Town centre decline cannot be fixed by bashing supermarkets

READING Janet Street-Porter’s article (Yorkshire Post, September 17), I found myself agreeing with some of her comments – ugly buildings, empty shops and a decline in town centre standards of cleanliness – but to lay this malaise at the door of our supermarkets is, in my view, completely wrong.

The busy streets of Harrogate on Saturday also disprove her theory that retail is dying in the town centre.

What Janet and her compatriots, viewing the world from Upper Nidderdale, Ilkley or the “golden triangle” forget, is that even in such middle-class enclaves the fortunate few require less fortunate people to serve them, staff the railway station, drive the taxis, clean the streets and empty the bins.

Those people have to eat and provide food and goods for their families at a price they can afford on the minimum wage.

Creating some Edwardian town centre throwback is not the way forward and neither is the rather puzzling hate campaign waged against Tesco who, in my view, provide an excellent retail offering. The current move by the middle class to shop in Lidl and Netto proves that there is no sentiment in retail.

What Harrogate and other towns need is a creative retail offering that gives the public choice, affordable value and a unique selling point not offered by others.

It also needs the local authority to offer financial incentives for these to set up and survive. Then the town centre and the out-of-town superstores will live happily side by side without the need for a return to shops lit by gas lamps and staffed by portly, moustachioed, Arkwright lookalikes.

From: John Rookes, Bramley, Rotherham.

tHaT was a good article by Janet Street-Porter. I wonder how long it will be before she will be able to say “I told you so”, hopefully not when Betty’s tea rooms are boarded up.

We live on the outskirts of Rotherham which is like a ghost town, the only places left open are either pound shops or charity shops and we live within 10 or so minutes drive from three branches of Tesco which are a contributing factor, I just hope that Tesco’s don’t do in the UK what Walmart have done in the US. My wife and I have in the past been frequent visitors to the US and were amazed at the cost of basic foodstuffs in Walmart, like for like much more expensive than the UK.

A few years ago we were in a town called Hyannis in Massachusetts. It was not unlike Harrogate, pretty and upmarket and they were battling to keep out Walmart, but I think I know what the outcome will have been.