The Evil Decline of Britain’s High Streets
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- čas přidán 6. 09. 2024
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The British highstreet is in decline, we hear it all the time - so today I wanted to do a deep dive into the history of this dilemma, and work out who is profiting from killing the highstreet.
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I was born in Dunstable but moved to Ireland when I was 8. It was very weird for me to hear your voice shout out "Queensway Hall" as I haven't heard these words in this order since I was a literal child.
Squarespace have absolutely terrible customer support. They ghost you as soon as you sign up
Many Brits, old and young, man and woman give off a very eerie, pedo, dont trust me i am a serial killer, and proud of it type of vibe. Very eerie.
Great video. We're all experiencing this life together. The greedy ones just don't understand that.
13:30 Your pound changes hand 13 times with VAT deducted and you have a Penny left.
This should be common knowledge, locally spent money stays local, giving all of your pay to a company based in an off shore tax haven will always end badly.
Local businesses no longer invest in their customers, so why should customers invest in local businesses!
How can we incentives local spending. I know some villages in Wales stop super stores from coming to the area. When superstores are permitted they are not allowed to have bakers/butchers in the store.
It's a lot easier said than done when you are counting your pennies.If you have a family to feed and clothe, bills to pay, and the rest, shopping local is unaffordable. Why would you shop at Sidhu's Supermarket at the end of the street, when Tesco's have a wider range of cheaper products? That's if there even is a Sidhu's Supermarket on your street any more, and it's not now a Spar or a Londis?
Eh, local businesses buy products and services from outside the community. So money leaves. What is kept in the community is the gross margin of a local business.
It is common knowledge
At last, a CZcamsr who can explain it, rather than just wandering around filming it and expressing shock and shame. Great content.
And of course, prompting everyone they talk to to blame it all on immigration and homeless folk ...
*I think I'm just going to lie down and die if I have to watch another of those, morons.
Exactly this
This is a great comment. I'm so tired of seeing so called youtube "journalists" who just walk around exaggerating gloom and doom, stoking fear in order to get views. At least this guy explains the actual situation.
He's a man of the people. He doesn't dress like Piers Morgan. I'd buy him a beer.
It’s crazy how after the crash, the attitude was the keep calm and carry on. The government just thought (or prayed) things would get better by itself. 14 years later we are still feeling the effects of it
The government didn't just allow this to happen, though, they've overseen policies that caused this decline in the first place. It's all by design.
they misunderstood the carry on bit; it’s carry on to do smth, not do nothing.
@@Hashterixand the Bank of England control the government...
Don't let foreign money dicate your country it's that simple
@@HashterixRight!! It was the general public that carried on and hoped that things would get back to normal! They were happy working from home and shopping online; what did they think was going to happen to the hugh street!! All by design!!
It’s like a vicious cycle; the more we shop online, the more stores close, so when we _do_ take the time to try and source things locally, the less likely we’ll be able to find what we want, which takes us right back to online shopping.
People always choose convenience, but it can come with a heavy cost.
The problem is also on the side of the sellers.
Sometimes I want to buy a product online, directly at a shop or from a company. But then they only sell it via amazon.
this makes me glad that i do spend my money locally bc i dont like shopping online
😩😩 i would prefer to shop local
@@yeahyeah3013I agree with you, dont buy online at all
Out of 3 butchers, we had only one now remains opens part time. I was talking with him and he said that he decided to include many items that most people pick up daily or every few days. It's helped him stay afloat. Our town was beautiful, it had a town square and many different shops. The first death knell was it being turned into a parking area, removing 2 thirds of the square. Since then all the grocery shops, green grocers, butchers, clothes and shoe shop have gone bust. We're left with hair dressers, bookies, pubs and a Coop that charges exuberant prices
you missed something, the people who used to go shopping on high streets at M&S, BHS, Fenwicks etc and have lunch in a restaurant won't now because they don't feel safe on the high streets, the high streets are full of people who are not shopping in those types of shops, they might shop in a sports shop, a phone shop, and have a McDonalds and the middle-class customers do not want to be anywhere near them, they now the middle class sit in the back garden shopping online as they have a bar-b-que and tend their flower beds, far more civilised, peaceful and safe. the new high street shoppers don't have nearly as much disposable income and this is why these shops have closed, it is all about feeling safe, being with people like you, and not being near people you do not trust or like,
Again one of the most common frustrations is that why are local businesses, especially high street businesses and garages are always only open when everyone else is working. If you're business is only open 9-5 and I'm working, I'm literally never going to be able to spend money there.
If restaurants want to survive, be online, garages need to be able to offer mobile, pick up or call outs to customers.
I always had this problem with banks. Working a 9-5 always meant that I had a limited window of Saturdays.
I get ya, I know the struggle, having to book annual leave to just take your car for an MOT is frustrating af.
But on the other hand. Who wants to live in a world where we’re all working unsociable hours, I know I don’t want to work shite shift times.
Indeed, it's bonkers. The high street still operates around a societal structure (where stay at home wives went out to do the shopping during the day) that's been gone for at least 30-40 years.
@@FuntClaps101 I know but a garage should be able to take "After hours" drop off then deliver the car back to you as an example. I don't expect mechanics to work at night but the business should be able to at least take bookings over weekends and evenings.
Very good point
It breaks my heart, bro..
Memories as a kid watching Toys'r'us ads "there's a magical place..", shopping for my school set and pens at Woolworths, working at BHS early 2000s and Debenhams Oxford Street from 2013 until it's closure (best night job ever), going cinemas with school friends then a Pizza Hut restaurant, yes, a frickin restaurant people.
Going to HMV and buying cds, tshirts and games.
Just the fact that CEX is the Only game store alive today makes me cry to sleep.
