| Topic: | Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:W4 Eat Chiswick and Food Festival | |
| Posted by: | Paul Pryce | |
| Date/Time: | 10/06/15 09:01:00 |
| But how does allowing Vietnamese restaurant Pho (part of a chain) to set up a stall outside Ngon (a small independent) selling a similar but superior product help local businesses? The French have managed to make the weekly market a critical part of their local economies and therefore it is well worth looking at how we could replicate that success here. However, they have managed to protect their small local retailer much more effectively than we have and there are a sufficient number of local producers in almost every region to ensure markets are both great places to shop and keep money in the area's economy. If we introduce a market that allows chains to target their independent local competitors and buses in the farmers' market circuit of sellers from a wide area anxious to take up a prime spot on the High Road to take business away from the people who pay high rents and rates to be there, that would be undermining our local retailers. The idea of a market is potentially quite an exciting one but it needs to operate in a way that gives every possible advantage to local shops, producers and suppliers. |