| Topic: | Re:Re:Re:Write in support | |
| Posted by: | Francis Rowe | |
| Date/Time: | 25/06/23 09:49:00 |
| Tom, this literally is not rocket science and you might have to accept that people, who lack your formidable intellect, have a better grasp of what is going on because their livelihood depends on it. A bit of fuzziness on the exactitude of their statistical analysis doesn't rule out the validity of a trader's overall view. As I say, I have only spoken to a small number of restaurant cafe owners who I happen to know or have started chatting to after a meal or a coffee. The consensus is that trade is up on the flower market day but less so on other Sundays. The belief appears to be that some trade is lost due to the lack of parking but this is mitigated by the extra parking available on Sundays. Cafes seem to be less dependent on customers who drive and seem to be getting bigger increase in sales on market days. I'm a bit sceptical about the more ambitious claims for footfall because I think a large amount of people wandering through the markets are those that were coming to the high road anyway and have cross over out of interest. This doesn't really matter to businesses on the southside who will benefit either way and have really seen footfall decline due to the Cycleway which has tended to make people remain on the northside. The notion that hospitality businesses need to accept the damage a street food market would do to their business is a dangerous one in my view. The High Road seems to become increasingly dominated by chains who get a significant amount of turnover from internet enabled delivery services and businesses like Chipotle and Five Guys have further contributed to the hollowing out of the southside. Ngon was an excellent little business with a loyal following and it couldn't hack it. The independents have now been largely ghettoised into Devonshire Road and that does appear to be doing relatively well but the impression I get is that this is a very fragile recovery and badly judged policies could end it. |