Final touches to street scene to be completed

Final touches are to be made to the streetscene adjacent to Parkway in Newbury town centre, ahead of the prestigious development’s opening on Thursday 27 October.

The Northbrook Street pavement around the East Street entrance to Parkway will be resurfaced with block-paving. The work will necessitate the closure of the road between Sun 16 and Tue 18 October.  Diversion signs will be in place.

The other improvement will be to the short section of road on the north side of Park Way Bridge. Again, block paving will be used across the whole area, providing an attractive link between Parkway and Victoria Park, and providing smooth vehicle access to Camp Hopson and for deliveries to adjacent businesses.

Park Way will be closed to all traffic between Fri 7 and Mon 10 Oct, with diversion signs in place. Drivers wanting to use Camp Hopson’s car park will be able to reach it by driving over Park Way Bridge which will be under manual traffic control from Wharf Road on the south side of the canal.

Crazy yesterday. They've flooded the site with workmen, and there's no digs to be found for miles around. Nice one SLI....we love you!

Two weeks to go, and it looks very un-ready for 27th!
Anyone know how many (if any) shops will be in a position to open on the day.

I will say that all of those due to open on the 27th will open on the 27th.

I would hope that all the shop-fronts (even the units that haven't been let) would be finished, even if they're a mess inside and just have the windows blanked out. And all the paving and public walkways finished. It won't look great if people are wandering through the new shops with workmen still hammering, sawing and angle-grinding around them. Would be better for them to push the opening rather than it still effectively be a building site.

Every cloud though.....

It means Aldi won't be far behind. Just think.....another supermarket. Thank you Cllr Vickers

Supermarkets - it is what people want.

Quoted from 78

Supermarkets - it is what people want.

When has Newbury ever supplied what people want? We get what the Newbury Few say we will have!  

Quoted from Cognosco

When has Newbury ever supplied what people want? We get what the Newbury Few say we will have!  

Really?

I wonder why we don't have an Asda?

Quoted from Greenham Common

I wonder why we don't have an Asda?

I'm sure cognostco will say it is because the Newbury Illuminati, or Elders of Zion, or Rosicrucians or whoever don't want one.

Quoted from 78

Supermarkets - it is what people want.

I don't want them.

I'd go miles out of my way to avoid having to shop at one.

Quoted from 78

I'm sure cognostco will say it is because the Newbury Illuminati, or Elders of Zion, or Rosicrucians or whoever don't want one.

?

He steady on? Are you deputising for User now? Or are you just trying to relieve him of his exalted position? No trust amongst WBC is there? Only ever consider WBC, NTC and the Newbury Few to be suspicious and devious unless they prove otherwise! Every other organisation or establishment I consider to be kosher unless they prove they are not. This of course comes from a long experience of living in Newbury.  

Quoted from Cognosco

When has Newbury ever supplied what people want? We get what the Newbury Few say we will have!  

You nailed it !

Death and Destructionbury..... as I said,
time will tell....very quickly in my opinion.
I expect you can see it from the moon!
It's uglier than the ugliest of uglies..
Perhaps we may get another fucher(is that how you spell it?)
leave us a message...comprende

Quoted from Cognosco

?

He steady on? Are you deputising for User now? Or are you just trying to relieve him of his exalted position? No trust amongst WBC is there? Only ever consider WBC, NTC and the Newbury Few to be suspicious and devious unless they prove otherwise! Every other organisation or establishment I consider to be kosher unless they prove they are not. This of course comes from a long experience of living in Newbury.  

You are the one who continuously posts about 'the Newbury Few'...... As if there is some evil master plan being brought to fruition by a cabal of locals.

btw - you are doing a user - avoiding the central jist of a post.........

Quoted from 78

You are the one who continuously posts about 'the Newbury Few'...... As if there is some evil master plan being brought to fruition by a cabal of locals.

btw - you are doing a user - avoiding the central jist of a post.........

Are you denying this is the case in Newbury? Just look at past history!