Hell, even Leyton Lagoon swimming pool in East London got rid of the famous pool slide and I didn't even notice.
Banks are closing down left, right and centre and reopened as chain coffee shops like Costa.
Not to mention the Mandela Effect on products we purchased back in the day which are different today: Blue Ribbon chocolate bars are now Blue Riband, Snickers that were 25p back in the day was Actually bigger than it's 89p counterpart today.
20p bus journeys that now cost 1.75 and still barely any AC for the sweatbox summers.
No way Leyton Lagoon got rid of the yellow slide?! 😥
@@RendererEP indeed, they did.. I was in shock passing by that way a few weeks back. Apparently it's been gone for years.
Clissold park paddling pool and it's ice cream shack by the tennis courts, gone.
So many childhood memories 😔
@@kmdreacts My nan lived in Leyton until she died, haven't really been back since 2017. When I was little, in summer we used to go to Plaistow park where they had a paddling pool. I think its still there but they haven't filled it in years.
I was just typing "at least Brooks farm is still around" only to check it and realise that closed recently too
There are plenty of game shops, "game" for one, you can buy records from HMV in most towns, nothings changed just the names of the shops, Smyths toys has replaced toys r us, pizza hut is still a restaurant, literally nothing has changed except maybe the name
@@valley_robot there are no "Game" stores where I live anymore. There were 2 that used to be in Stratford, gone. Oxford Street, Gone. Angel Islington, Gone.
And yeah, pizza hut is still around but only delivery stores. Not restaurants you can sit and eat with all you can salad buffet like a Harvester.
That last part really got me. "It´s a week from christmas, look at this." ... I myself own a small town store , and especially last years christmas was dead in the water. We manufacture our own stuff, and usually december is a double average month. We can only produce so much at a time, and we prepare for christmas season throughout the whole year. Last year december was the third best month of the year. My employee got sick for a week, which usually spells doom and chaos in december when we´re down to 2/3 people. But when she recovered and came back she had nothing to do. A week before christmas. Sadly, I had to let her go afterwards and gave her a good recommendation for a store in a larger city. The death creeps in from the small towns towards the cities, then the metropolis. If the good streets in the metropolitan areas can´t hold their shops, something is going very sideways.
Do u have an online shop,being from the US I’d probably never make it to ur shop in person but would luv to give u business ❤
My hometown has really declined over the past 10 years. Only one bank left, all clothes shops gone, most independent shops gone, nowhere to buy video games or electronics anymore, several pubs boarded up. Just Turkish barbers, charity shops, bookies and fast food.
& vape shops 😂
Barbers have a function at least. There need to be cash friendly 'front stores' to launder (drug) money mainly nail salons, kebab / chips shops, bakeries etc.
@@ONYX-365 lol even one of those closed down recently. Can’t say I’m too upset though about that one
Sounds like my town tbh
Same
The death of high street to malls and supermarkets is not just the UK alone but its a global phenomenon. I'm an African and the most classical examples of this phenomenon are seen in South African cities and other major cities around the continent like Harare and Nairobi. The Mall and Megastore phenomenon hit the continent in the the 90s and the early 2000s to the detriment of downtowns and with it multiple high streets. Today, especially in SA, downtowns are really hollowed out or are a pale shadow of what they once were.
Malls are a blight and enrich only property developers, commercial landlords and big retail chains. The government in Cape Town is promoting the provision of public market areas to provide opportunities for individual businesses. The "market" should be truly "free'.
I've always been a big fan of your content since the parkour days but I've particularly been enjoying your more recent style. Keep going sir, great work!
100 years ago, Bradford was way ahead of Leeds in terms of prosperity. It was widely known as the richest city in the UK aside from London. In recent times, it has become a hub for poverty and the city centre has gone completely downhill.
I grew up in Bradford, I rly miss how nice it was when I was little. By the time I hit my teens the city centre stopped being a competitor for Leeds, such a shame. The most beautiful Waterstones they had
*Bradfordistan
@@G36C-556 *Bradistan
Totally agree - I’m from Bradford as well, and moved away 4 years ago. It makes me so sad to see how much it’s gone downhill every time I visit.
A prosperous Bradford, surely not.
The biggest problem is the reduction in people walking by, passing trade was destroyed by supermarkets, online banking (branches closed down), and cheap processed food being the preferred option. Most people don't have to walk outside for any service these days. Combine that with covid and lack of independent business has destroyed it for good.
You may think this is a good thing that we are more efficient with shopping now however it has destroyed the middle class in the country. Without social classes you can never climb out of poverty. You either work for a corporation on the high street or own it, no in between. Its incredibly dystopian and quality of life is reduced in every metric.
Sadly, I firmly believe the west (america in particular) has become an oligarchy. So an insurmountable wealth discrepancy is the goal to achieve and maintain into perpetuity.
Excellent point, if you make it impossible for the small guy to get ahead we all end up working for the international corporations owned by the oligarchs.
Even managers get a terrible pay and have to do many unpaid hours effectively making them work for min or less than min wage
A very well written comment. Wholeheartedly agree..
I get your point, but I don't think managers are quite as badly off as all that.@reheyesd8666
I live in Exeter (I saw the short you made here the other day), and it's interesting to see the contrast between the independent shops and upmarket student hippy types, and the number of homeless people here. Having been both a student at the uni and homeless in the past, it's always stood out to me how expensive it is to be poor. You end up with no choice but to buy the cheap stuff from chains.
i remember christmas shopping in london as a child and it used to be such a magical experience, shame thats gone
there is nothing British left in London ,only hollow corpse of English history or concentrated to landlords who found themselves with immense wealth post 70s that don't know what to do with.
