"This town is getting like a ghost town"

[Mudhoney]

I never thought that The Specials song originally written about Coventry would be applicable to Stafford.
Walking down the precinct behind the back of the Co-op and I noticed that the pastry/bakers shop has gone too.
Blimey, when the Co-op itself closes down in a few months it's going to look like a wasteland. Looks like the council is happy to sit back and watch it happen. They should scrap the car parking charges at least at the weekend, this might encourage more people to stay and shop longer. I know I'm always glancing at my watch when in town and often forgo getting a coffee or browsing in the market in case I get a ticket.

 

[Jonah]

The council has already said that any change in the car parking charges could see places like the Ancient High House and the Gatehouse Theatre being closed.

I would be very surprised if there is ever any free car parking in Stafford.

 

[joshua]

Emotional blackmail, "you want free parking them you must see culture suffer" since when has car park fees been ringfenced to cover the costs specific costs of cultural resosces

 

[Franklin_Delano_Roosevelt]

To be honest I find all this talk of car parking charges killing the town frankly baffling. There are plenty of free places to park in Stafford, you can park in all of the Supermarket car parks for at least 2 hours, some 3 - flippin heck you could shop around the whole of the town two or three times over in that time.
Car Parking charges are an excuse to the real problems that rents are too high & people are addicted to cheap internet shopping whereby big companies like Amazon can trade tax free. There is no way the High Street can compete on a level playing field with that. Why walk the few hundred yards into the town from the free 2 hour parking at somewhere like Asda when you can probably just get whatever you want in there anyway.
Rents, online tax undercutting and laziness are the key problems -parking is a poor excuse.

 

[Gramaisc]

To be honest I find all this talk of car parking charges killing the town frankly baffling. There are plenty of free places to park in Stafford, you can park in all of the Supermarket car parks for at least 2 hours, some 3 - flippin heck you could shop around the whole of the town two or three times over in that time.

I never pay for parking in Stafford - 2 hours at Lidl is the usual approach. Sometimes, though, I'll use the 2 hour spaces outside the Island Vets - beware if you do use that area, as the ones up the side, the Old White Lion Street, are only 1 hour spaces - I suspect a good few get caught by assuming that they're also 2 hours...

 

[Franklin_Delano_Roosevelt]

I never pay for parking in Stafford - 2 hours at Lidl is the usual approach. Sometimes, though, I'll use the 2 hour spaces outside the Island Vets - beware if you do use that area, as the ones up the side, the Old White Lion Street, are only 1 hour spaces - I suspect a good few get caught by assuming that they're also 2 hours...

Exactly, there are loads of free places to park. I have never once paid to park in the town. People should stop using this as an excuse & get out there and support the High Street

 

[Gramaisc]

Exactly, there are loads of free places to park. I have never once paid to park in the town. People should stop using this as an excuse & get out there and support the High Street

It's getting to be a bit of a chicken-and-egg thing, though. I'm not the ideal consumer, but there's very little left for me - I have a look round when I've been into the bank - I go round the charity shops, Wilko's, the Works, Rymans - and Millet's would have been on the list - that's about it now, almost everything else has gone, often years ago..

Once in a blue Moon, I'll have a look in Waterstone's or Smith's and, maybe, HMV....

 

[Franklin_Delano_Roosevelt]

It's getting to be a bit of a chicken-and-egg thing, though. I'm not the ideal consumer, but there's very little left for me - I have a look round when I've been into the bank - I go round the charity shops, Wilko's, the Works, Rymans - and Millet's would have been on the list - that's about it now, almost everything else has gone, often years ago..

Once in a blue Moon, I'll have a look in Waterstone's or Smith's and, maybe, HMV....

I agree with that. It becomes a self fulfilling prophecy. As less people visit the town then less businesses can survive and thus there is less choice - unless you like Pound shops, gambling dens or charity shops that is

I would imagine though that most people don't shop for more than 2-3 hours, it is certainly a generous amount of time to take in Stafford town shops. If people are visiting and staying less then 2-3 hours AND are paying to park then they are fools and as the saying goes a fool and his/her money......

 

[tek-monkey]

Clothes - Nowhere in Stafford sells what I like
Shoes - Nowhere in Stafford sells what I like
Electrical items - Nowhere in Stafford sells what I want at a competitive price
Food - I buy after work, so only supermarkets open

I'm not spending money just to prop up failing businesses when they don't sell the items I am after anyway. Typical example pubs that wont sell a good bottled cider, despite being asked. Its their decision, just don't expect my money. Give the customers what they want (or at least what they think they want) and you will flourish. Don't and you will fail.

If only all customers had the same wants/needs!

 

[Carole]

We went to Teignmouth the other week and it cost £1.10 for more than an hour and a half up to 24 hours. Think it was about 50p for less than an hour and a half.

What was wonderful though was all the small independent shops thriving, lots of different shops that make you want to stay and browse.

When I go to Birmingham I pay £4 for 5 hours in the car park behind Marks and Spencer.
I pay it because I want to shop there.

I also think that the reason that Stafford is in the state it's in is not to do with parking charges, it's because the rates are too high.

 

[shoes]

Clothes - Nowhere in Stafford sells what I like
Shoes - Nowhere in Stafford sells what I like
Electrical items - Nowhere in Stafford sells what I want at a competitive price
Food - I buy after work, so only supermarkets open

I'm not spending money just to prop up failing businesses when they don't sell the items I am after anyway. Typical example pubs that wont sell a good bottled cider, despite being asked. Its their decision, just don't expect my money. Give the customers what they want (or at least what they think they want) and you will flourish. Don't and you will fail.

If only all customers had the same wants/needs!

