The proposal described here has a lot of merit - the main one being that it proposes an underground car park.
This is the thing that needs to be encouraged and be a condition of expansion of this site - it needs to be as large as possible and not be a token gesture in order to win planning permission.
All the small businesses that offer spicialised services in the surrounding streets (the massage parlour !) could then benefit and pressure would be taken off existing car parking facilities and maybe even encourage the SLDC car parks to charge less -
What's needed of course is for the Town itself to take charge of car parking, our market, our roads and the whole commercial set up in Ulverston - some co-ordinated thinking needs to be put in place with a vibrant group of businessmen (women of course) with adventurous thinking to put Ulverston back on the map where it belongs.
The present leadership is sadly lacking - who will have the courage to take an overall view and bring all our interests together. I can think of only one person at the moment who fits the bill and he is very much involved up in running his own successful business. (It would never-the-less be good to have the benefit of his - and people like him - sound thinking - perhaps an Ulverston Think Tank - that is listened to)
What are the negative things that could happen?
Tesco could move in but then we could have an alternative - like Sainsburys.
The Coop could find it more difficult - though judging from the present friendly and popular service they would carry on as normal.
We have a busy road to cross - Brewery Street a pedestrian overpass would be ideal.
What are your thoughts?
Could the large traffic island nearby be put to better use? - a cafe in amongst the trees with glass shielding to protect from the noise and traffic fumes - another pedestrian over/under pass which also links to the other side of the A590.
These all need to be fed into the existing planning consultation that is happening at present. Will anyone get forward thinking people get involved or will Ulverston continue to die a slow death as is taking place up till now.
Come on James Airey (County, District and Town Councillor - new leader of the local conservatives) - you're ideally placed - show us some leadership.
(no, just to clarify, he's not the person I was thinking of above)
17 comments:
Ralph!!....it must be Ralph!
A bit OTT don't you think? The cost of using that island for a cafe with disabled person's access, bridges etc safety precautions for traffic (accidents do happen, fires do start) delivery of food etc etc. is enough to put off any possible trader. That island is a pleasant open space amid traffic.
I should think what we really need for that old Brewery building space is light industry and/or housing. Use it for a supermarket and you could well draw customers AWAY from the town centre. Park car underneath, shop (and get parking payment returned) put shopping in boot (children inside car) and off back home. Booths is just down the road with a pleasant cafe and good shopping experience. Why would folk from out of town wish to shop at a new place on the Brewery site? I should think we already have enough shops in town.
I think the Ulverston business people work jolly hard to keep going in these hard times. More housing ( more residents?) on that site could mean more business for shops already here. Light industry likewise.
But then it is entirely up to those who have an interest in what happens there. At our age, surely it is not for us to help determine future plans for the area.
I think Geoff is being mischievous and trying to draw comments about a cafe on the roundabout. Absolutely ludicrous of course and as for the brewery site - who is going to pay for underground car parks and a bridge ,sorry ' overpass '. How would the elderly use such a bridge ? All that is needed is a zebra crossing on Brewery St. My spies tell me Waitrose are the preferred operator as the name would draw people into Ulverston. Personally ,I think the brewery site should be split into smaller retail units with some housing on the frontages.
I suggest we build a Particle Accelerator in the old brewery I have consulted with Dr Chris Garrett and we are somewhat concerned that half the universe is missing.
Dr Garrett and I have decided we are going to solve the problem of Baryon Asymmetry.
However to solve this problem we need a Particle Accelerator C.E.R.N will not take our calls!!!!.
Once we solve this problem and find the other half of the universe we will construct housing for all and retire join the Green Party and do The Guardian Crossword.
Dr Arnold Kegel
What me - OTT ?
What about the cars having an underpass - dug at the same time as the underground garage.
BTW I suggested underground parking for this area paid for by selling off the land at Stockbrige Lane Car Park for housing, on this blog and then it was considered OTT.
I'm not sure what "underground" means in the context of the Brewery site which is on a hill! Relative to where?
I have the impression that real undergound means rock !
Geoff
after all your pontification about Tesco 2 years ago, I now find myself surprised at your 'support' of a 'supermarket' on this site.