I remember! Hamleys! Looking at awe at all the toys each year when my parents took me there! And toys R us too! Good times 😊😊
@25:30 Hello, French bookseller in Paris here! About France: Amazon charges €0.01 for book deliveries, the ABSOLUTE MINIMUM. This was such a joke. Regular French bookshops cannot afford to send books for free, so we were fucked here too. 🤷🏿 But we have an army of dedicated customers who tells us they don't want to give money to Amazon, and would gladly pay an extra €4-7 to get their books delivered home. They also have a not-so-good reputation for deliveries, so people get fed up and go back to the shops if they can afford it. Also book prices are the same everywhere by law, in order to give a chance to small bookshops who would never be able to compete with Amazon. We were also lucky that bookshops were deemed essential during the pandemic and we were able to stay open under strict safety conditions.
Yep, here in the UK book chains campaigned to end the Net Book Agreement (NBA) where all books were sold for the same price a paperback being e.g.£8.99 - they could not be reduced for sale unless damaged. When that was abolished by the chain stores successful campaign in 1997, all the independent book stores could not compete and lots wnet out of business. Then came Amazon..
"My oven doesn't have hands." was far funnier to me than it had any business being.
And if they did, they would surely be warm anyway.
ALWAYS shop local if you can. Screw big business.
Buy less, but better. The avalanche of crap products is part of the problem, as small shops usually curate their producs a bit better than large franchises.
But Amazon's cheaper😢
The only person being screwed is you. Small shops charge much more than big shops for the same item ... That's why they're going bust. In todays world price matters !!!
@@william_marshalthere is a reason for that but at the same time, in this economy, you can’t justify spending more on a higher quality product when it’s about finding the cheapest option
I’d like to add a couple of small things. First the cost of public transportation is too expensive and to get a bus into the town centre and back often negates the purchase. Leading to more online purchases. Also most commercial landlords are now pension funds or conglomerates who you can’t negotiate over with rent. I believe this was a major issue for both small retailers and large companies like Debenhams. I’ve watched quite a lot of film and tv companies leave soho because of this. The old building are now just Starbucks and we works.
How much is the bus over there
Is public transport run by private companies?
I know our local town struggles mainly due to a combination of lack of parking (and what we have being expensive and not convenient), high rents (landlords wont lower them as it lowers paper value of the asset), and the council not wanting to approve shops that are in demand (hell bent on trying to make the town some upmarket place selling designer lamps or something). The result here is money laundering business's, food places, coffee shops and charity shops only. Sad really, but this is what happens when dinosaurs are in charge of councils and people won't take a hit on finances and lower rent.
i used to rent my flat in london, it was high. But I made very little money after all my taxes and mortgage
same wher ei am, 6 barber son the same street, always empty yet can afford rent, theyre jsut money laundering for drugs
Now that you can't colonize anyone you've turned on to your own people. The Royals probably still have a lot of influence on the goverment
That sounds eerily similar to the Cotswold town I live in, like to a tee.
Not dinosaurs but banksters are in charge. All this doom and gloom is intentional...
I would add a few other points.
1. Because of increased housing prices we have much, much, much less disposable income, Japan is often a case study of a country with no gdp growth, but head out there and you'll see a culture with a lot of shopping, in fact the domestic expenditure in real terms - excluding housing - has been steadily rising, even as gdp as a whole stays flat. In the uk gdp is up, but so are housing costs, which are included in gdp, so us paying more for that is masking the reality of domestic expenditure. (rent, and imputed rent, make up 15% of our gdp)
2. What we do build is shit. You mentioned the blocks of flats being bad, but what if they had shops on the lower two floors? this is super common in a lot of parts of Europe etc, and then you have a consumer base literally on top of a potential cafe, or restaurant, or grocer etc. Often what is being built is detatched housing in the middle of nowhere, we don't build to even medium density, so the number of people in walking distance to a shop just never gets that high.
3. We utilize only one transport method for shopping - cars. Retail parks, supermarkets with big car parks, even in the middle of our cities the shopping centers are fuelled by a car park tacked onto the side. Look at Reading station, it cost £900,000,000. It contains about a dozen small shops, most of them coffee shops, one WHsmiths, and a hotel chocolat.
Now go look up Matsudo station in Japan, it has a multiple floor shopping center built on top of it, it has a walkway above road level to 3 more shopping centers. Reading station is great looking, but why wasn't a transit hub set up to also be a shopping hub? (and it's right in the town center) That is the case for nearly every big train station in Japan, they either are a shopping center as well as a train station, or you can stumble out 10 feet and get to a shopping center.
And I would say, if people are getting in their car to drive somewhere to shop, they WILL NOT go to a small town, a small town high street MUST GET FOOT TRAFFIC, because car traffic is a fantasy when they could just go like 5 mins up the road to the nearest retail park or supermarket.
Making a note of this common, great info there mate thanks!
I noticed this in Finland as well, notably Tikkurila station appears to be inside a giant mall.
@@JimmyTheGiant look at the concept of Transit Oriented Development. It's not exclusive to Japan at all, but they have definitely mastered it. Also zoning laws in Japan allowing for mixed use make a huge difference in the composition of the urban fabric: every neighbourhood is a functional mix of housing, retail, services and restaurants, there's local employment and shopping within walking distance. And more importantly, streets are walkable being designed for pedestrians rather than cars.
The CZcamsr "Not Just Bikes" made a video about the Secret to Japanese Cities just a few days ago where he briefly covers a lot of these aspects.
Point taken, but do you want to live in a miniscule flat above the shopping mall such as in Japan and Hong Kong?
@@johnwright9372 that's not what most places on Japan are like.
The videos you see of tiny apartments are generally the very very inner city areas. Around Tokyo station, Shibuya station, Akihabara etc.
