How has your high street changed?

[Deleted member 26715]

There's a project in Scotland to put "pods" into empty retail spaces and turn them into offices, study areas etc. The aim is for "20 minute" communities where no-one has to commute more than 20 minutes. The pods are like very fancy portacabins, equipped with electrics, broadband etc.

Haven't the Japanese been doing that for years & only going home at the weekends

 

[Joey Shabadoo]

Haven't the Japanese been doing that for years & only going home at the weekends

I don't think these pods are for living in though.

 

[Petrichorwheels]

I enjoy the fact that my old town has the job centre next to the wetherspoons, I'm sure the JC is keeping that wetherspoons in business!

Which town is this?

 

[Salad Dodger]

Our NatWest Bank has become a (not very good, apparently) takeaway pizza place.
Our Lloyds Bank has become a cocktail bar and escape room.
Tesco express has moved over the road into a larger shop unit, and has adjusted it's prices upwards to finance the move.
Poundland has taken on the old Tesco express shop unit.
A knick knacks/gift shop has closed and looks like it is being turned into a hairdressers, of which we seem to have a profusion already.
A small plants and garden type shop has given up, although I believe they still have an out of town plant nursery/shop.
Several micropubs have come and gone. One of them has been replaced by another micropub, which seems to be really successful, whereas it's predecessor was not.
We have plenty of charity shops and coffee shops, but are rather poorly lacking tattoo parlours.

"That concludes my unscientific data analysis for today", a local spokesperson said, adding "I can't stand here all day counting shops. It's too cold."

 

[Petrichorwheels]

I really don't understand the boom in tattoo places as highlighted in the beeb article. Surely that can't last and they will start to close?

 

[oldwheels]

Used to be a grand wee shop in Tobermory- sold everything from pipes to paint. Near the museum - still there?

Edit - I met the famous Tobermory cat there, sleeping in a box through the back.

That would be Brown's Ironmongers. Established before the Noah's flood.
Still there but don't know if Brown still own it but just come under younger and forward looking new owners or managers who are local.
I had an account there settled monthly and I heard a comment once when buying wine that only those short of cash bought things there on account. Those with cash went to the coop where it was cheaper.
The cat but perhaps not the same one is still around taking life easy out in the street on sunny days. Need to look out for it when driving along that bit of street on sunny days as it tends to sit on the road side of parked cars.
Gus Stewart the artist once had a bitter dispute with somebody who wrote a children's book on the cat as he reckoned he had invented the name and it was his property.

 

[oldwheels]

Indeed, you'll never get fruit and veg that barely lasts the journey home again

I buy all my fruit and veg on my visits with a car to Oban from Aldi/Lidl and stock up for up to a month. Carrots never last long but long enough and I am still using apples about a month from my last shopping trip. Onions can last for months and cabbages I am still using from the same trip as the apples.
It all comes down to domestic storage to keep things like many vegetables for a long time.

 

[postman]

i normally only go to Leeds centre once a month.I cant stand the place.The council over forty years have tried to arty farty it spent millions and its been wasted Why change something that worked for generations the Market is now sheet.We have a cunning plan to move inside a few years i cant wait.

 

[Petrichorwheels]

I buy all my fruit and veg on my visits with a car to Oban from Aldi/Lidl and stock up for up to a month. Carrots never last long but long enough and I am still using apples about a month from my last shopping trip. Onions can last for months and cabbages I am still using from the same trip as the apples.
It all comes down to domestic storage to keep things like many vegetables for a long time.

Exactly. Most of my shopping comes (by bike) from aldi and lidl, plus sometimes veg from a market where i quite often buy their late bargain stuff. Kept in a sufficiently cool fridge I never have any issues with anyone's veg, lidl or aldi. Have also used lidl's in warmer bits of the world and neither me or others have had issues. Maybe some folks like chucking stuff out. Am always amazed at food wastage figures.

 

[Petrichorwheels]

i normally only go to Leeds centre once a month.I cant stand the place.The council over forty years have tried to arty farty it spent millions and its been wasted Why change something that worked for generations the Market is now sheet.We have a cunning plan to move inside a few years i cant wait.

Yes leeds market WAS amazing. Can only assume that the good folks of leeds deserted it, started shopping elsewhere.

 

[Regular.Cyclist]

Kept in a sufficiently cool fridge

Aside from things like soft fruits, most other fruits and vegetables should not require refrigeration.

 

[Petrichorwheels]

Aside from things like soft fruits, most other fruits and vegetables should not require refrigeration.

Stuff keeps longer in a cool fridge. Just does. Once picked veg is no longer alive you know. I've kept cabbages for ages, like them as there is near zero wasted. On the way home yesterday i did pass on cabbages in sainsburys as they were hardly green on their way to yellow. Maybe due to low turnover - folks going to lidl for the fast moving green ones.

 

[oldwheels]

Aside from things like soft fruits, most other fruits and vegetables should not require refrigeration.

I do not refrigerate anything unless it is showing signs of getting a bit past it when it is cooked and frozen. I use string bags in a cool cupboard for most.
I remember helping my father many years ago to put apples into winter storage. They were placed in open trays in a cool area and the secret was to keep them all separate with a gap between individual apples. This of course needed lots of space which most modern houses will not have.

 

[Deleted member 26715]

Yes leeds market WAS amazing. Can only assume that the good folks of leeds deserted it, started shopping elsewhere.

But is this just not a generation thing, the younger generation have never only had the market to get fresh food from, we're in our early 60's & we've never done the town centre shopping & market thing, married in 1982, Hillards were in the town, bought out by Tesco's & moved to a bigger store. Our kids in their 30's have never known anything but Supermarket shopping & I suspect their kids will go even more towards online.

If anything even small shops will migrate away from the centre & chase the residents, maybe we need to go back to having small convenience shops on all housing estates, along with hairdressers etc. This might be different in big cities but it's the way forward in semi rural areas.

 

[Regular.Cyclist]

Stuff keeps longer in a cool fridge. Just does.

Not always the case. There are a number of items you should not store in a fridge.