| Swansea City Centre. 20:25 - Jan 6 with 5604 views | lifelong |
I haven't been into the centre of the City for sometime, spent a few hours there today, parked in Parc Tawe and walked through to Castle Street and had a look around the lower High Street, Kingsway and Oxford Street areas.
There weren't many people about, which is understandable for the 1st Monday of the new year, but what was alarming was the number of businesses that have closed down, there were empty shops everywhere.
The out of Town Retail Parks have killed the City Centre. |  | | |  |
| Swansea City Centre. on 20:32 - Jan 6 with 2906 views | Jackfath |
You're at least 10 years late on that one. |  |
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| Swansea City Centre. on 20:33 - Jan 6 with 2908 views | Darran |
Scouce will be all over this thread like a rash.
This post has been edited by an administrator |  |
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| Swansea City Centre. on 20:37 - Jan 6 with 2888 views | Swanzay |
Swansea City centre is a complete embarrassment and has been for some time!
Its needs a complete revamp (bulldoze), what ever happened to that revamp that was promised in 2008, ah yes nothing unlike Cardiff and Briz.
Cabot Circus in the centre of Briz is superb, I know Swansea doesn't have the same catchment area, but the really have done a great job!
Something needs to be done, sharpish, even Carmarthen looks better! |  | | |
| Swansea City Centre. on 20:42 - Jan 6 with 2866 views | lifelong |
| Swansea City Centre. on 20:32 - Jan 6 by Jackfath |
You're at least 10 years late on that one. |
I probably am but as you walk from Parc Tawe past Toys R Us there used to be a number of small shops before you got to the City Centre, only one of them is now open.
In the Centre itself quite a few large businesses have now closed down which were open last year.
The appearance of the City was okay and it was clean enough. | | | |
| Swansea City Centre. on 20:52 - Jan 6 with 2830 views | Lord_Bony |
Speaking as someone who has had retail premises in the city centre until recently I can tell you this much about the changing face of retail...
It s not what it used to be mainly because of the increasing popularity of online shopping.
More shops are leaving traditional retail to concentrate their business activities online.
I once had several art and framing galleries on the go at the same time a few years ago. Never would I do that again.Its far more profitable and easier to manage most retail businesses online from a laptop and a fraction of the energy put into it than before.
Does this mean the death of the High Street? In many towns yes coupled with more customer choice from retail parks and super markets. The future is in small independant shops according to many surveys.
The bottom line is new shops are not coming anytime soon,in fact it will get worse...it s up to local authorities to get with the times and re think they re town centres.
Why do you think Hammerson International just walked away from a multi million pound project at the Castle quarter marked for re generation..they re not stupid they realised Swansea is not big enough to fill a whole new offering of retail units in the centre and the retail landscape is rapidly changing.
Whos to blame?
We all are in a way as we re constantly looking for online bargains and choice including direct imports from the Far East. This forces retailers to be ultra competitive and cut their profits down to the bone if there is too much competition in their particular market segment. Thats why small niche retailers do best.
So we can t have the penny and the bun....we all love to shop online...but it comes at a price...more empty shops and traditional businesses closing down..
http://www.eurogallery.co.uk/ [Post edited 8 Jan 2014 2:55]
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| Swansea City Centre. on 20:53 - Jan 6 with 2827 views | Rancid |
Carmarthen is a great place to visit and they've really done a great job with the recent revamp.It doesn't really have an out of town department complex apart from Pensarn which is small compared to most towns now.They've done the whole town centre out and it really does put Swansea to shame.There's Debenhams,The Apollo Cinema,Marks and Sparks,all the new eateries,The Toby and Harvester all in the space of 200 yards.
If you think Swansea is bad you should try Port Talbot town centre. |  | | |
| Swansea City Centre. on 21:25 - Jan 6 with 2752 views | C_jack |
| Swansea City Centre. on 20:53 - Jan 6 by Rancid |
Carmarthen is a great place to visit and they've really done a great job with the recent revamp.It doesn't really have an out of town department complex apart from Pensarn which is small compared to most towns now.They've done the whole town centre out and it really does put Swansea to shame.There's Debenhams,The Apollo Cinema,Marks and Sparks,all the new eateries,The Toby and Harvester all in the space of 200 yards.
If you think Swansea is bad you should try Port Talbot town centre. |
The town centre is more or less the same, they were just lucky enough to have a decent size of land adjacent to it, so the 'out of town' thing just happened across the road.
Outlets come and go frequently out of the spaces, Quicksilver is the latest to go. It's brightened the place up but it's by no means revamped anything, just distracted attention away from the 'old centre' |  |
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| Swansea City Centre. on 22:07 - Jan 6 with 2678 views | Rancid |
| Swansea City Centre. on 21:25 - Jan 6 by C_jack |
The town centre is more or less the same, they were just lucky enough to have a decent size of land adjacent to it, so the 'out of town' thing just happened across the road.
