Charter Buildings were put forward in the context of hiring consultants and reporting the featurelessness of the Charter. This was a building that won architectural awards and I believe the multi-storey car park to be one of the best looking anywhere. But just as is being done with the NHS, the policy for the Charter is to denigrate it, to maintain it less well, ultimately to devalue it and then to redevelop it. It’s an old pattern and it nearly always works. Why should we let it happen to the Charter? Why should we let it happen to the NHS?
Besides this, the Charter contains many community activities that would be expected to be close together. Why change it? Oh, I forgot, money!