Will anything on the high street remain?

Where did you see them mate?

 

If you're Barnsley born and bred, was it Steely's in Sheffield?

 

I'm not Barnsley born, but I was living in Tarn...I went with a mate and a group of his friends from Barnsley Tech.....If Steely's was also known as the Top Rank near the Claymore and Mulberry Tavern boozers then yes, but they also played at The Lyceum.

 

There you go...

https://www.huxley.net/bnw-revisited/

A sort of long essay. He bangs on about over population and other stuff but as a vision of the future it's as chillingly accurate as I've ever seen.

Impossible to argue against I reckon.

 

BBC News - Debenhams set to close putting 12,000 jobs at risk
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-55142724

 

Meet the new boss.
Same as the old boss.

 

Sad to see, but absolutely inevitable.

Retail is in a colossal mess and has been for many years. Many people now buy things online and spend their money with companies who pay minimal property costs in comparison to largely high street based operations and to compound that, use mechanisms to evade tax.

Unless peoples habits and choices change, high street retailers will struggle in a post covid world.

 

Don't worry every time one of these retailers goes to the wall we hear they were on the brink before anyway. Don't worry about the thousands of people who will be out of work with a dead jobs market. Its was inevitable all high street retail would collapse anyway.

 

There won't be a high street. It was difficult anyway, but the restrictions put on high street stores during Covid pushed all sales to online retailers. Amazon shares have almost doubled in price from this time last year. Infamously they don't pay tax in the UK.

The amount of money made from this virus is beyond anyone's wildest dreams.

 

If just one 82 year old has an extra year added to their life living alone in excruciating pain it will all have been worth it.

 

I was just reading about Matt Hancocks neighbour who worked in a pub being given £30m for test tubes that he had no experience or certification to make... just from him sending Hancock a whatsapp message.

And thats before the amazon siphon you mention. A crisis is never going to smooth. But the lack of morality from government and big businesses should worry everyone and encourage them to think about their choices.

 

Then die in pain from/with a totally different illness then mission accomplished.

 

I get the feeling we are cowering in a boat without paddles or tiller, tossed around in the swirling currents and lashed by storms, unaware that around the next bend is the ******* Niagara falls. And we aren't the ones at the bottom looking up.

 

A boat captained by Bobo the clown whose only answer to our watery fate is to spray us with his comedy squirty flower.

 

So true. Most things I need and want I will buy off Amazon simply because it's cheaper and easier. If a high street shop on their own website could at least price match then I would always go there instead.

 

City centres, especially ones with no tourism draw, are f*cked. Due to increased working from home and retailers/pubs/restaurants going under there will be less desire to live in the city centre from both work and social perspectives and a reduced demand for office space. There will be a vicious circle of people not wanting to live in city centres which reduces demand for amenities, which makes them less desirable....

Leeds stands out as somewhere that may be in real trouble given the lack of appeal to tourists, large number of flats, reliance on retail and recent construction of large office spaces.

 

You dont have to travel to Leeds.

Barnsleys got a massive white elephant being built.

 

It’s the future. The ultimate destiny of the consumer society. It’s easier all round if we do it with our faces glued to a bit of glass rather than experiencing real life.

We get a few quid knocked off. A few get billions. Then, with no high street, the prices can creep up and they can make billions more. Sorted.

Pubs, restaurants, the arts? Who needs all that? You only exist to consume. Stay home. Stay safe. Consume.