Curly's Corner Shop, the blog!

…..are all wide of the mark

So I haven’t posted since before the Christmas, calm down everybody. I’m just enjoying a few quiet days with my children, helping them to learn how to play with their new toys, and enjoying it too! It’s liberating when you are not tied down to the keyboard, some bloggers should give it a try.

Thank you to those who have sent emails or texts wishing me a Happy Christmas and enquiring about my health, I’m feeling quite well, although there are a few appointments welling up in January. I should benefit from a little loss in weight which I hope to achieve by cycling more, which brings me around to the sales. I’ve never seen such a dismal turnout of customers in South Shields, King Street on Boxing Day was less busy than the average Sunday and that’s dead! Meanwhile it was impossible to find a parking spot in Jarrow, Saturday was much the same, and after a drive around the region with “Junior” looking for a bargain bike we discovered that the Metro Centre was very busy, the Retail World at Team Valley was manic with parking almost impossible, and Washington Galleries were also heaving, again parking was a problem. It seems for some reason that shoppers had been frightened away from South Shields, could it be that our Labour councillors are determined to fleece as much money as possible from them just for the pleasure of parking a car and looking at vacant premises?

When on earth are they going to get around to introducing some sort of equitable shoppers parking scheme which involves the council, shoppers, and traders to offer at least two hours free parking in South Shields town centre? I have previously described how the revenue can be retained within the town and how it would help attract shoppers back here, but no, I recall hearing Cllr. Iain Malcolm, Labour’s local commissar Leader crying for the Market Place to be made available for shoppers to park their cars on during non-market days – to raise revenue for the council of course, not to help the retailers who are going out of business at a rate of knotts (Adams, the childrens’ clothing firm in King Street is expected to go into administration this week.) Oh, and there’s also the Deputy Mayor, Cllr. John Anglin, a man supposedly blessed with the aim of keeping South Shields town centre alive, vibrant, and packed full of quality retailers. Well he’s good for offering a few platitudes as they go out of business, but not so good at talking up it’s future prospects or filling empty premises with stock that shoppers want to buy.

At the rate at which the recession is claiming businesses you would be able to pay to park your car in the Market Place next month, and enjoy a long walk past all of the empty premises before reaching Asda in Ocean Road where you will find the busiest free car park in town!

Cllr. Malcolm, stop sitting on your bloody hands over this, every busy shopping area in the North East of England offers free parking, it’s what consumers want and need, it’s what retailers need, it’s what local councils need (if they are serious about keeping businesses and trade within their boundaries.) Introduce a shoppers free parking scheme in South Shields town centre before it’s too late!

So did I find a bargain in the sales?

Yes a £300 mountain bike (two actually) reduced to £80 and flashing LED lights (front and back) reduced from £30 to 15 at Halfords in Station Road, South Shields. I can get out and about and teach “Junior” about surviving on the roads with a bicycle.

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