Even 20-30 mins subway away from the stations like Shibuya and you'll be finding apartments at 1/3 the price of equivalents in the UK. Even when accounting for different wages they pay much less in rent than we do in the UK. Japan does not have a housing crisis.
Looking at apartments in Shibuya and thinking that's representative is like thinking all cities in the UK are like Islington in London.
I've been saying for years, when the big banks & traders leave each of our towns, the end will be quick. In every town the big grand buildings in the town centres are occupied by banks & usually the big established firms like Boots & WH Smith's. When these decide to shut up shop, who will take on these big old buildings? No one.
In my town, we have 2 banks left from about a dozen. WH Smiths are having their closing down sale. Other nearby towns have lost Debenhams & other dept stores leaving huge retail buildings empty & up for rent with no sign of being Let any time soon.
Away from the town centres the feeling is of a scramble by the big international giants like Amazon etc to quash & dominate their marketplaces. Pretty soon there will be such a small choice left for the consumer & all our earnings will have to be funneled into these god-awful corporations.
Instead of no one taking up these old buildings why not everyone? Make it communally controlled?
Massive debanems by me in merryhill shopping centre has been gone for a few years
@@RextheRebela lot of those buildings are listed buildings meaning they are expensive as hell to repair hence why nobody buys them and they just rot there . The current owner is meant to keep the building in good condition
I live around Cambridge, it's always been pretty tough as far as I remember in terms of small businesses because of the amount of influence the colleges have around the city (determining rents, closing times of pubs and clubs, location of the train station to the centre, etc.)
We have two shopping centres, two retail parks (one is redeveloped into housing and communal spaces in the not too far future) but it's just bleak here in terms of smaller shops, and as far back as I remember, it always has been.
My Highstreet has been pretty decrepit all my life and that's how I've always seen it. It's almost like a jumpscare for me to look in a history book and see my highstreet was once clean and the buildings weren't rotting away. It feels like the whole of the North East has just been like this my whole life tbh. It has its own charm to it I won't lie, but I do wish it didn't look so depressing sometimes.
thats the uk for u mate
................HIGHSTREET!
1945 and its consequences
Which high street?
It saddens me to hear you talking about not having a high street vibe for your whole life dude. Perhaps it's a kindness in a way, cannot miss something you never experienced.
Never bought anything from Amazon and never will but our councils don't help support local businesses, not like they should when the town centres we all use are under VIRTUAL assault by someone who's wish is to have barren windswept town centres with an Amazon delivery vehicle passing through. Greed from greedy town halls led to the out of town shopping experience at shop/industrial estate malls and how has that helped. Town Halls with short sightedness have effectively ended the shopping experience in most cities that are not major metropolitan areas for parking charges and high rent on shops so they have more cash to empire build. My town centre is that, has this glittering new building with no expense spared at which the council are ensconced and empty streets and bargain shops.
The working mems club also have been closing. In 1990 I was secretary in a club in my town and the business rate at that time was £1,200 a month. Business rates are very expensive and led to the closure of our club
Blame the Tories, they reduced the money central government gave to councils forcing them to find others means of paying for social services. It ended up with shops being closed and business going to Amazon, who pay almost no tax ... you reap what you sow !!!
I remember before 2008, probably between 2004 to 2006, seeing an interview with a retail executive and... One of the things I found alarming was that many retailers had sold their real estate assets to give money to shareholders and were now leasing them back. So their cash flow equations were completely different, and they needed much more money to operate. And that meant that many of these retailers didn't invest on online sales channels, or even on improving their stores.
This was a great video. You really have a good style for making these little documentaries about interesting topics. Enjoying all your content.
Absolutely correct on all points. It also fuels conspiracy theories.
It needs to be sorted out quickly too as it's making everything a doom scroll which doesn't help.
Working on a conspiracy theory video as we speak
@@JimmyTheGiant Great stuff I'd recommend extremely well padded gloves just incase a face palm manoeuvre gets out of control and hurts.
I was absolutely fine but I'm trying to help my mate out and he's proper burrowed in.
Alex Jones, Plandemic, Trump..
You name it I'm trying to rationalise his mindset.
@@Electrodoc1968 mate! Trust me its insane the lengths they go to to believe it.
@@Electrodoc1968keep taking your boosters mate I’ll stay strong and healthy 😂😂
This is a situation that can't be allowed to go on, where exactly are the Uk's third spaces other than the pub or the park? People need more community not less, it's time for policymakers, business people and civil society to fix this together.
From an outsider looking in, your government is probably too corrupt to change anything plus the old moneys still have a lot of influence to keep it corrupt
Also a lot of people don't want to drink and may not want to be around it, but would like to socialise. Where do they go? We have a real failure of imagination for things like this.
Even calling parks a third place is a stretch now, due to lack of funding and budget cuts many of the parks in England have also been on the decline for years. Not sure if anyone has put out a good video about that, but that would be interesting. I just googled quickly but in the last 10 years, they've lost £690 million-worth of funding. The number of parks closed also seems to be in the hundreds. On a similar note the closure of youth centres has also been devastating for children in vulnerable areas.
Unfortunately y’all have let the third world in & they mos DEF will not assimilate…quite the opposite sadly
The decline of the British high street didn't start with online shopping, it just escalated the situation. Big supermarkets like Tesco and Asda is where I believe it may have started, when bigger stores started opening up in small towns they had it all under one roof, from greengrocers to butchers and electronics to clothes. Why travel up and down the street when you can get it all under the same roof. Supermarkets became a hub for them all.
Then came the giants like Amazon that just went that one step further and now you don't have to leave the house. It's all for convenience, this is the price you pay unfortunately.