I'd pretty much typed this exact reply and then scrolled up to see if anything else was worth commenting on and saw this.

So yeah, what he said, with the exception of shoes - I am split between the internets and Jens Shoe Shed/the shoe place in seighford. As I have yeti feet (UK13/14) I get my skater shoes from the internet and my smart shoes from the other two aforementioned.

 

[Bob]

I think shops need to re think their opening times, the majority of people work between 9 and 5 but the shops are only open between 9 and 5. Anyone working outside of the town doesn’t really have time to drive in, park, shop and get back to work within 45 mins or an hour.



The town is suffering and the better places are closing because the majority of people shopping there in the day are students, the un employed and the elderly and the majority of these people have little spare money.





These out of town places such as Merry Hell are busiest on the late night opening days. The added bonus of free parking also removes the hassle of finding the correct amount of loose change and worrying about what time you need to be back. I hate these places if I’m honest but if I’m going shopping I will go to Stoke, Telford or Birmingham because of the choice of shops.

 

[shoes]

I think shops need to re think their opening times, the majority of people work between 9 and 5 but the shops are only open between 9 and 5. Anyone working outside of the town doesn’t really have time to drive in, park, shop and get back to work within 45 mins or an hour.



The town is suffering and the better places are closing because the majority of people shopping there in the day are students, the un employed and the elderly and the majority of these people have little spare money.





These out of town places such as Merry Hell are busiest on the late night opening days. The added bonus of free parking also removes the hassle of finding the correct amount of loose change and worrying about what time you need to be back. I hate these places if I’m honest but if I’m going shopping I will go to Stoke, Telford or Birmingham because of the choice of shops.

Particularly for people like us who aren't within a stone's throw of the local CBD either!

Incidentally, I find forums are the busiest between the hours of 0900 and 1730

 

[tek-monkey]

I think shops need to re think their opening times, the majority of people work between 9 and 5 but the shops are only open between 9 and 5. Anyone working outside of the town doesn’t really have time to drive in, park, shop and get back to work within 45 mins or an hour.

Exactly, their business model hasn't changed from the days where a family had one worker and one spender. In the good old days you'd go out to work safe in the knowledge that the missus would have wandered round the shops with the kids and got everything needed that morning, ensuring you had a decent meal on the table when you got home. Now your wages are so crap she has to work too, so neither of you can go shopping during the day and you also have to pay for childcare.

Thats progress for ya.

 

[John Marwood]

We went to Teignmouth the other week and it cost £1.10 for more than an hour and a half up to 24 hours. Think it was about 50p for less than an hour and a half.

What was wonderful though was all the small independent shops thriving, lots of different shops that make you want to stay and browse.

When I go to Birmingham I pay £4 for 5 hours in the car park behind Marks and Spencer.
I pay it because I want to shop there.

I also think that the reason that Stafford is in the state it's in is not to do with parking charges, it's because the rates are too high.

Birmingham parking - £2.50 all day, one street down from the Hippodrome, take the first left after the concrete pagoda

 

[Franklin_Delano_Roosevelt]

Exactly, their business model hasn't changed from the days where a family had one worker and one spender. In the good old days you'd go out to work safe in the knowledge that the missus would have wandered round the shops with the kids and got everything needed that morning, ensuring you had a decent meal on the table when you got home. Now your wages are so crap she has to work too, so neither of you can go shopping during the day and you also have to pay for childcare.

Thats progress for ya.

Wages that are crap are only part of the problem when it comes to the spending power of families - the extortionate cost of housing these days is the biggest reason that your working Man / shopping & home caring Wife / Children utopia has vanished. Pre the Nu Labour housing boom you could buy a very nice house for x3 an average salary - now it is more like at least x5 times if you are lucky. Rents are equally as extortionate.

Back onto the point, most of the 9-5 people have at least a day a week free or perhaps an entire weekend - Saturday has always been a "traditional" shopping day. Last time I looked High St shops were open most of the day on a Saturday. OK the High Street may not be so well stocked anymore with all of your latest clothes, shiny electronic goods etc but whos fault is that? Is it the fault of tax dodging online retailers & Supermarkets offering deals that the High Street can't match? Is it that people are too lazy to get off their i-pad obsessed behinds to actually visit a real shop? Is it the fault of people who won't visit a shop unless it has complementary parking right outside the door with an extra wide bay for an extra wide arse?
Of course not, it is all down to the lack of free town centre parking.

 

[tek-monkey]

I visit town most saturdays, just not to buy clothes, shoes, electrical items......

 

[Mudhoney]

I agree about the rates being too high.
There was a lovely little shop opened up down Mill St a while ago called the "The Cupcake Queen" . The ladies who ran it were very friendly and the place had a really nice 'ambiance' to it. I used to enjoy going for a coffee and cake down there (making sure I had enough time on the car-park of course) with my daughter who was a member of the knitting club they set up. Unfortunately the business rates were killing them and eventually they had to close down.

 

[Bob]

I visit town most saturdays, just not to buy clothes, shoes, electrical items......

What do you buy?

That really just leaves food, beer and flowers.

Or a cash convertors loan!

 

[Bob]

I agree about the rates being too high.
There was a lovely little shop opened up down Mill St a while ago called the "The Cupcake Queen" . The ladies who ran it were very friendly and the place had a really nice 'ambiance' to it. I used to enjoy going for a coffee and cake down there (making sure I had enough time on the car-park of course) with my daughter who was a member of the knitting club they set up. Unfortunately the business rates were killing them and eventually they had to close down.

Wihile the business rate probably had a lot to do with it, her personal circumstances forced her to close up the shop. She still does the cakes from home like she did before opening the shop and delivers them to you.