Stafford shops closing - Turning into a ghost town?

Mudgie

Mudgie

Well-Known Forumite
"Time called on the Hungry / Kings Horse.
It's being transformed into a Hickory's Smoke House this autumn."

Beer prices increased there a few months ago as the Hungry Horse livery went.
 
c0tt0nt0p

c0tt0nt0p

Well-Known Forumite
tek-monkey said:
I thought hickories was generally a step up in price (maybe not quality), and as such not really sure they'll get the same footfall as the bargain basement HH once the initial interest has gone?
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These companies do this from time to time. Leaving Cannock past the train station there used to be a Stonehouse Pizza place (like the one on Radford Bank). As soon as the McArthurGlen shopping village was nearly done Mitchell and Butler changed it to a Miller and Carter as they knew they would get people coming down to splash the cash. I think with the Hungry Horse Greene King think that they can get more money given the housing thats gone up on past Castlefields....
 
Feed The Goat

Feed The Goat

Well-Known Forumite
c0tt0nt0p said:
These companies do this from time to time. Leaving Cannock past the train station there used to be a Stonehouse Pizza place (like the one on Radford Bank). As soon as the McArthurGlen shopping village was nearly done Mitchell and Butler changed it to a Miller and Carter as they knew they would get people coming down to splash the cash. I think with the Hungry Horse Greene King think that they can get more money given the housing thats gone up on past Castlefields....
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Miller and Carter, Cannock is always pretty busy.
 
Wormella

Wormella

Well-Known Forumite
tek-monkey said:
I thought hickories was generally a step up in price (maybe not quality), and as such not really sure they'll get the same footfall as the bargain basement HH once the initial interest has gone?
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I imagine people will travel further for one - It's offering something slightly different in Stafford, but we're much less likely to go to it because there isn't much for my veggie husband.
 
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tek-monkey

tek-monkey

wanna see my snake?
Wormella said:
I imagine people will travel further for one - It's offering something slightly different in Stafford, but we're much less likely to go to it because there isn't much for my veggie husband.
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We used HH because it was cheap, could take large groups, and everyone could find a dish that didn't offend. Hickories seems more targeted, you all need to want the same sort of food.
 
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gilesjuk

Well-Known Forumite
Wormella said:
I imagine people will travel further for one - It's offering something slightly different in Stafford, but we're much less likely to go to it because there isn't much for my veggie husband.
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There used to be. It was the nearest food place to my office in Coventry and we'd often have our quarterly social there. They used to do quite a few veggie mains but it's mostly down to veggie burger, fajita (deconstructed style), salad and mac n cheese. They even took the gumbo off the menu, much to the annoyance of a work colleague who always ordered it.
 
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gilesjuk

Well-Known Forumite
Carole said:
I googled their menu.

Goodness me, and they wonder why there is a national obesity crisis.
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It's an occasional treat, not a daily meal. The price is in indication of that too. KFC and others do meals that are almost your daily allowance in one go.
 
Joey

Joey

A few posts under my belt
Online shopping is the main thing that led to Stafford high street becoming barely a shell of what it has been.

Then there's our location in relation to the railways. Its a blessing and a curse, it makes getting to Birmingham, Liverpool and Manchester easy ... you can get to all of these within 60 minutes ... but easy access to the big cities means our own gets neglected: if people want shops they can get then in Brum, Mcr or Lpl without much hassle

Leads me onto another point, we are one of those awkward middle-children between Birmingham and Manchester, basically the 2 outposts of actually having money outside the M25. All the investment that doesn't go into London is sure to go to one of those two cities, with everywhere else having to fight for the scraps.

We're left with the mediocrities of chazzas, phone repairs, takeaways, nail salons and the obligatory CEX.
Even one of our main landmarks the Ancient High House (and a nice house it is!) has a Fone Giant drilled into it!
 
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Mudgie

Mudgie

Well-Known Forumite
"Leads me onto another point, we are one of those awkward middle-children between Birmingham and Manchester, basically the 2 outposts of actually having money outside the M25. All the investment that doesn't go into London is sure to go to one of those two cities, with everywhere else having to fight for the scraps."

Joey,
What we need is some genuine LEVELLING UP - but the Tories have just hijacked that phrase and done nothing except worsen the gap between rich and poor areas.
 
Theresa Green

Theresa Green

Well-Known Forumite
Joey said:
Online shopping is the main thing that led to Stafford high street becoming barely a shell of what it has been.

Then there's our location in relation to the railways. Its a blessing and a curse, it makes getting to Birmingham, Liverpool and Manchester easy ... you can get to all of these within 60 minutes ... but easy access to the big cities means our own gets neglected: if people want shops they can get then in Brum, Mcr or Lpl without much hassle

Leads me onto another point, we are one of those awkward middle-children between Birmingham and Manchester, basically the 2 outposts of actually having money outside the M25. All the investment that doesn't go into London is sure to go to one of those two cities, with everywhere else having to fight for the scraps.

We're left with the mediocrities of chazzas, phone repairs, takeaways, nail salons and the obligatory CEX.
Even one of our main landmarks the Ancient High House (and a nice house it is!) has a Fone Giant drilled into it!
Click to expand...

No mention of POC in your analysis I see
 
Feed The Goat

Feed The Goat

Well-Known Forumite
Joey said:
Online shopping is the main thing that led to Stafford high street becoming barely a shell of what it has been.

Then there's our location in relation to the railways. Its a blessing and a curse, it makes getting to Birmingham, Liverpool and Manchester easy ... you can get to all of these within 60 minutes ... but easy access to the big cities means our own gets neglected: if people want shops they can get then in Brum, Mcr or Lpl without much hassle

Leads me onto another point, we are one of those awkward middle-children between Birmingham and Manchester, basically the 2 outposts of actually having money outside the M25. All the investment that doesn't go into London is sure to go to one of those two cities, with everywhere else having to fight for the scraps.

We're left with the mediocrities of chazzas, phone repairs, takeaways, nail salons and the obligatory CEX.
Even one of our main landmarks the Ancient High House (and a nice house it is!) has a Fone Giant drilled into it!
Click to expand...
At least Stafford has a good network of roads.

Its not like it is completely impossible to get into town at the moment

I am sure the council will lay on a token event on in the town centre at some point to throw a few crumbs at the traders that are left.

Never mind the fact that all the road works have sh@fted them all for weeks.

It is a pity we don't have the Iron Man event any more. It was the only time the place got cleaned up and the roads weren't dug up.
 
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gilesjuk

Well-Known Forumite
Some joined up thinking might be nice, what good is pressuring people to ride bikes into town if the roads are too dangerous, there's not enough cycle lanes on main routes and when you do get to down there's no secure lockers for your bike.
 
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