🙂 I have just posted the exact same thing 🙂. You are indeed correct, Amazon was just the last nail in the coffin. (I will take down my own post)
@@nor0845 leave it up if you haven't taken it down already mate, the more people that see similar posts is a good thing.
I used to go and watch films at the Dunstable civic centre aka the Queensway hall. I remember all the exciting ideas that were banded around when they said it was gonna be knocked down and replaced. What did we get?! The lime green Walmart 😭😭😭. Moved away in the end, nothing left of the place, unless you like sardine can housing and a surprising number of barbers 🤷🏻♂️
From parkour to best resource about UK culture, this channel is always full of surprises
Please , refrain from using `UK` and `culture`in the same sentence.
Here in North America the High Streets no longer exist. In my city, the downtown is dead, the chains killed the small stores a long time ago and now the department stores have closed. Downtown has become a no-go zone. But there aren’t really any shopping streets either. People here shop either in big-box chains or online. It’s really sad.
Your style of presenting brings many younger people into a thirst for learning. You would make a good school teacher.
Like the british car industry, there's no difinative single person that can be blamed for this. But most of it can be pointed to one organization. The government.
In short:
Utterly rife blaitant money laundering fronts everywhare (EG. "turkish" barbers, phone repair shops, vape shops, (usually fake) amercan sweet shops, dodgy off-licences, etc), insane city rent costs, councils actively making it an urtter pain to drive into cities (blocking previously drivable roads and sky-high parking rates), Brits moving out due to rent rate spikes often being replaced with people with completely different ideology and cuture (who usually have absolutely no interest in our way of life and ultimately only cater for their own kind / don't want to integrate), letting Amazon make a mockery of our tax system (tax dodging basically) and finally the crime rates (this insurance costs also go up). On top of all this, talks of ULEZ schemes being rolled out across all citys in the UK just to hammer that final nail. (Thanks Labour...).
It's amazing that there's even a shred of a high street left frankly, The internet is an easy target to blame as is supermarkets but there's still plenty of scope for other legitimate trades/services that places like Amazon can't offer/match. Department stores might struggle but there's no reason why we can't have a good mixture of shops. Instead we let money launderers operate and the out of control inflation ruin legitimate businesses trying to start up. The government knows it but don't care because they pay what money they owe without questions asked either side. Completely ignorant (or pretending to be) of where the money is actually coming from. They couldn't care less about our cities. As long as they get to go home in their 8 bedroom manor and relax in their pool, who gives a stuff about the lower classes?
Notice that many other countries doesn't seem to suffer like us? They also have Amazon and plenty of supermarkets to contend with like us but you don't see the same level of high street rot that we have.
Britiain and it's government is activly speed-running it's destruction.
buisness has a way of stabilising itself , the issue is those MNCs like zara nike and other chains that syphon the money away from locals
@@3DHDcat Well most of them seem to take up spots in retail parks more than high streets at least in my part of the UK.
All them kinds of shops have run alongside independents for decades without major issue. I don;t think that is the problem.
good summary. councils and government don't want to address this issue, and there's many reasons for that.
The problem is twofold - The emergence of the internet and delivery services was not accounted for or a strategy developed to protect against this innovation, also Local Councils have continually increased business rates as shops are considered low hanging fruit, the reality is local authorities are massively incompetent with ridiculous wage bills to executives that deliver little or departments are simply ineffective to shore up their failings the councils increased business rates this killed the family business and now even chain franchise's are pulling out - business rates kill small business and local authorities are severely corrupt and mismanaged
Rents are higher than rates. Banks finance everything.
It would really help if they hugely reduced business rates and increased VAT. It would force giants like Amazon to pay tax here and give local shops a level footing with online retailers. More people need to know about this concept so we can vote in someone who might do it one day. (i.e. the idea is to lower local prices and increase Amazon and Temu prices)
Isn't VAT paid by the consumer?
@@j60547yeah customers pay vat on all items
@@j60547 yes.. this person doesn't understand lol
Or perhaps, just actually tax these massive multinational, multi billion pound companies that operate on this isle, instead of allowing them to bring a massive income but "they're in the Caribbean".. hell fuckin no.. you're operating in the UK and you'll be taxed accordingly.. that is all that needs be done. Definitely not a reduction of business rates 😅
Increasing VAT does the opposite of what you suggest, it makes shopping more expensive for the consumer
I tell this to everyone who complains about online shopping.
The supermarket killed the high Street. Delivery was the final nail in the coffin.
Supermarkets have been around like forever
@@masterknife8423 "forever"? 70 years is within a lifetime
I’d like to see a greengrocer back in my town, went from 5 to 0 in a few years. Apples in season, rhubarb greengrocers peas in pods and runner beans etc. Can’t blame the internet.
That's because at least half the population (men) doesn't really like shopping so they put it under 1 roof 😉
@@Mounhas yeah online delivery
As someone who grew up in the US, every time I got back to the town my dad and his family is from in the UK, the high street is one of my favorite places to explore. They actually recently revamped the shopping center that was in the middle of town and added a bunch of local food stalls in place I believe where the primark was.
This is something Grimsby seems to have started dealing with quite well (surprisingly), they’ve had free events and small festivals in the town centre like Grimfest (a Viking festival) which of course gets people to go to the town centre and spend money. They’re also now renovating a huge area of the shopping centre into a cinema and by the looks of it, it looks like it may be starting to benefit local businesses
Grimfal fest happened twice, then they pulled the funding.
Man, I grew up going to Brent Cross. Absolute hell on earth on a Saturday 😂
Wow, that place is a shopping centre and a dump, I’d have honestly topped myself living there bro
I used to have a Saturday job in Brent cross in the 80s!