Sorry remind me.. this is?

Quoted from 78

Supermarkets - it is what people want.

Not in Bristol it's not, or Denmark....!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0PSyiRXIEyc

Quoted from Cognosco

Are you denying this is the case in Newbury? Just look at past history!

Of course - any sane person would.

Quoted from Muddler

Not in Bristol it's not, or Denmark....!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0PSyiRXIEyc

Ah yes - the Bristol Tesco.

If those local shops in Stokes Croft were any good & charged competitive prices they'd be able to laugh in the face of Tesco & not have to resort to rioting & vanaldism.......

The whole Stokes Croft debacle shows exactly what people want - Tesco.   if they didn't want one they would not shop there and the Tesco would fail because shoppers would stick to their local shops. Passive action is always far more objective .....

Quoted from 78

Ah yes - the Bristol Tesco.

If those local shops in Stokes Croft were any good & charged competitive prices they'd be able to laugh in the face of Tesco & not have to resort to rioting & vanaldism.......

The whole Stokes Croft debacle shows exactly what people want - Tesco.   if they didn't want one they would not shop there and the Tesco would fail because shoppers would stick to their local shops. Passive action is always far more objective .....

And far more easier to ignore?  

Quoted from 78

Of course - any sane person would.

"There are non so blind as those that will not see"  

Quoted from Cognosco

And far more easier to ignore?  

Hardly.

Quoted from Muddler

Every cloud though.....

It means Aldi won't be far behind. Just think.....another supermarket. Thank you Cllr Vickers

Great, i cant wait another place to get my cheap beer and wine  

Some of Aldi's own label products score very highly in Which? product testing.

Times are tough for many families, I think the shop will do well.

Quoted from 1247

Some of Aldi's own label products score very highly in Which? product testing.

Times are tough for many families, I think the shop will do well.

It probably will, but at who's expense?

Every pound spent has to come from a consumer, there are only so many to go round, and when you run out of consumers locally, you need something special to attract more from elsewhere.

Quoted from LocalRes

It probably will, but at who's expense?

Every pound spent has to come from a consumer, there are only so many to go round, and when you run out of consumers locally, you need something special to attract more from elsewhere.

I'm not quite sure what you are saying here. Tesco and Sainsbury have already killed off all the local small shops so any competition by another cheap supermarket will just take customers from those two stores. That will be a drop in the ocean as far as they are concerned. We already have one stack em high, sell em cheap supermarket over by the pet shop so Aldi will fit nicely between that and Tesco/Sainsbury I would guess. We have Iceland where mum's go but I'm not sure where that fits in.

Quoted from brian

I'm not quite sure what you are saying here. Tesco and Sainsbury have already killed off all the local small shops so any competition by another cheap supermarket will just take customers from those two stores. That will be a drop in the ocean as far as they are concerned. We already have one stack em high, sell em cheap supermarket over by the pet shop so Aldi will fit nicely between that and Tesco/Sainsbury I would guess. We have Iceland where mum's go but I'm not sure where that fits in.

NO - consumers killed off the local shop. Not the supermarket.

Quoted from 78

NO - consumers killed off the local shop. Not the supermarket.

Whichever way, chicken or egg. Both add up to the same.

Quoted from brian

Whichever way, chicken or egg. Both add up to the same.

No, he's right shoppers killed off local shops by altering their shopping habits, not the supermarkets.

The egg came first, by the way.

Quoted from user23.3

No, he's right shoppers killed off local shops by altering their shopping habits, not the supermarkets.

The egg came first, by the way.

Just like the internet will kill off shopping centres? WBC - Bandwagon - Parkway springs to mind?  

Quoted from Cognosco

Just like the internet will kill off shopping centres? WBC - Bandwagon - Parkway springs to mind?  

More than likely. Why you think this is just a Newbury phenomenon I fail to see.

Shops will become places to view, but not buy merchandise. Stuff will be delivered from a central distribution centre. Like Tesco offer at the moment.

