ptigga Posted March 2, 2010 Share Posted March 2, 2010 Comments like this are always baffling, do you prefer what's there now? Well, the choice is between a privately owned shopping centre or a council owned one. In a council owned shopping area the streets and pavements are open for everyone to use and no-one can be excluded from them. The rents that the shop-keepers pay go straight to the council and go towards funding local government and improving the local area. In a privately owned shopping centre the streets and pavements between the shops are owned by the company that owns the shopping centre and they employ their own security guards and they can evict anyone they want, whenever they want. The rents that the shop keepers pay go into the pockets of the shopping centre owner and go towards making them richer and therefore the money can no longer be used to improve the local area. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul2412 Posted March 2, 2010 Share Posted March 2, 2010 Well, the choice is between a privately owned shopping centre or a council owned one. In a council owned shopping area the streets and pavements are open for everyone to use and no-one can be excluded from them. The rents that the shop-keepers pay go straight to the council and go towards funding local government and improving the local area. In a privately owned shopping centre the streets and pavements between the shops are owned by the company that owns the shopping centre and they employ their own security guards and they can evict anyone they want, whenever they want. The rents that the shop keepers pay go into the pockets of the shopping centre owner and go towards making them richer and therefore the money can no longer be used to improve the local area. The second scenario sounds much better to me. There is less likely to be tramps urinating all over the place and the shopkeepers are more likely to look after the premises. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sheffy1867 Posted March 2, 2010 Share Posted March 2, 2010 Do I prefer the Pepperpot building to a squat box? Do I prefer the former City Bar to a faithfull recreation of the Castle Markets? I think that goes without saying. As for buildings such as The Grovsner Hotel, you might say that it hardly matters what replaces them. The replacement couldn't be any worse than whats already there. The problem with Sevenstone was that it proposed an indiscriminate mass clearance. The replacement designs were so shoddy, so focused on the short term economic gain of the developer, that fifteen years from now we'd have been faced with the same squalor we've got now, except that we'd have lost the late 19th/ early 20th century buildings which currently redeem the area. I agree that the likes of the pepperpot is a nice looking building, but it is totally unsuitable for a retailer, this is why it has been a temp shop after temp shop. This is the reason why it'll be demolished. I would like to keep these king of buildings but no retailer would take it, leaving it empty and fall into an ill state of repair. So I would rather have a populated city centre then a selection of nice but empty buildings. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flantastico Posted March 2, 2010 Share Posted March 2, 2010 So I would rather have a populated city centre then a selection of nice but empty buildings. Thats quite a bizarre idea. I dont see tumbleweed blowing down the streets of cities like York and Cambridge. Of couse you'd be hard pressed to use the Pepperpot building to house a department store, but there is room in an area the size of the Sevenstone development for different types of shop. By all means build a department store where the Grovsner Hotel stands. Use the Pepperpot for smaller retailers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vague_Boy Posted March 3, 2010 Share Posted March 3, 2010 I read yesterday that Sevenstone are completing building project in France before they start any here due to the "economic CLimate" Is France's economy doing better than ours? I cannot see how this can be so, we've got Gordon Brown, the saviour of the world on our side. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pete_jim Posted March 3, 2010 Share Posted March 3, 2010 Well, the choice is between a privately owned shopping centre or a council owned one. In a council owned shopping area the streets and pavements are open for everyone to use and no-one can be excluded from them. The rents that the shop-keepers pay go straight to the council and go towards funding local government and improving the local area. In a privately owned shopping centre the streets and pavements between the shops are owned by the company that owns the shopping centre and they employ their own security guards and they can evict anyone they want, whenever they want. The rents that the shop keepers pay go into the pockets of the shopping centre owner and go towards making them richer and therefore the money can no longer be used to improve the local area. The other advantage of a coucil backed development could be fairer rents encouraging more independent shopkeepers to take units in the city centre. Property funds owning large tracts of the city centre have largely killed off small independents chances of taking a property in the centre. I do feel that it will change again but over a very long period of time. Their rents were funded by and large through the credit boom and shops selling unbelieveable amounts of poor quality stuff to people who couldn't really afford it. Hopefully the easy access to credit has slowed down and the demand for all that 'stuff' will calm down. Shareholders in both the retail chains and the property funds will have to settle for less of a return. I keep seeing glimmers of this happening and then they are dashed by another retailer of 'stuff' announcing better than expected profits. Ahh sweet mystery of life. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Posted March 3, 2010 Share Posted March 3, 2010 Why would the council charge less than the market rent? They exist in the commercial world just like Hammerson. There may be an interesting subsidy model but I wouldn't expect it under current circumstances. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plain Talker Posted March 3, 2010 Share Posted March 3, 2010 Thats quite a bizarre idea. I dont see tumbleweed blowing down the streets of cities like York and Cambridge. Of couse you'd be hard pressed to use the Pepperpot building to house a department store, but there is room in an area the size of the Sevenstone development for different types of shop. By all means build a department store where the Grovsner Hotel stands. Use the Pepperpot for smaller retailers. Agreed. Why couldn't the pepperpot building shops be used for delicatessen or sandwich shops and other small companies? When Orchard Square was redeveloped all those years ago, the frontage of the prettier buildings was kept, wasn't it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
longiesta Posted March 3, 2010 Share Posted March 3, 2010 Pepperpot Building? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plain Talker Posted March 3, 2010 Share Posted March 3, 2010 Pepperpot Building? pepperpot building! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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