Outlets come and go frequently out of the spaces, Quicksilver is the latest to go. It's brightened the place up but it's by no means revamped anything, just distracted attention away from the 'old centre' |
You probably live there but we love going there once in a while.It's the best shopping centre around we reckon unless you go to shitsville.Cwm Cerrig on the way is always a must also. | | | |
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| Swansea City Centre. on 22:55 - Jan 6 with 2615 views | Dr_Winston |
Swansea council heavily supported out of town retail, made it almost impossible to take a car into town, then wondered why the city centre is dying. Possibly the most moronic local authority in the country.
The rise in online shopping obviously isn't helping matters either, but the lion's share of the blame rests with the council. |  |
| Pain or damage don't end the world. Or despair, or f*cking beatings. The world ends when you're dead. Until then, you got more punishment in store. Stand it like a man... and give some back. |
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| Swansea City Centre. on 23:07 - Jan 6 with 2585 views | Tokijo |
Also include Barry and Newport City! Just as bad |  | | |
| Swansea City Centre. on 23:29 - Jan 6 with 2555 views | malagajack |
do eynons still do those lovely pies? | | | |
| Swansea City Centre. on 23:43 - Jan 6 with 2531 views | Joe_bradshaw |
The worst town centre I've had the misfortune to revisit in the recent past?
Bridgend.
I lived there during my school years and whilst it always suffered from being in no-man's land between Swansea and Cardiff it has become a wasteland. |  |
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| Swansea City Centre. on 00:24 - Jan 7 with 2493 views | GeoffThom |
| Swansea City Centre. on 23:29 - Jan 6 by malagajack |
do eynons still do those lovely pies? |
Long long gone went bust years ago don't know why cause those swansea pies were lush  |  | | |
| Swansea City Centre. on 00:36 - Jan 7 with 2479 views | GeoffThom |
| Swansea City Centre. on 22:55 - Jan 6 by Dr_Winston |
Swansea council heavily supported out of town retail, made it almost impossible to take a car into town, then wondered why the city centre is dying. Possibly the most moronic local authority in the country.
The rise in online shopping obviously isn't helping matters either, but the lion's share of the blame rests with the council. |
Gotta agree with you there mate the minute they shut of orchard st then allowed some pleb who obviously never drove a car to put in that proxy one way system. Put the final nail in the coffin of the town ,the most gutting thing about swansea was we had the first indoor shopping centre in wales which most of South Wales came to but instead of extending it and leaving oxford st open to traffic and the rest alone some twaats decided to allow the st David's shopping centre to be built which was an architectural shambles and completely wrong in colour and style no wonder it's gone re open the centre to traffic and fill it with living accommodation as high st is going and it will be better for all plus looks like they are going to turn us into a university town | | | |
| Swansea City Centre. on 00:50 - Jan 7 with 2462 views | macthejack |
Some interesting plans in the offing though... The new University Campus and promenade and other bits that go with it will be nice, and if the tidal Lagoon takes off that will also add something extra. The trick is getting people to go to the city centre. There has to be a reason to go and your average shop doesn't really cut it anymore. What the answer is I don't know. [Post edited 7 Jan 2014 0:51]
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| Swansea City Centre. on 00:52 - Jan 7 with 2452 views | CountyJim |
| Swansea City Centre. on 23:07 - Jan 6 by Tokijo |
Also include Barry and Newport City! Just as bad |
Correct Newport town centre is struggling it's now basically pound shops and bookies but a redevelopment has started with debinhams etc coming plus cinema complex |  | | |
| Swansea City Centre. on 07:48 - Jan 7 with 2367 views | QuakerJack |
The retail park should not be an excuse. I live uwp noorth and we have a massive retail park sandwiched between Darlington and Middlesbrough, yet despite similar problems with unemployment and deprivation, both town centres are doing ok. It's all about the council working with landowners and tenants etc. to attract business. |  |
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| Swansea City Centre. on 08:35 - Jan 7 with 2329 views | Uxbridge |
If you think it's bad now you should have seen it 5 years ago. Still a long way to go until it's acceptable but things have improved significantly. To be honest I quite like the plethora of independent shops and cafes that have popped up... if I want the chain shops I'll pop to London or Bristol. |  |
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| Swansea City Centre. on 09:33 - Jan 7 with 2288 views | Jackanapes |
Most of the new ventures I have seen in Swansea of late have been pawn shops/money shops. It seems there IS money to be made from the collapse of society. |  |
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“The stupidest thing she knew was for people to act like they knew all about the things they knew absolutely nothing about.†|
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| Swansea City Centre. on 09:41 - Jan 7 with 2278 views | pansypants |
Carmarthen is still awful for traffic jams. The stupid council missed a golden opportunity to make it a "one way in - one way out town". Saturdays from 11 - 5 are a nightmare to get into the centre.