There will be a few shops that survive, but not many. The consumer will kill off the shop.

Quoted from 78

More than likely. Why you think this is just a Newbury phenomenon I fail to see.

Shops will become places to view, but not buy merchandise. Stuff will be delivered from a central distribution centre. Like Tesco offer at the moment.

There will be a few shops that survive, but not many. The consumer will kill off the shop.

I have never implied it was solely a Newbury phenomenon! Just mystified why the council gave away so much land for a shopping centre that it seems is doomed to failure as you seem to agree. Hence my saying -WBC - Bandwagon - Late.  

Quoted from Cognosco

I have never implied it was solely a Newbury phenomenon! Just mystified why the council gave away so much land for a shopping centre that it seems is doomed to failure as you seem to agree. Hence my saying -WBC - Bandwagon - Late.  

I think it was a couple of car parks. For which SLI are paying WBC £300k a year for.

Quoted from 78

I think it was a couple of car parks. For which SLI are paying WBC £300k a year for.

Do you happen to know what the revenue was from the 'couple of car parks' before the 'great WBC give-away'?

Quoted from user23.3

No, he's right shoppers killed off local shops by altering their shopping habits, not the supermarkets.

They wouldn't have changed if there were no supermarkets.

Quoted from 78

I think it was a couple of car parks. For which SLI are paying WBC £300k a year for.

Which is probably far less than the commercial value of the land!  But that is the stupidity of WBC and our merry band of wankers councillors

Quoted from user23.3

No, he's right shoppers killed off local shops by altering their shopping habits, not the supermarkets.

The egg came first, by the way.

If it did, what laid it.

Quoted from brian

If it did, what laid it.

The logic is an egg doesn't necessarily contain the same species that laid it.

Quoted from Greenham Common

Do you happen to know what the revenue was from the 'couple of car parks' before the 'great WBC give-away'?

Not off the top of my head - but I think there was a figure that was being bandied about at the time the final deal was made (reducing WBC's take from £350k to £300k and removing all affordable housing from SLI's committment for an extra £100k of S106). WBC later paid £1 million or so to reintroduce some social housing.

I think it was around about the £300k mark, perhaps a little lower - it might be in the archives of this forum (though it may have been before the forum disappeared for a while before being reborn).  If you seriously want to know the figures you can always ask WBC (via an FOI request if necessary).  I don't think WBC lose out from the deal apart from the loss of the freehold (a Councillor once told be that the idea of a long leasehold hadn't ever been discussed) and the two years of zero revenue as Parkway was built.  It can, of course, be argued that there was no loss of revenue because those who would have parked in Park Way didn't stop paying parking fees as they used other car parks.

My dislike of Parkway is mainly about my lack of interest in more shops selling much the same stuff as existing shops and the enormous size of the structure - both in area (I liked the broad aspect of Park Way and the way it separated the park from the buildings) and in height (the Vision proclaimed that development would be in scale with the lovely market town of Newbury - Parkway is way over scale). The dreadful block they have added for John Lewis just makes it worse; no one, especially not the designer of the original, could claim it does anything but detract from the overall look of Parkway.

I do think that WBC should have held on to the freehold, leasing their part of the land on a 99 year lease or similar.  That way they would have much more influence on future changes (the whole thing is likely to be replaced within that period).

I also think the main entrance from Northbrook St should have been further south - out of the pedestrianised area and through a few of the dreadful late C20th additions to the streetscene, rather than a collection of listed buildings.  Even WBC agreed with me on this at ine time - their design brief for the development clearly pushed developers towards the removal of a couple of their predecessors more dodgy planning permission cock-ups.

As it is the listed buildings are gone and the proposed changes to the planning laws will take away most of what little power WBC has in planning control - leaving developers to do pretty much what they want.  

Quoted from brian

If it did, what laid it.

If you think about the way evolution works then what ever laid it wasn't quite chicken.

Quoted from blackdog

They wouldn't have changed if there were no supermarkets.

Ah, yes - remain in the past. Change nothing!

