Is the High Street doomed

[Monkeygrinder's Organ]

Went to posh Kingston (upon Thames) yesterday (hospital visit); seemed to be quite a few shut/empty shop properties around the Market place.
Thought it was well well-off?

Kingston isn't all that posh to be fair, not around the centre anyway. Not in the way that Richmond is just down the road.

 

[brogdale]

Kingston isn't all that posh to be fair, not around the centre anyway. Not in the way that Richmond is just down the road.

Maybe; seems like it when you come from Croydon way tbh.

 

[Idaho]

Maybe; seems like it when you come from Croydon way tbh.

Dhaka seems posh when you've just come from Croydon.

 

[skyscraper101]

We were in a Bella Italia near Leicester square last week. Not five minutes walk from another one. We were the only customers, and we had some half price voucher. God knows what they're paying in rent for that location.

Also worth noting that Pizza Express also always have voucher deals on. I’ve never been in one in recent times without a 2 for 1 voucher.

Having said that - I’m not often in one anyway. I’d rather go to Wagamama most of the time if we’re talking mid-price dining.

 

[brogdale]

Dhaka seems posh when you've just come from Croydon.

Not this again.

 

[pesh]

We were in a Bella Italia near Leicester square last week. Not five minutes walk from another one. We were the only customers, and we had some half price voucher. God knows what they're paying in rent for that location.

those are rammed at lunch and dinnertime with people queuing out the door.

 

[Artaxerxes]

The vouchers usually don't count at weekends mind which is when you most want a meal out.

 

[hash tag]

Ted Baker also having money probs?

 

[Proper Tidy]

Ted Baker also having money probs?

They were always shit but see a lot more of them in the sales rack since the sex pest danger stuff came out

 

[pinkmonkey]

We were in a Bella Italia near Leicester square last week. Not five minutes walk from another one. We were the only customers, and we had some half price voucher. God knows what they're paying in rent for that location.

I get vouchers via email for Eds Easy Diner. I don’t think I’ve ever been? We eat out about three times a year but it’s aways at the pub.

 

[Badgers]

Ted Baker also having money probs?

Heart bleeds etc

 

[Proper Tidy]

I get vouchers via email for Eds Easy Diner. I don’t think I’ve ever been? We eat out about three times a year but it’s aways at the pub.

I went to one once (cos my mate who I was with is called eddie) - it is really bad food, it's like a film hollywood diner but it's just bad onion rings and hot dogs. Properly grim food, amazing it gets business.

The only chains I don't mind are pizza express and wagamamas (which gets loads of shit but it does a ginger udon noodle dish and a spicy firecracker rice thing which are both nice, although the massive tables are terrible and everybody gets their food separately so you can spend twenty minutes watching everybody else eat). Every other one is crap, all the 'italian' places like bella etc are all crap. Can't get my head around paying £12 for average pasta out anyway, unless it's lasagne and chips for half that cost. Half decent pub meal almost always a better bet. Tbf I eat out about twice a year these days so fuck knows, maybe stuff has changed.

 

[SpookyFrank]

I went to one once (cos my mate who I was with is called eddie) - it is really bad food, it's like a film hollywood diner but it's just bad onion rings and hot dogs. Properly grim food, amazing it gets business.

The only chains I don't mind are pizza express and wagamamas (which gets loads of shit but it does a ginger udon noodle dish and a spicy firecracker rice thing which are both nice, although the massive tables are terrible and everybody gets their food separately so you can spend twenty minutes watching everybody else eat). Every other one is crap, all the 'italian' places like bella etc are all crap. Can't get my head around paying £12 for average pasta out anyway, unless it's lasagne and chips for half that cost. Half decent pub meal almost always a better bet. Tbf I eat out about twice a year these days so fuck knows, maybe stuff has changed.

Do you still get free green tea at wagamama? The basic veggie noodle stir fry is good. I did like the chili squid back in my carnivorous days as well.

 

[pinkmonkey]

I went to one once (cos my mate who I was with is called eddie) - it is really bad food, it's like a film hollywood diner but it's just bad onion rings and hot dogs. Properly grim food, amazing it gets business.