Make your bloody mind up, what you want.
Read Mondays Mail... would the same feeling be shown, should a Wetherspoons be opened in Town, not only detracting from the pub trade, but decimating Poppies,Shits Wheel and Gillams, with their cheap deals??
Think long and hard, for what you wish for, in your twilight years
SUPERMARKET giant Asda has launched a new campaign pledging to maintain the least attractive customer base in Britain.
But is Asda full of bigots?
The store has guaranteed that reasonably normal-looking shoppers will never have to feel genetically inferior to at least 87% of its regulars.
Asda marketing director, Julian Cook, said: "We're actually coaxing particularly unappealing members of the public in with free buns, ensuring that after every visit you'll walk through the exit feeling like the belle of the ball.
"Compare that to Waitrose, where you're like desperate, half-dead pond life next to the perfectly-proportioned middle class families with their magnificent shoes and their shiny skin and their flowing, lustrous hair."
The repugnance of the Asda-dwellers has been independently verified by experts from Centre for Faces at Reading University. Professor Nikki Hollis said: "Although it's hard to be scientific about these things, it's not really.
"The Asdas we visited contained genuinely unfortunate-looking people who smelled of horse sweat and stale peaches - the types who consider teeth to be a luxury item.
"We saw tracksuits rotted away at the crotch, draggy limbs and chipped, ill-fitting glass eyes. Then you've got the plain strange, like the bald old woman with a pine marten on a length of string, who was racially abusing a jar of pesto in Spanish.
"Certainly they were a more motley bunch than you'd get in Tesco or even Morrison's and we left feeling like we were, comparatively, dripping with sex."
She added: '"And do try the custard doughnuts, they're very good."
A prime example of false logic.
It's Tesco I object to not Supermarkets.
This one would be very close to the other shops in town - people could park here, do their shopping, and visit the many specialised shops in the town : Appleseeds, Workingclass Heroes, Rhubarb and Custard, Smith and Harrisons all selling stuff not to be found in a soupermarket.
An ideal combination.
Often the supermarket is out of town because of the need for car parking space as with Booths.
In this case they propose to solve this problem.
Fantastic.
asda and other supermarkets sell screws,nails tools ect that smith and harrisons sell.They also sell clothes that working class hero sells and most important thing is that there cheaper than them shops.In this day and age you find the cheapest,why buy a tv from ross when you can buy the same tv for £100 cheaper from a supermarket
False logic will get you nowhere.
Smith and Harrison sell many things, screws, tools that aren't sold by the supermarkets and can be far cheaper. They even have a better selection than you'll find at Travis Perkins. They specialise in stuff missed by the big boys - and the advice is invaluable helping you buy the right product for the job.
Working Class Heroes sell diverse Scate Boarding equipment as does the shop on the Market Square - Urban (?)
Buying a sewing machine from the shop in Upper Brook St is cheaper than elsewhere AND they provide a back up service of repair, maintenance and lessons - something the supermarkets avoid.
Often cheapest is not cheapest in the long run - you end up buying another, not long after - service and good advice are important.
No. It's not Ralph!
How about a huge walk-in aviary with exotic birds? That should draw in folk from many miles around and bring custom to those shops Geoff talks about?
Geoff - I fear you are very wrong about this. A new store of this size, in this location, will wreck the town. That is what always happens in situations like these. I've done enough research on them over the years to know that superstores destroy more jobs than they create. We'll lose half the high street due to this.
I've just been asked to write a piece for the Daily Mail about the death of the high street, and I've touched on Ulverston as part of it. It may be published tomorrow. I guess we'll see if anyone agrees.
In the case of Ulverston people are already travelling to Barrow to go to superstores that offer more than Booths so isn't it better that we encourage them to come to Ulverston.
If you talk to knowledgeable shopkeepers here in Ulverston they already predict that Ulverston will become a ghost town soon so don't we have to offer an alternative to Barrow?
Paul,
I'm highly suspicious of statements like these:
"That is what always happens in situations like these."
This surely is a statement from someone with a closed mind.
"Always" is such an all encompassing word.
In the back of my mind I have this concept that Ulverston is special, unusual.