Proper local business will always be best. My butcher knows every cut and will throw a few beef bones into the sale gratis, he knows my dogs and treats them. My local bike shop knows me and my bike as well as I do, they bend over backwards to source what I need and even let me use their workshop. When in Frankfurt I always go to the same little shop, Mark is a lovely bloke and always helps me with my German.
These little places are genuinely human and always offer quality.
I read that there are dark retail spaces where online orders are taken, and they can deliver within an hour. They are either warehouses or production units making sandwiches or pastries. You cannot shop there in person.
Where else is it going to produce it self? 😂
@@Nick51100 Sigh
Yup plenty ghost kitchens
I know deliveroo have one in my city. Warehouse in a central location with the ability to have multiple different types of restaurant. They gather all the info from local businesses that trade on their platform then create their own versions, selling the same foods but either cheaper or on the top of the search lists. Cos they in control.
If only policies were put in places in the 60s to prevent chains getting so big and eating up local stores...
Great vid. It reminds me of a little rhyme from school. “Let’s all go to Tesco’s where Jimmy buys his best clothes, cheap and nifty only £1.50”.
Closing the coal mines was a major contributor to the death of the High Street. Every colliery closed meant at least 1,000+ wages less to spend in the local town. They will never recover from that alone.
2:33 - Looks like we're returning to this sort of living condition with the cost of living crisis now. As a TFL bus driver, I used to work 14hrs shifts, 13 days in a row. Used to put in my 60-70 hours a week, with 70+ hours of driving time per week including commuting time in my car. Some days used to just sleep in the back of my car or the canteen before starting the next shift. It's ok though. Passengers don't care about the driver anyways, so no need to look good for the passengers.
Now driving coaches on private tours. Most of these jobs are still 15 hours long though, and some jobs take me 5-10 day tours across the country or Europe. Passengers are caring though and a hotel is provided, as well as starting work right outside of the hotel. Hours are long as hell though. You'll be living your life in the job essentially with no other life outside of work.
Oven gloves, my oven doesn’t have hands 😂 That earned you a new subscriber 👍🏼
Ive followed your channel for a long time Jimmy and to see how far you've come as a creator is incredible. The current video format is perfect. Im from the UK and the topics hit close to home. Really good stuff, no one else is talking about it!
I was born and raised in a town called Barnsley in South Yorkshire. Up until the late 90’s, there was a huge pub culture as there was in a lot of the small towns in England. My dad has told me plenty of times the downfall of the pubs is down to supermarkets, similar to the high street. There were 15+ thriving pubs in the 90’s in the village I lived in, Darfield. Now, less than 5.
Would be great to see a video on that!
And the 5 surviving pubs are struggling because supermarket beer is much cheaper.
Ban on smoking is in part to blame , brewery chains that own the pub tenancies that force tenant to buy their produce from them is another problem
I don't live in the UK nowadays, but every time I visit home, the state of the high streets is shocking, and it just gets worse. Sadly, most people just bury their heads in mindless reality tv, or whatever new brain numbing fad is going on, and fail to see how society is going backwards in the name of convenience
Yep ! Give them "Bread and Circuses" as in the old Roman Empire days ...keep the plebs fed , entertained and distracted while the rich carry on their plundering ways ...somethings never change.
They bury their heads because nothing can be done. And nothing can be done because there’s zero sense of community and therefore agreement.
Human nature to pick the easy option. People will cry but order everything online
I hate how lockdown basically killed most of the smaller shops and the chains just swooping in. Its sickening
Wow! Thank you I think! You have just explained my life. I lived through all of that at the age it affected me.
Late teens, til now very early 60s. My age not the times.
You’ve managed to put into words my living through those times.
I do like watching you with all your explaining!!
👍🙏🏻🧐
Big up Squarespace for sponsoring this guy's quality channel. 👌
The refusal to modernise is the bigger issue. Build transport hubs near high streets, and change opening hours to 12 am to 10 pm so you can use them after work.
Remove the barriers forcing people to shop online. Focus on the experience. I'd love to be able to finish work, grab a shower, maybe have a light meal and then grab a coffee in town, perhaps a light snack, pick up some clothing, browse the stores, maybe catch a film, but nah all that stuff is closed by 6 pm other than the cinema and a bunch of over priced low-quality restaurants/pubs.
Agreed an evolution is needed - but a bigger middle class is needed to create that experience economy. Which I would love to see.
@@JimmyTheGiantin China ,shops close late around 9pm. Future is here
@@3DHDcatthats still 3 to 4 hours open later
hahaha, there's so many issues with what you just said, I don't know where to start. also by this point it really doesn't matter whether we do since nearly every shop, including waterstones, boots (partially out to kill the NHS), the large supermarkets, costa coffee, GREGGS is literally mostly owned by US private equity! - these companies are not paying tax in the UK, which is exactly why our infrastructure is crumbling, because the government is busy funnelling money into their own and mates pockets, the big companies aren't paying any tax. So who do you think ends up paying for everything? WE DO.
@@WGK90I work in a government owned organisation. We have to use a particular travel agency for flights accommodation etc. Travel agency is owned by private equity and charges much higher prices than you could get by booking direct with eg British airways. So taxpayers money being wasted and going straight into the pockets of private equity and offshore.
Man, these documentaries deserve millions of views.
When I worked in the UK, I realised that your high streets really don't exist for people who work 9-5, as the shops are only open 9-5.
When I was done for the day, there was no open shop I could go to - it made no damn sense.
I resented that quite a bit (still now, as I remember it), as often I'd need something that Tesco Express didn't have, well I could order it on Amazon and have it in around 48 hours or pointlessly wait until Saturday, to wait in line with everyone else who worked and also pay a higher price... yeah, I'll order it then and be done with it.
