Stafford shops closing - Turning into a ghost town?

Wormella

Wormella

Well-Known Forumite
Thehooperman said:
They still do on a Sunday afternoon. They seem to be the same gamers each week but I've not seen any under 14s playing.

I'm sure all ages are welcome though.
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That will be the board game bash I suspect, and I don't think the Shrew welcomes kids. we kind of need somewhere child friendly for a 2 / 3hr stint for a game - we're currently looking at the Doxey Hub but it's £12 an hour.

But we're only one displaced group - there's loads of social and support groups that are trying to find a new home now.
 
The Hawk

The Hawk

Well-Known Forumite
Wormella said:
That will be the board game bash I suspect, and I don't think the Shrew welcomes kids. we kind of need somewhere child friendly for a 2 / 3hr stint for a game - we're currently looking at the Doxey Hub but it's £12 an hour.

But we're only one displaced group - there's loads of social and support groups that are trying to find a new home now.
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Candid?
 
Cue

Cue

Well-Known Forumite
Wormella said:
Yeah, I love 2FatGoblinz, but what we've just lost is the space to play games as easily - they ran a lot of social stuff - my son played an under 14s D&D game one a month. Finding somewhere acsessible to replicate is proving to be problematic (and expensive)

But that space costs a lot of money to provide
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Yeah, while I’m not sure Geek Retreat as a brand is necessarily a good idea all round (the target market for this kind of thing prefer to support local businesses without franchise ties) the concept of a cafe plus gaming space plus store is a solid one, and one we no longer have
 
Cue

Cue

Well-Known Forumite
On one small correction: it would be sustainable if not for the £58,000 rateable value on a building with a rent of £25k.

No wonder the high street is dying when the VOA is sabotaging it.
 
G

gilesjuk

Well-Known Forumite
It was a shame Shogun games closed. That was due to the owner retiring, seems odd the business didn't get sold on. That place had evening events.
 
G

gilesjuk

Well-Known Forumite
Cue said:
On one small correction: it would be sustainable if not for the £58,000 rateable value on a building with a rent of £25k.

No wonder the high street is dying when the VOA is sabotaging it.
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This is what councils don't understand. As the taxes go up businesses can't afford to continue, then the council sees a loss of income so they increase rates even more. It's no use spending money on fancy paving and all the other stuff if there's hardly any shops open. Better to have a full high street and tarmac pavements than expensive cobbles and no shops.
 
joshua

joshua

Well-Known Forumite
gilesjuk said:
This is what councils don't understand. As the taxes go up businesses can't afford to continue, then the council sees a loss of income so they increase rates even more. It's no use spending money on fancy paving and all the other stuff if there's hardly any shops open. Better to have a full high street and tarmac pavements than expensive cobbles and no shops.
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Business rates are set by central government
 
Cue

Cue

Well-Known Forumite
joshua said:
Business rates are set by central government
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Sometimes. They haven’t evaluated a lot of places in ages

Infuriatingly they increase the rates if you have AC… something that in a lot of shops is bordering on being a legal requirement at this point, given what happened in B&M a few summers back.
 
joshua

joshua

Well-Known Forumite
Cue said:
Sometimes. They haven’t evaluated a lot of places in ages

Infuriatingly they increase the rates if you have AC… something that in a lot of shops is bordering on being a legal requirement at this point, given what happened in B&M a few summers back.
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What happened ?
 
Lucy

Lucy

Well-Known Forumite
Wormella said:
That will be the board game bash I suspect, and I don't think the Shrew welcomes kids. we kind of need somewhere child friendly for a 2 / 3hr stint for a game - we're currently looking at the Doxey Hub but it's £12 an hour.

But we're only one displaced group - there's loads of social and support groups that are trying to find a new home now.
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I've just been go where Roots is and there appears to be a gaming place there.
 
Cue

Cue

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