Plus the business rates are a scandal, many businesses have closed as a result.
The quayside is liable to flooding but no one in the council is marketing it wisely. It used to have 2 nightclubs, pub and a restaurant....ALL CLOSED NOW!!! |  |
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| Swansea City Centre. on 09:48 - Jan 7 with 2269 views | Uxbridge |
| Swansea City Centre. on 09:33 - Jan 7 by Jackanapes |
Most of the new ventures I have seen in Swansea of late have been pawn shops/money shops. It seems there IS money to be made from the collapse of society. |
Aye, absolutely detest the money lenders. 2,000% APR seemingly standard at best, very little control of the industry. Absolutely abhorrent. It's a scandal of this Govt and the last one that there's no control of this. | |
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| Swansea City Centre. on 10:40 - Jan 7 with 2231 views | lifelong |
| Swansea City Centre. on 08:35 - Jan 7 by Uxbridge |
If you think it's bad now you should have seen it 5 years ago. Still a long way to go until it's acceptable but things have improved significantly. To be honest I quite like the plethora of independent shops and cafes that have popped up... if I want the chain shops I'll pop to London or Bristol. |
Yes, it's good to see smaller independent shops, there's certainly plenty of space available for anyone brave enough, there's 6 or 7 empty small units available in Parc Tawe alone without the plenty of space available in the City Centre.
I accept the online trade as being one of the reasons for the decline but the out of town retail parks must,surely,be the major factor, the one in Fforestfach was busy yesterday afternoon. | | | |
| Swansea City Centre. on 11:55 - Jan 7 with 2193 views | Lord_Bony |
One of the biggest problems in retail is business rates.
The rateable value of shops in the centre is ridiculously high and out of touch with what can be realistically achieved .
Reducing rates for new businesses would be a great way of attracting them.
Unfortunately,there is nothing the council can do as the rates are set out by the valuation office at Newport. As a result they would rather have lots of empty shops than trying to give an incentive for new business,which is the life blood of any shopping centre. High street shops are moving to the retail parks because the rates are much cheaper.
There is also free parking and a hassle free shopping experience as theres lots of other big retailers there to pull the people from the town centre.
The High Street is normally like a hub for the community in any town and in the Uk over the next few years we will see a big decline....you can t really blame the consumers if it s better to shop online or at a retail park,we all do it.
Just means for Swansea more Oxfam type shops and coupled with traffic congestion and parking charges, a gradual decline of the city centre.
But it won t be all bad ...just not as thriving as it used to be...the indoor market is not as profitable for instance..... | |
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| Swansea City Centre. on 12:13 - Jan 7 with 2174 views | Swanzay |
Parc Tawe should also be high on the priority for demolition, its been an eyesore from day 1 and was the cheapest option available at the time if I recall.
The brown facade on the outside of Debenhams in the quantrant is also a 70s relic. The main bus station not being remotely close to the train station as always kept Swansea on the the back foot.
Its gone past the stage now were we could contemplate competeing with Cardiff for large chain stores, Cardiff has had far to much investment in the last 20 years.
Swansea needs to find a niche and get a revamp, to sell its itself. Its close location by the sea, should be an asset, but due to lack of true investment it hasn't worked so far. | | | |
| Swansea City Centre. on 13:08 - Jan 7 with 2124 views | QuakerJack |
| Swansea City Centre. on 11:55 - Jan 7 by Lord_Bony |
One of the biggest problems in retail is business rates.
The rateable value of shops in the centre is ridiculously high and out of touch with what can be realistically achieved .
Reducing rates for new businesses would be a great way of attracting them.
Unfortunately,there is nothing the council can do as the rates are set out by the valuation office at Newport. As a result they would rather have lots of empty shops than trying to give an incentive for new business,which is the life blood of any shopping centre. High street shops are moving to the retail parks because the rates are much cheaper.
There is also free parking and a hassle free shopping experience as theres lots of other big retailers there to pull the people from the town centre.
The High Street is normally like a hub for the community in any town and in the Uk over the next few years we will see a big decline....you can t really blame the consumers if it s better to shop online or at a retail park,we all do it.
Just means for Swansea more Oxfam type shops and coupled with traffic congestion and parking charges, a gradual decline of the city centre.
But it won t be all bad ...just not as thriving as it used to be...the indoor market is not as profitable for instance..... |
Excellent post | |
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