No idea what the logic behind it was, reminded me of a restaurant I saw, that was closed for lunch, lol. Like why punish people for going to work and then whine that nobody's spending money anymore?
Thankfully back in Germany, shops are open until around 8 on weekdays, so I still have time to do some shopping after work, if I need to.
Still, very strange opening times and surely that didn't help to save the UK high street.
There were shops open until 8pm Monday to Friday in the city centre before the pandemic but not now.
The concept explained at 14:22 is called the local multiplier effect, definetly a concept as many people as possible should get familiar with if we want to start building wealth in local communities again.
Barry's Biscuits!?!?!
Like he has never heard of Mcvities...an example of a family biscuit company that is now a corporation.
I really appreciate the eggort Jimmy puts into explaining complex topics in a simple way for us. It's pretty mental
this content is actually so good, entertaining and informative
Have to agree with the mindset that high streets / town centres need to change from where people shop for things to where people do things. Convenience and cost will always win with consumers so there's no point fighting that losing battle.
Cinemas, restaurants, bars, coffee shops, arcades, escape rooms, and there's so much more scope. They will attract custom by being places we socialise and by selling experience, rather than goods.
It's a global issue of closure of high street. One thing I'd like to add: once move shopping online, you are trapped! Ur spending habits, mistress, secret sons and his health record, will all be available to the Big Brother for a laugh or harvest you if necessary. Enjoy the future🎉
Business rates are utterly obscene.
Charged irrespective of profitability. It's just theft, it really is that simple.
Councils can demand it, so they do. Ironically they receive far less revenue than if they lowered their rates and actually had more businesses present.
I wanted to buy something. The shop was a yards away but I did not want to walk to it. So I ordered it online. Thats what I do for everything
Perfect, I just watched the evil decline of Britain's seaside resorts this morning for breakfast. I was looking for something similar for lunch and here we are :D
It makes me really sad to think that many of your viewers will never have experienced a "proper" High Street, full of quirky and interesting shops, cafes, greasy spoons, where pubs and clubs were banging all night, every night. People crowded everywhere, having fun and socialising, finding bargains and meeting friends. I don't know if it will ever return. I think this is your best video yet, you're getting very close to "the answer".
I really like the fact that your content is getting more profound.
In the past month, in the only 2 remaining shopping centres in my city, there have been 4 American candy stores, massive ones, that have appeared overnight. 2 of them are even right next to each other. Only chains and vape shops remain standing and there is absolutely no incentive to shop anymore
I believe the candy stores are money laundering fronts. The councils don't care. Same with Turkish/Albanian barbers shops. We have about 5 down one street. How many does one town need?!
We need a Jimmy the Giant and Adam Something collaboration !! Podcast episode: "How can we re-design our congested cities to be more liveable?"
By finding a way to remind people they still have 2 legs they could possibly use... I've disliked giga big cities like London precisely because they're too congested and everyone who can afford a car would get one and rather sit 2 hours in traffic then walk for an hour... It doesn't help that lots of cities are anti pedestrian. I'm bulgarian living in Southampton... I've lived in 5 different EU cities throughout my life and I know them all in regards to navigating them because I spend hours walking around from end to end, I like walking... I tried walking once in Southampton and realized lots of main arteries have no sidewalks forcing u to circle which adds a ton of distance making walking not just impractical but also taking the joy out of it... so I never went out by foot again... Something else I notice is how in the UK cities, most would have the central part which would look like a city but the majority of the city would be just houses with very few areas having even just some basic grocery store within them or really anything to see other than houses... it almost feels like some private estate u're trespassing on and feeling awkward in return... which again doesn't help the case because it takes the joy out of walking around... Even in Bulgaria there are shops all around, especially small, non-chain, small owner grocery stores that also work til late at night with some being 24/7 even. Basically here, outside the central area, lots of cities start to look more like a village than a city.
I came to the UK at the end of 2020 and I feel like things were much better than, not even 4 years ago and if I'm thinking that as someone who's never been here before 2020 then I guess that says a lot... but how else... today there's a cost of living crisis, high interest rates, struggling nhs and the solution to it all is to apparently dig into disabled people's accounts lmao not that I'm disabled but being a privacy fan, this whole "we're gonna look at your accounts cuz reasons" rly puts me off... The west rly is declining...
Rant over
As someone from Dunstable, yup and its even worse today.
youre literally describing exactly what has happened in the USA as well. GDP goes up, but our wages dont.
Yeah it’s when the money doesn’t circulate locally . Everyone local suffers
I used to see corner shops that have now gone because large supermarkets and retail parks of big box stores replaced them. My nearest retail park is more likely a large parade of shops around a car park. Not quite small shops but not quite big box stores as they are all one building.
Sometimes you need a Boots and Mountain Warehouse.
Business rates are high because of 3 reasons.
The Tories cut local government funding.
The Tories saddled local government with more responsibilities like social care.
Council tax rises are capped at 5%.
So now the councils have less money, more expenditure, and can't raise council tax enough - meaning they need to milk business rates.
Plus it's very difficult to get later opening licences because of local complaints, so when everyone finishes at 5, and the shops close at 5... no-one can shop there. And they avoid it on saturday and shop online instead.
Jesus H tap dancing Christ
Show me that you don't pay council tax without telling me that you don't pay council tax.. You are right that council tax cannot go up by more than 5% . If you look at a council tax bill, which you obviously have not, you will see that it has many elements. Local council, police , fire plus town and ward councils, if you look you will see that the council raised the bill by 5 per cent where as the police, fire and local town council have increased their cut by shit tonnes.
@@TELBOYO10 Yes and tell me what part of social care do firemen handle. You know, the one example I explicitly gave of a new/increased responsibility.