I can see the presenceof a superstore leading to a lot of mediocre shops closing. Shops that follow a formula and haven't much about them.
Now quote me a town in the whole of the UK that has a shop like Smith and Harrison or even one like Appleseeds with its combination of specialised knowledge, advice and products.
Find me another "Rhubarb and Custard", another town with its own small specialised brewery.
All these businesses are run with their own brand of enthusiasm.
Even the Coop would do well with a supermarket in the town - it has a vital ingredient not offered elsewhere - friendship - a very rare commodity in any superstore.
Perhaps what the next generation of shoppers are looking for are quirky people with enthusiasm that makes their business different to any other.
Ones like Working Class Heroes, the two Herbalists, the cheap shop on New Market Street, the Lantern House, Unique Image (Sewing),the pet food shop on Kings street, Natterjacks for coffee, a cake, live music at any time and a beer in sympathetic 'arty' surroundings and many many more.
Ulverston would then remain a town like no other - one sought after for its refreshing individuality as exhibited by all its festivals - even one for Breast Feeding - and where else in the world will you find anything like The Railings - somewhere that always brings a smile to those starting out on the Cumbria Way.
Let's face it the very fact that you moved to Ulverston and live in the Gill indicates that Ulverston has something special. Something that won't be squashed by commercialism - I'm finding that more and more individuals with enthusiasms of their own are being drawn to the town because here they meet others that are similar.
The thing that is absolutely essential to this proposal on the Brewery Site is that it provides its own car parking. At present it proposes to nick the established and much need overpriced car park opposite. It talks about "underground car parking" but this isn't described on the web site.
This goes back to one of the most pernicious aspects of Ulverston - one that does untold damage to the businesses in the town - its the SLDC policy and management of our car parks - with the glaring example the underused Stock Bridge Lane. Car parking surely is the most serious issue that is leading to Ulverston becoming a Ghost Town.
We need leaders - councillors - that will really wrestle with this problem on our behalf - not people who bleat repeatedly "We can't do anything"- Ulverston needs fighters who take up a battle and 'fight to the death'.
I hope you article presents the full picture: I'll read it with interest.
Geoff, thanks for the reply. A few points:
1. I make the statement containing the word 'always' based on extensive research over a number of years. It's not about minds being either closed or open. There is not one single example form anywhere in britain in which a superstore of this size in a town like this has improved conditions for local traders.
2. Sure, a few specialist shops will not be affected. But what about our two butchers, our greengrocer, our market and covered markets, our bookshop, our florist? All independent people, all under threat from a new store. Do we want to lose all this? If anyone thinks a superstore will help them they are kidding themselves.
3. 'Ulverston is unique.' In one respect, yes, and I'll tell you which one: it is one of the few real, independent towns left. And why? Because it has no town centre superstore. If you imagine the town would survive a new Tesco, say, on the brewery site, you are flying in the face of the evidence of what happens when these beasts lumber in.
4. I know dozens of healthfood shops like Appleseeds. There are indy microbreweries in almost every English town now. There is a shop like R&C in Oxford, in Hebden Bridge and in Totnes, to name three off the top of my head. There are great hardware shops in a few towns, though very few now. Sheringham is one such, and I spent time with their owners a few years back as they campaigned to stop Tesco wrecking their town. A lesson there for us all:
http://old.paulkingsnorth.net/Sheringham.html
5. I certainly agree that we need some change. I think local traders could innovate more, and also that a better use could be found for the brewery site. Ulverston has an affordable housing shortage. Why not a combination of affordable housing, light industry units and even a brewery heritage centre? Something like that would really benefit the town. At present, Robinsons are just cashing in, with no regard to the town's needs.
6. Yes, I moved here because it is special. A superstore will wreck that. We will become just another clone town. I've seen it happen.
7. There's a public meeting about this at 6pm at Ford Park on Wednesday which I intend to be at. We should all go to find out what is really going on.
8. Here's a good summary of what supermarkets are really doing to the nation:
http://www.respublica.org.uk/articles/right-retail
Here are the links above in clickable form:
http://old.paulkingsnorth.net/Sheringham.html
http://www.respublica.org.uk/articles/right-retail
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