Ken posted two comments on a recent Brigg Blog story which featured pictures of a virtually empty Market Place. Brigg Blog sought to explain the absence of people by saying that our pix were taken on a Sunday morning.
Ken replied: "Just because it's a Sunday is no excuse for the lack of folk. Go to other similar sized towns and the streets are teeming with people and open shops.
On May Day, there were numerous groups wandering about Wrawby Street and in the Market Place. Apart from the pubs, nothing was open except perhaps Love and Live near Brian's DIY, in which I had tea and a sticky bun.
"If the town is dead, crowds are not going to attend a post-mortem when there's life and dynamism at the nearby Garden Centre."
"Brigg shopkeepers could well benefit by going to Hebden Bridge on a Sunday - population circa 4,500 and a high proportion of independent shops."
Brigg Blog would welcome a comment from Brigg Town Business Partnership, representing the independent traders.
Meanwhile, we'll suggest that there are a number of reasons why shops choose to stay shut, including:
- Wage costs and the difficulty in maintaining staffing levels during the week if time in lieu is taken (eg work Sunday, take Wednesday off) as many businesses only have a few employees on the rota.
- Need for a day off with the family for shop owners and workers ('Quality family time' is usually quoted whenever Sunday trading is discussed).
- Religious reasons (Six days of the week shalt thou labour...)
- Likelihood of little return in the short term until word gets round about Sunday shop opening and visitor levels then begin to rise.
The latter bullet point bring us to the most important issue. It's chicken and egg time. With so few folk about, traders clearly feel it's not worth opening at the moment. But without businesses opening, people will not feel the need to visit Brigg town centre on a Sunday.
It needs something to break the cycle.
Would the Business Partnership to prepared to give Sunday opening a month's trial? This could be publicised and people urged to come to Brigg to visit the speciality shops and our range of eateries.
Brigg has done incredibly well when compared to lots of small towns, where there are many empty premises and 'to let' and 'for sale' signs to be viewed along the high street. We have bucked the trend. But successful Sunday opening could perhaps add a new dimension.
We think Ken has raised an issue worthy of debate, whether or not you agree with all his comments. Ultimately, of course, it's a matter for business proprietors whether they choose to open more often on Sundays.
The above picture was taken by Ken Harrison in May when the TSW Printers Border Classic car rally was held in Brigg town centre, drawing many people into the town centre. But how many businesses were open that morning?
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4 comments:
Its a question of accessibility, its ok opening shops on a Sunday but can people get here if they don't have a car, the bus services are awful and train services through out Lincolnshire are a joke.
They get to the garden centre ok..
Possible solutions....
1. A network of electronic notice boards at strategic site about Brigg and district...ie Market Place, Tesco, Broughton, Barnetby...alerting, informing and promoting services and forthcoming events in the local area.
Remotely controlled by, for instance,the TIC at Brigg..sponsored by local advertising.
This will immediately increase the sphere of promoting influence of something happening in the local area.
It will also ameliorate the need for someone to have a good long-term memory about time - date - event...it's In Yer Face facts.
2. For goodness sake can someone in authority do something to increase the use of the river for recreational purposes. I am not really talking about joining a canoe, rowing, or boating club...I more concerned with rowing boat hire on the Ancholme, pleasure boat trips..and the facility of Joe Public accessing the river in his little inflatable to take the kids around the Island...there is neither a suitable mooring, nor a public slipway....
Nevertheless, the World and his wife have been saying for years that the river is a resource, but we haven't really exploited it...it's like sitting on a known gold-mine, but no-one is bothered about getting a spade.
3. Experiment with opening hours...open later, close later on certain days....eradicate the practice that Brigg becomes moribund at 3.30pm....there are folks, like myself, who like to shop in late afternoon...for example, I couldn't get my daughter a suitable birthday card from Brigg's high street shops because the outlets had closed, or had closed before the advertised time....so I went to Tesco!
How can one really buy local when many shops only trade in a narrow time window?
We can learn and evolve, or stand still and let things grow around us...
Have we got a tiger in the tank, or a dinosaur down the drain...do we think of the future, or of the past?
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