More about Tescopoly
From Simon Hoggart, Guardian today:
"I've been enjoying a new book called Tescopoly by Andrew Simms. I think what councils don't realise when they are bullied into giving permission for yet another Tesco, sometimes the third in a small market town, is that big supermarkets such the money out of communities. If you buy meat at the local butcher, he spends much of his earnings on going to the barber, or solicitor, or greengrocer, or hiring a cleaning lady. Money spent at Tesco disappears to headquarters, never to be seen again".
posted by Fighting for East Devon's future @ 2:10 pm
7 Comments:
Just for info, the book isn't available yet, but it is true that Andrew Simms was one of those involved in the 2005 survey that found the most cloned town in the country.
If I recall correctly, Exeter came first...
What was the criteria of the cloning? ie what was he looking for?
If I remember correctly, I was upset when I moved down here that there was no Starbucks or Wagamama's.
Be careful what you wish for, springs to mind!!
Now you're asking!
I think it was the number of chain stores in the high street, the download for it is here
I'll have to re-read it myself before anyone shouts at me:-)
I think Exeter won because it had only one independent shop in its entire main shopping street.
This would, however, still be an improvement on post-developer Seaton where there would be no independent shops at all if a major mega-supermarket comes to town.
All we will get is a retail vampire.
That's very interesting. Especially as if you get off the high street in Exeter, there are loads of independent shops; esp around the Mint area. Some real gems. Strange that they don't take the whole town shopping area. I never felt Exeter was a cloned town at all. Certainly not as bad as some I've been to.
Yes, in a way the results of the survey don't quite reflect the thrust of what they're getting at iyswim. I came from a large town that had one street with all the chain stores, and one next to it without any...but the out of town areas were big-shed malls.
I think the real problem is those towns are big compared to Seaton, and something like a 5000 square metre superstore will just become its own shopping centre and dictate the buying habits rather than be a valid alternative.
In detail we don't have a "side street" in that scenario, but we'd get an out of town retail shed, that would become the town centre. Remember, the developer calls the yard next to it the "town square".
But it is an interesting document away from the hyperbole of the survey and I think is worth noting.
I think the difference in Seaton is that if you take a city it can support cloned AND independent shops. In Seaton the retail sheds will become the "Town Centre" as far as shoppers and tourists are concerned and there is no obvious link between that and the current town centre - even in the masterplan that's where you see "Town Square" marked (even though it isn't, just a thoroughfare between shops and the tramway).
You can't see Fore Street from the Underfleet car park - quite the opposite. And if you have only max 3 hours parking before you get a £70 fine you haven't got much incentive to venture further afield - especially if you have already shopped - you are more likely to go to the seafront, especially if the weather is good.
Tourism consultants use the "400 footsteps" idea I gather. A very large percentage of tourists are not prepared to walk more than 400 footsteps between activities. And as this country becomes more and more unhealthy, perhaps that will go down!
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