I also live in Exeter, and if you check online you'll see that none of the components (including DCC) have risen by more than 5%. So no, I haven't seen that.
Binary thinker!
Good point.
England has always been a little odd. The big money makers have always been free to do as they like. An English investment firm once bought one of the oldest Dutch department stores, they paid one hundred millions for it, and then that company had to take a commercial loan of more then one hundred millions at banks and other filthy vultures. Next was that the Department store had to give the money to the English investment firm. The department store was left with debts more then their value.
Hard times began for the department store, less merchandize, less staff, less payments to the staff. That English investment firm left the department store bleed till death. All credits were already to the max. After a few years they wanted to sell it, because their investment had completely returned in four years. And finally when they sold it, again they made a huge profit. The new owner had to take care of the loan the department store had to take, The new owner bought a company with a negative value. The department store was ransacked and looted in complete daylight. The criminals that robbed the department store were completely respectable English businessmen, according to British standards.
You're my favourite creator on youtube right now, me and my partner watch your videos all the time and today's came out perfectly timed for us to eat tea n watch!! We love how informative and level headed your explanations of these topics are; i did poorly in school due to not having the focus to wrap my head around difficult topics, among other reasons. The way you break things down and make it consumable and understandable for the average person is really great, as well as also making it entertaining to learn about!!! Making me wish i actually did well in my sociology AS level haha. Love your videos so so much, honestly wish you had more content, keep it up my guy!!! :') xox
I didn’t do amazing at school, kicked out of college and didn’t go to uni so i get it! I that helped me to explain to similar people. As I have to go through the process of learning these things in a way that makes sense to me 💪
The high streets in England used to have housing with outside markets and then gradually housing turned into shops
.
now for one reason and another those shops are turning back into housing,, and the markets are becoming internet based
Maybe if those shops weren't being taxed to death they could have survived..🤷♂️
Nah, it's a multivariate problem unfortunately. Incentive structures have broken down
I live 2 minutes away from Brent Cross Shopping Centre and holy shit i had no idea about the history. Now it makes sense why Prince Charles Drive is called that.
Everyone hates the death of the high street but nobody wants to miss out on the savings of the supermarket.
I agree with you 100%, but with so many people living hand-to-mouth, can you blame them?
It's not that nobody wants to miss the savings of supermarkets, it's that nobody can afford to miss the savings.. shits stupid expensive nowadays, people are surviving not thriving
I love that you mention Woolies. We still have it in Germany. I'm originally from London and loved the throwback feel from my Enfield days when I first saw it. My mum and sister visited me here in DE for the first time since I moved a few years ago and took a selfie outside of it 🤭 Ithought it was well cute. Sadly they don't have the pick n mix here though.
Great vid as always Jimmy😁 wedding looked wicked mate, wishing you all the best to you both for the future
Thanks a ton!
This is not a UK problem, it is a global problem. It isn’t really a problem either, it is markets doing what markets do. One could argue that non forward thinking planning departments had a huge part in the death of the high street, and the ongoing rot of high streets that should really be demolished and replaced with high density well constructed low cost housing. Which would reduce housing and rental costs, freeing up tangent wages, enabling some disposable income which would drive up consumptions, creating more jobs, enabling more boring and spending and consuming and more homes being built and so on. . .
People sold out for convenience, no one forced them to shop at ASDA but they did perhaps being ignorant or indifferent to the long term consequence because it was good in the short term.
We are being told that our overconsumption and disposable life style is going to kill us and we must stop. Simultaneously we are being told that if we stop spending all will collapse and we will die.
I have Merry Hill shopping centre practically on my doorstep since the 80s and can count on both hands how many times I've used it. I despise these places. I like to visit cities that still have vibrant independent stores....
PS - #BoycottAmazon Its EVIL, trust me...
Same with Meadowhall between Sheffield & Rotherham. It killed off two town centres in the early 90's. There are now no major chains left in Rotherham. Even the pound shops are struggling because there is no money. They've all moved to Meadowhall or Parkgate Retail Park. Meadowhall is just a bland expensive brand fest which I rarely visit and I can't abide online shopping - its rubbish for clothes shopping because I like to look at & try stuff on first.
I genuinely suprize johnny didnt mention Medowhall @antonycharnock2993
Respect form Doncaster
I would freaking love to hear your perspective on how America was built for the car!
The people on my town’s community Facebook page: “No, it’s all the fault of Asian takeaways and Turkish barbers.”
If people continue to place blame, they will keep losing. Change is inevitable, and we need to adapt to it.
This is what is kiilong our country but all the common people are focusing on immigration
You should see what Anglia Square looks like in Norwich. Genuinely looks like a fallout map
18:08 hey look it’s my town 😅
What's bizarre is how this channel doesn't have more subscribers ✌️
I live in Slovakia now, I can tell you the high streets here are bustling with trade. Every time I come back to the UK I’m utterly shocked, it gets worse every time. Last time I wondered around my hometown it really felt like a post apocalyptic movie. I guess the average Brit does not notice as it’s been a slow deterioration, but trust me you’ve been absolutely fucked.
You really killed it with this one, Jimothy 🔥
There is not one and I mean one British CZcamsr with anything positive to say about the country. Every video is basically "Yeah this country is driving off a cliff and there's nothing we can do about it."
This comment aged well. Just watch what happens this weekend.
2:04 Accent went to a weird place and back 🤣
Was on a trip to France during the early 90s. There was a farmer's protest/riot because they were opening a new MacDonald's and it was not using product sourced in France. I read later that after this they decided to start gluing down the cobbles on cobble stone roads.
Our local town centre - shops all shut at 5pm, so nobody with a job can use them, and it's dodgy at night. Council parking expensive and difficult. Going to the local supermarket with free parking and late opening is a no brainer.