Your local High St.

Well said Auntie Flo !We even have to pay to park while collecting a Chinese takeaway.

When we moved here, it was a lovely little market town, which has gradually grown. We are well supplied with coffee shops, banks, estate agents and charity shops. The council in it's wisdom had decided that we need regeneration. This will mean getting rid of the small town centre car park. So all the new shops that are mooted, will probably have very few customers, as there will be nowhere easy to park. OK there are car parks on the edge of town, but not all can walk that far. The shop rates will be high, so prices will be high. Our car parking spaces are now chargeable for 24 hours, all day, every day, instead of being free in the evenings and Sundays, so we are almost penalised for attending Church. The trouble is the folk that 'plan' our town, do not LIVE here, and consequently don't have to suffer the resulting muddle.

We have a small independent pharmacy in a small parade of shops near us. They are absolutely wonderful. Great advice, a good prescription service and very nice people. The local area would be lost without them

Our experience with pharmacies is the opposite to some. We only had a small Boots, they never had enough staff, you could queue for an hour on a bad day, and then they had to order the items, but they had no competition.
We then had an independent pharmacy open next to the clinic, what a difference, no queues and if they didn't have what you needed they would deliver it. They were also open 7 days a week and late some nights. Hardly anyone uses Boots now. And the pharmacist remembers your name.

I am staying with DD at the moment - she now lives in a small village a couple of miles outside Skipton which is a great town - in fact good enough to have coach trips to it several times a week! It has a market about four days a week and there are plenty of variation of shops. A branch of House of Fraser and a Phase Eight. There plenty of coffee shops, cafés and pubs. Just on the edge - within walking distance is a Morrison's and next door is a B and M store. Interesting place and plenty of other lovely places to visit nearby - Grassington is beautiful.
But I have visited many towns which are sad to see as most of the life has gone from them.

Yes Durhamjen the company have sacked the driver, offered some monetary compensation, not sure how much, and are paying for our Christmas lights.

We have one independent pharmacy which is next-door to the GP surgery I use. I won't use it for prescriptions though as they are really slow and a lot of the time they either haven't got enough of what you want or sometimes none at all.
We have Boots, Superdrug and Tesco which is where I have my scripts sent.

I hope the lorry company have to pay for the repairs, NanKate.

We have a vibrant High Street full of cafes and restaurants, a few of which are independent. Plenty of clothes shops, but mostly far too expensive IMO.

5 charity shops where I kit myself out on a regular basis. ?
HOWEVER, recently a large foreign lorry drove over our fragile river bridge, ignoring the signs that it was too heavy, DISASTER, well for bridge anyway, which is now out of commission for 6 months and is affecting trade in the town and clogging up the other two roads coming into our small town. Moan over.

Roses, it's about whether you use your high street. It does not specify town or village.

You said you've got plenty, Ana. I said we only have one.
Therefore, if they are going to close one, it should be one of yours, not mine.
I didn't say I wanted you to be deprived of all of yours. However, the idea of 3000 pharmacies being closed is not good news for any of us in England.

www.pulsetoday.co.uk/clinical/prescribing/3000-pharmacy-closures-could-be-disaster-for-gps/20031134.fullarticle

Particularly as GP surgeries are also closing.

Charming. Just because you're running short of pharmacies you want the rest of us to be deprived too, durhamjen.

local market towns also have enough banks.

thought we were talking about towns not villages, local market towns have plenty of pharmacies, but only one shop [ groceries] in my village.

Really, Ana? In that case they can close some of yours. There's only one in my village, and all the banks closed down years ago.

We hae plenty of pharmacies both in the high street and off it. What we need is more local Bank branches which have been steadily closing for years.

Too many charity shops and eateries. But The Square and all the streets leading to it are clogged up with The Mop (a visiting fair) so most of the shops have closed for the weekend it's here.

There's a petition on 38 degrees to stop the closure of pharmacies on the high streets.
The government is discussing it now.

We are lucky here to have a lovely High Street full of independent shops-come here on a sunny afternoon and it is full of visitors and locals. I think the reason that it's so good is that our council didn't let the big supermarkets anywhere near the main street.

Parking seems to be an issue in lots of places. Our large (ish) village is being forced to expand in all directions with the new developments being on the outer edges and too far to walk into the school, doctors, shops. So, we have quite a vibrant high street which could be much more lively if there was somewhere for all the new, mostly younger, residents to park. A real Catch 22.

The area where I moved from had lots of shops at one time but now mainly has Asda and The Range. The area I have moved to has shops at every turn, small independent ones, butchers, bakers and the candle stick makers. Plus we have a Lidl, Aldi, 2 Tesco's, Asda, Iceland, 2 B and M Bargains, Dorothy Perkins and Burtons, an outdoor market and an indoor market. And I do internet shopping! I need to get out on my mean machine a bit more and buy locally.

Oh and I meant to say. Needed to buy some expensive stuff through chemist. So made sure went to local one up the road rather than one of big names as the the independents round here are massively under threat. If we all vote with our cash and cards, it can be done.

I live in a north London suburb that said no to Waitrose! Can you imagine! We fought them off and so still have thriving greengrocer, fishmonger, bakery, and lots of small useful shops. Now evil landlords have chucked out nice bike shop and restaurant to make way for a Sainsbury's.
Council is always doing its best to ruin the the line-up of local lovely shops with insane latest schemes. And, of course, they plan to close the local library and sell it off. Art Deco building, too. They did that to our beautiful outdoor Art Deco swimming pool. Now a McDonald's and Hollywood bowl. Guessing someone did better out of that deal than the locals.

Riverwalk Yes, that's the one! My DGS loves looking in there when we go to the library nearby. I think he views the exhibits the same way he views his cuddly toys - not as once living, now dead and stuffed, real animals

I know once upon a time it was the only way 'ordinary' people actually saw the size and splendour of these creatures but since the advent of film, television and internet it now really is a dying trade.

That's what Tesco bought to our village. Pre Tesco there was very little parking and the few shops were mediocre, so shoppers went to nearby towns instead. Tesco have provided plenty of parking, the existing locals shops had a greater footfall overnight and new shops opened. Our butchers was OK but just a simple butchers, it has now expanded, has an excellent deli and a cafe. We do not need to go outside the village for any of our normal shopping now. Tesco seem to be working with the local shops, they do not try to compete with the butcher, but as we do to have a wet fish shop, the Tesco wet fish counter is excellent. If we had an M&Co Mrs P would be in heaven. Oddly, the one thing we lack is a Pub. All our Pubs are on the outskirts of the village as the land in the centre was owned by Quakers and covenants prevent it being used for licensed premises.