Another Tesco for Newbury Options

[dannyboy]

The Narrowboat is on a separate site, if their customers have to stop parking on the Poundstretcher/Tesco car park it is not really Tesco's problem. Comet and the others can go wherever they like, once again, its not Tesco's problem.

The point in that Tesco will hope that residents from Turnpike etc will use this new store rather than passing it to go to Sainsburys, LIDL or ALDI. Its probably a pretty good site for them. I assume the store will not be another superstore, so the parking will probably suffice.

Lidl have about 40 spaces at most on their site, shared with 2 other retailers. There should be plent of parking where Tesco are planning to open up.

[ArchitectRIBA]

It looks as though locally the councillors have no teeth against the Tesco juggernaut, nor will this government (or a tory one) do anything with a company they deem to be so successful. We need more control over the big supermarkets who HAVE taken trade away from smaller businesses in the name of value, else this retail sector will go pear shaped like the banks when they decided to buy up all the building societies (or each other), where has that got us all ?

[blackdog]

...taken out of business leaving no competition.

Currys are still going strong, aren't they? I've not been up to the retail park in the last few months.

Comet are obviously not interested in opening another store in Newbury, presumably because they weren't making much in the London Road one - which, let's face it - was pretty naff. If the Newbury store is an average example of their business they will be going the way of Woollies before long.

[blackdog]

It looks as though locally the councillors have no teeth against the Tesco juggernaut, nor will this government (or a tory one) do anything with a company they deem to be so successful. We need more control over the big supermarkets who HAVE taken trade away from smaller businesses in the name of value, else this retail sector will go pear shaped like the banks when they decided to buy up all the building societies (or each other), where has that got us all ?

How do you decide which businesses to protect from competition? How would you propose that we regulate the retail trade to ensure that the smaller businesses survive? Retail shopping is democracy in action, people vote with their wallets and go where they can shop more cheaply or more conveniently - is it the government's business to go against what the people evidently want?

[On the edge]

How do you decide which businesses to protect from competition? How would you propose that we regulate the retail trade to ensure that the smaller businesses survive? Retail shopping is democracy in action, people vote with their wallets and go where they can shop more cheaply or more conveniently - is it the government's business to go against what the people evidently want?

Of course, some sectors of the retail trade are more democratic than others..remember Northern Rock? In reality a failed retail business, bailed out by the government.....

[ArchitectRIBA]

How do you decide which businesses to protect from competition? How would you propose that we regulate the retail trade to ensure that the smaller businesses survive? Retail shopping is democracy in action, people vote with their wallets and go where they can shop more cheaply or more conveniently - is it the government's business to go against what the people evidently want?

Sadly the politicians are failing to deal with the problem that large successfuk companies often easily have the finances to do what they want, alot of small traders seriously struggle to pay the leases on the units in this town which are well known to be very high. I know what our office pays in rent and council tax, its scary.
So how do you regulate - maybe a portion of the business rates that large companies pay such as Vodafone, Tesco, Waitrose etc needs to be redistributed to reduce council tax on small business premises under a certain size.
A windfall tax on the banks that are starting to make a lot of money again (before they dish it out in bonuses)?
If there are empty units (offices and shops) in the town why not encourage a reduction in the council tax to increase occupancy.
I just think its time the pendulum swung the other way a bit. Afterall the more trade the town can bring in, this will create increased footfall for the big shops too - is that not fair and democratic ?

[Guest_Newbury Expat_*]

Sadly the politicians are failing to deal with the problem that large successfuk companies often easily have the finances to do what they want, alot of small traders seriously struggle to pay the leases on the units in this town which are well known to be very high. I know what our office pays in rent and council tax, its scary.
So how do you regulate - maybe a portion of the business rates that large companies pay such as Vodafone, Tesco, Waitrose etc needs to be redistributed to reduce council tax on small business premises under a certain size.
A windfall tax on the banks that are starting to make a lot of money again (before they dish it out in bonuses)?
If there are empty units (offices and shops) in the town why not encourage a reduction in the council tax to increase occupancy.
I just think its time the pendulum swung the other way a bit. Afterall the more trade the town can bring in, this will create increased footfall for the big shops too - is that not fair and democratic ?

I agree that I would love to see small traders flourish in town centre's but they're fighting against the huge momentum of the large out of town retailers and have been for some time now.

Convenience has taken precedence over quality and personal service which you often find with local individual traders. While price has a part to play in the independent's demise over the years, it's also the fact that people want to do their shopping under one roof (hence the advent of the Tesco megastores).

Unless you can change consumer habits en masse, any sort of tax break (or other incentive) is likely to be a sand wall in the path of an increasing tide level. Fact is very few independents will be able to survive in this economy unless they already have a well established customer base. Sad to see it happen.

[Iommi]

The public gets what the public wants.

[Sarah]

The public gets what the public wants.

True, and then they turn round and complain about it.

[Guest_Bill1_*]

The public gets what the public wants.

Copywrite Mr P Weller 1980!

[ArchitectRIBA]

HURRAH ! Tesco beaten by village of Holmfirth (for now). It took over a thousand objections - very democratic me thinks! It's a shame there is so much complacency down here just think what Newbury would have been like if Newburians clubbed together more often. By the way the Competition Commission are also looking at introducing a Competition Test for large supermarket planning applications, the Office of Fair Trading would advise on the potential impact of any new development. HURRAH HURRAH someone somewhere in government must have been reading our rants!!!!!!!