Anyone know how big the car park will be at the proposed Aldi? With its proximity to Parkway (and convenience to the main roundabout) I can see it maybe offering a few hours free parking for a £10 spend in store - thus attracting Parkway shoppers and increasing footfall through its tills? Just a thought.

Quoted from 78

Ah, yes - remain in the past. Change nothing!

Or continue to be like an idiot like you (and User23) and misinterpret peoples comments!

Quoted from 78

Ah, yes - remain in the past. Change nothing!

Please, don't ever confuse change with progress.


Threep.

At least the supermarkets don't close Wednesday afternoons, nor when you just finish work.

Quoted from 78

Ah, yes - remain in the past. Change nothing!

My point was that there are two reasons why small grocers, butchers etc have gone - the supermarkets and the shoppers.  Neither could do it on their own.

Some change is for the good, some not - sadly there is little consideration given to the effect of change on anything but the profit margins.

Quoted from Greenham Common

At least the supermarkets don't close Wednesday afternoons, nor when you just finish work.

Fair point. I used to live in a village where there was a local butcher. I was happy to give him my business, but unless you did not work, you were lucky to catch him open! Changes in lifestyle have also hit small shop-traders hard.

I would imagine having both partners working full time has had an effect as well.  At one time, one might have stayed at home so that they would do the shopping and other such chores.

Quoted from Greenham Common

I would imagine having both partners working full time has had an effect as well.  At one time, one might have stayed at home so that they would do the shopping and other such chores.

Indeed, I can remember being dragged around the new J Sainsbury supermarket by my Mum, but she still bought her bread at the local baker and the veg at the greengocer - she had the time. Then, she would sit at home poring over the non-itemised supermarket receipt trying to remember what each item had cost.

Quoted from Greenham Common

The logic is an egg doesn't necessarily contain the same species that laid it.

True. The thing that laid it was very nearly, but not quite, a chicken. But it was definitely an egg (free range).

Quoted from brian

I'm not quite sure what you are saying here. Tesco and Sainsbury have already killed off all the local small shops so any competition by another cheap supermarket will just take customers from those two stores. That will be a drop in the ocean as far as they are concerned. We already have one stack em high, sell em cheap supermarket over by the pet shop so Aldi will fit nicely between that and Tesco/Sainsbury I would guess. We have Iceland where mum's go but I'm not sure where that fits in.

No not all, most yes, but not all, there are still one or two about. Every large store that opens will spread the butter a little more thinly for the others selling the same or similar products, and if that is an independent, then that could be the final straw! Supermarkets sell such a diverse range, that practically every small independent can be at risk, unless their line is very specialist.

You cannot just blame the consumer, especially when large chains can buy in such bulk, and sell probably cheaper than a small independent can purchase the items for. It is only human nature, especially in times of belt-tightening, to shop around for the best prices possible, sometimes just to make ends meet. This is what the supermarkets rely on, and what cripples the independent.

You cannot just blame the consumer


You can.  

Quoted from 78

You cannot just blame the consumer


You can.  

Unable to work with more than one variable Lovejoy - are you sure you aren't connected with the council?

Quoted from 78

You cannot just blame the consumer


You can.  

You can't see further than your nose, then!

My, it must be long!!!

Quoted from LocalRes

You can't see further than your nose, then!

My, it must be long!!!

Why'd you say that?

Let's just say that it's six of one and half a dozen of the other. When the supermarket first appeared, shoppers were attracted by the bright lights and the stacked shelves where you could help yourself and this gradually evolved, (a bit like the chicken) into the supermaket owners realising that they had attracted their shoppers and now, they could start selling other items that were what the local indies sold. Veg, meat, fish etc. So we can blame the shoppers for taking advantage of this simplistic shopping but the attraction was implemented by the supermaket owners.
Slowly, slowly catchee monkey.
Next, selling Televisions and knocking Barry Forkins and PA Baker's but, it's still ongoing. Banking, insurance and so on.......Watch this space.