I shall share something with you. This is the Port of Holyhead and the state of its town centre shops which I know (and the reporter does say) is reflected in several other townships due to stupid planning, the Out of Town Superstores and the economic downturn
and I "like" what the towns mayor says
quote:
It's no different to other towns, and some things are even improving.
Improving ?
Here is the full text
quote:
Save our high streets: Holyhead, Anglesey, has 39 per cent of its shops lying empty
A once-busy high street, empty of shoppers, store after store empty and boarded up.
It is a depressing sight and it is fast becoming the norm.
This is Holyhead town centre, with the UK's greatest proportion - 39 per cent - of boarded-up shops.
But with 200 high-street shops closing daily as the recession bites, it could be your town centre soon.
Yesterday the Mirror launched the Save Our High Streets campaign, with 10 demands to revitalise town centres. But for now, shopping in the quaint streets of Holyhead, on the western tip of Anglesey, can be a lonely experience.
In five hours there, we counted just 30 people in the town centre - and few appeared to be buying.
Locals and shopkeepers alike are in no doubt about what has caused the decline of the picturesque port town - three supermarkets dotted along the A55 and the A5.
Tesco, Morrisons and Netto do a lively trade and draw shoppers away from the town centre.
DawnWilliams, 31, says: "The centre has gone from a busy place to a ghost town. More and more shops are closing every week.
"The council allowed retail parks and giant Tesco and Morrisons stores to be built just outside the town and it has starved smaller businesses.
"All my friends are worried about their jobs and are facing the possibility of moving away.
"We have four children and I wouldn't want to bring them up anywhere else.
Luckily our jobs are safe for now but who knows in the future.
"My best friend has just found out the electrical store where she works is closing at the end of the month and she is devastated.
The pair of us are trying to start up a day nursery in an unused building but after six months we have met a wall of silence.
"The town is so beautiful and the buildings are very old with lots of character but visitors can't see it for the metal shutters and the wooden boards.
"The more places close, the fewer visitors we get and it's a vicious circle."
A quick survey of properties along Market Street, the main shopping drag, found 16 shops closed or boarded-up while many of the others are charity shops.
Kim Thomas, 47, the manager of Clinton Cards, says: "The town has been going downhill for years but recently it has got worse.
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"Cilla Black once gave us the title of the most depressing place on the planet and nothing has changed. This store has been here 10 years but we're seeing a decline in sales.
"Saturday should be our busiest day but it is normally very quiet and if it rains we might as well close.
"Businesses are closing at a ridiculous speed, and if a new one opens it doesn't last long. A baby shop opened around the corner and closed after only one month of trading.
"Many people can't afford the rent and the council does nothing to help.
We can't compete with the big stores so we should be trying to attract small independent shops. But if the rates are too high, no one can afford to start up."
Kim also blames the council for pedestrianising shopping areas such as Williams Street, discouraging drivers, who favour the supermarkets' large, free car parks.
"We now have nowhere to buy books, men's clothes, furniture and bedding, and the only shoe shop in town shuts at the end of the month," says Kim.
Alan Darrock, of Holyhead Chamber of Commerce, blames changing habits.
"Fewer people are using town-centre stores because there has been a massive cultural shift in shopping trends," says Alan.
"They buy more and more online and if they physically go into a store, it will increasingly be a superstore, where they can buy a variety of goods."
Mayor Ailia Lewis, 68, admits there are problems, but adds: "It's no different to other towns, and some things are even improving. The credit crunch is global, and Holyhead will take the rough with the smooth.
"We need to welcome any new ideas with open arms and be positive."
Mairead Lynch, the manager of independent jewellers Kleiser's, says: "Luckily we are not suffering the same as other shops as we have no competition nearby.
"Being a small independent business with a good reputation has kept us going but with less shops each year then eventually things will change.
"There are so many empty buildings going to waste, if the council helped move companies by lowering rates the town could thrive again."
Glynn Hardcastle, 32, is not in town to shop, but to visit the JobCentre. He says: "I just can't find a job because everything is closed down. I remember the town centre when I was a kid. All the shops were run by people you knew but that sense of community has gone.
"The cobbled streets were lined with butchers, bakers, hardware stores and sweet shops but there is not a single one left."
Saturday should be our busiest day but it is very quiet. If it rains we might as well close.
link And the estate where I Live can beat that easily
When we moved in(1970) the local Shopping Parade was the original Town centre There were I estimate 24-30 units Including 2 banks and it was a bustling place
Now in 2009 we are left with 3 hairdressers beauty salons!
a subpostoffice which is just about surviving, a drugstore,a Newspaper shop an Undertaker (who is struggling for business),a Thrift store,a Late store. 2 takeaways a bookkeepers whose clientele are residents of the 2 drinking establishments,both of which arrived when the Parade was closing in the first round of closures at the end of the 70's
On a typical Saturday you may see a handful of people passing through going from A to B (not shopping)
Oh yes the New town centre opened in 1974 and
it too is showing the same deterioriation the have closed an entire trading floor The indoor Market is half shuttered Rents are too high
as for whats left it looks very shabby and every 3rd shop is shut or showing Sales signs to attract custom only stores doing good business are the "Pound shops"
Only shoppers are those who cannot afford to
go out of town... Nearest decent shopping Now is in Bolton which is 2 towns (and buses) away