The only chains I don't mind are pizza express and wagamamas (which gets loads of shit but it does a ginger udon noodle dish and a spicy firecracker rice thing which are both nice, although the massive tables are terrible and everybody gets their food separately so you can spend twenty minutes watching everybody else eat). Every other one is crap, all the 'italian' places like bella etc are all crap. Can't get my head around paying £12 for average pasta out anyway, unless it's lasagne and chips for half that cost. Half decent pub meal almost always a better bet. Tbf I eat out about twice a year these days so fuck knows, maybe stuff has changed.

i also don’t mind Wagamamas but if I’m in the West End on my own and its lunchtime, then its Eat Tokyo everytime. Bento boxes start at £7.50 - so much food you can’t breathe afterwards. A lamb shish with everything (rice, salad, tea, bread - everything) on the green lanes is similarly a bargain. So the chains don’t get my vote.

 

[Proper Tidy]

Do you still get free green tea at wagamama? The basic veggie noodle stir fry is good. I did like the chili squid back in my carnivorous days as well.

Tbh it's about two years since I've had a wagamamas, think they still did the green tea then

 

[hash tag]

Wheres the line drawn from a place being small to a large, despised chain. I remember Franco Manca being feted as best pizza in town when they had an outlet in Brixton Market. They now have countless outlets nationwide. They have stuck to a small menu, sour dough bases and quality ingredients.

 

[mx wcfc]

Wheres the line drawn from a place being small to a large, despised chain. I remember Franco Manca being feted as best pizza in town when they had an outlet in Brixton Market. They now have countless outlets nationwide. They have stuck to a small menu, sour dough bases and quality ingredients.

Sticking to quality and not being owned by private equity must be fairly high up the list. Nought wrong with a decent restaurant expanding and spreading. It's the staying independent and sticking to quality bit that is hard.

 

[Marty1]

Amazon collection centers/cashless food warehouses

Amazon are on a mission for global domination, they are expanding Amazon lockers to such an extent that there will be one on every street corner unless they aren’t broken up to stop them being a monopoly.

Last year I delivered about 30 Amazon parcels to a food bank

 

[hash tag]

May, not on every corner, why would they when there are lots of empty units going begging....just think, an Amazon store, a place full of collection lockers of varying sizes. Why not?

 

[cupid_stunt]

Jessops owner plans to call in administrators

The owner of camera chain Jessops, Dragons Den star Peter Jones, plans to call in administrators to help salvage the struggling High Street brand.

Mr Jones bought the chain from administrators in 2013 after it collapsed under £81m of debt. But since then, the firm, which has 46 shops, has not made a single profit and losses have mounted in recent years.

Now Mr Jones reportedly intends to seek a rescue deal for the firm's property arm, JR Prop Limited.

Last year alone, the business, which employs 500 people, saw its rent costs increase to £4.7m. Lease charges, which include rent on stores, increased from £4.4m in 2017.

 

[Poi E]

Thought they'd gone bust years ago.

 

[cupid_stunt]

Thought they'd gone bust years ago.

They did in 2013, and 187 stores closed. Then Peter Jones bought the brand from the administrators, re-opened a couple of dozen stores, and opened a few new ones inside Sainsbury's larger supermarkets, taking it to 46 outlets.

 

[hash tag]

So multi millionaire Peter Jones is calling in admin to Jessops, cash in his chips and make another few quid in the process

 

[kebabking]

So multi millionaire Peter Jones is calling in admin to Jessops, cash in his chips and make another few quid in the process

I don't see how he will make a few quid in the process of Jessops being in administration - and then, presumably, liquidation.

Administration is where they try to sell it on, in whole or in parts, and I rather doubt there'll be any buyers - liquidation is where they try to flog the assets of the company to pay off creditors. Jones, assuming he's a creditor, will be about the last person to get any money.

There may be questions about how the company was run - debt laddling, pension pot etc.. but he's unlikely to make any money from Jessops from now on...

 

[hash tag]

PJ could have taken massive pay/bonuses. He could have burdened the company with lots of debt, sold premises and leased them back...there are many ways an owner of an ailing company can line his pockets.

 

[Badgers]

 

[hash tag]

Surprised they were still going TBF. 318 shops, several thousand staff

 

[pinkmonkey]

Yep, can’t really compete with the supermarkets (or charity shops).

 

[cupid_stunt]

Mothercare to close 60 stores, putting 900 jobs at risk

Those closures over the last year doesn't seem to have helped them, their whole UK retail operation could well end-up in administration this week, with 500 f/t & 2000 p/t jobs at risk.

Mothercare is finalising a radical restructuring plan that could see its British operations placed into administration this week, dealing a fresh blow to a beleaguered retail sector.

Sky News has learnt that the company, which is now dominated by its franchising business outside the UK, has put administrators on standby to take over its domestic division within days.

Ailing Mothercare lines up administrators for UK business

 

[cupid_stunt]

Bit sooner than expected, administrators have now been appointed by Mothercare.