Online shopping is being imposed on us and the high street is dying - Yorkshire Post Letters

There's much talk of regenerating the high streets, the Labour government announcing millions in funding.

The face of the high street has changed dramatically over the last few years, especially since the pandemic, when the immense power of the internet became apparent, as huge numbers of the population were locked down and supposedly banned from outdoor face to face shopping.

I think most people will know someone who flouted the rules, some of the very highest profile, all who did should be ashamed of themselves.

Where to start, the banks are now a rarity other than in the bigger towns and cities, although banking hubs are helping in small ways, huge national household named stores are shutting up shop the same as the banks and moving online, leaving empty premises, in most cases too large for small start ups to afford, their doorways become homes for the homeless.

Bars, cafes, fast food eateries of all kinds, nail bars, hair dressers, body piercing, tattooists, restaurants of all nationalities, pound shops, these seem to be the new kids on the block for our high streets.

We as a nation have allowed ourselves to become enamoured with the internet, we have been seduced into this by the underhand way of the big businesses and banks and also by government departments such as HMRC wanting everyone and everything to be conducted online, irrespective of signal or connection to the internet, rural areas have and are still struggling with that.

There is of course the very real threat to shop assistants with both physical and verbal abuse from unruly members of the public, shoplifting is rife and uncontrolled, being accosted by drug addicts, drunks and beggars is becoming more commonplace.

There is still a large proportion of the population who don't have a computer or smart phone, for whatever reason, maybe they don't want one, don't trust them, don't know how to use them, can't afford one.

Will the high street survive? Who actually knows.

It changed in the 1960s and 1970s with new trends and fashions, now it is in transition again with different trends and fashions, only time will tell whether they will be sustainable or not.

It really is down to footfall on the high streets and not buying online, high business rates, higher and higher taxes, health and safety, more and more unnecessary employment laws.

At the moment online is winning and will continue unless intermittent bus and rail services, exorbitantly high town centre parking charges, a lack of electric car charging facilities, empty shop premises, are addressed and overcome to make the shopping experience exciting and safer again.

This is not of our own making, this is being imposed on everyone, cheques are a rarity, cash is in decline, some outlets only accept card payments, we are being shepherded online whether we like it or not, if you don't like it you will be left behind, this is the unwelcome sad fact.