We’ve not all got money to burn

10:08am Thursday 23rd August 2012 in Letters By Reader letter

IN reply to Gavin Moorst, I wish people would stop having a go at the pound shops in St Helens.

In the present economic climate they are a lifeline to a lot of people.

Not everybody has money to burn and can afford to travel to Wigan/Warrington/Widnes.

Andrew Lewis, Chester Lane, St Helens

Comments(22)

anthonywilson says...
10:42am Thu 23 Aug 12

Times are tough and there"s little doubt not everyone can afford to shop further afield or afford the well known brands. Theres certainly nothing wrong with one or two pound shops, I go in one or two myself but when you have the number which St Helens has and in close proximity to each other you have to seriously ask what do they actually add to St Helens other than a few valued part time low paid jobs?

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Sankey says...
3:49pm Thu 23 Aug 12

Actually the pound shop concept is doing very well its expanding and they make high profits believe it or not. As the other poster as said the fact that they are every other shop in St Helens reflects the depravation in the town.

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urpbloke says...
3:02pm Fri 24 Aug 12

i think i would rather see pound shops and charity shops than empty shops full of fly posters. until greedy councils reduce business rates and parking charges in towns , this is the way things will continue.

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papyt says...
4:05pm Fri 24 Aug 12

so MR LEWIS your idea that every shop in the town centre should be a low cost cheap and cheerfull type of establishment seems to be coming true,but what about those who can afford the better things in life do we have to travell out of our own town to shop,take a long hard look at some peole who shop in the town centre,babys scoffing on a pie,layabouts and scivers dossing on the church walls,beggers and the like and that is the immage you wish visitors to take away with them? one or two pound type shop is ok but not the numbers we have or is that what this town has become a cheap ,dirty down at heel dump,were only impoverished people live because im sorry to say that is the immage this town cenrte betrays.

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andlew263 says...
5:53pm Fri 24 Aug 12

If there was the demand for posh shops they would open and be here but the ones we had closed so they cant have been making money we ALL like the finer things in life I worked as a company director for 35 years before ill health took me but that's been taken from us by this government and snobby people like MR PAPYT pauperising everybody except the well off

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papyt says...
12:32pm Sat 25 Aug 12

does it not collerate that if an area looks run down and full of people looking to spend as little as possible that this then depresiates a once thriving area,what company in their right mind woul wish to bring a better class of shop to this town centre when it seems full of dead beats who cant see past their own selfish attitudes.

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frankly says...
7:15pm Sat 25 Aug 12

Papyt, for once i agree with you..we are NOT a town full of paupers trust me, but those of us with a few bob to spare wont find as selection of better shops, thats why LOTS of st helens residents go to other towns, but if Rimmer likes it this way then nothing will get better..My wife used to shop all the time in town, but hasnt for 3 or more yrs, preffering our near neighbours..for the poound shop brigade, yes,maybe you may find a few bargains, but nothing of quality, AND who needs FOUR in a 199 yard radius, Take a camera and snap some of our residents who sit around all day, then take one again day after day and you will see the same faces..same for the deadbeats, and the gymslip smoking mothers, and their entourage..THE TOWN IS A DUMP.I may get someting of quality in Tyrers, but if not, THEN WHERE DO I GO. ???

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papyt says...
8:29pm Sat 25 Aug 12

BARTONS in DUKE ST probably one of the only shops that seem to sell high end quality items in the town centre.

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PM says...
7:49pm Tue 28 Aug 12

papyt wrote:
so MR LEWIS your idea that every shop in the town centre should be a low cost cheap and cheerfull type of establishment seems to be coming true,but what about those who can afford the better things in life do we have to travell out of our own town to shop,take a long hard look at some peole who shop in the town centre,babys scoffing on a pie,layabouts and scivers dossing on the church walls,beggers and the like and that is the immage you wish visitors to take away with them? one or two pound type shop is ok but not the numbers we have or is that what this town has become a cheap ,dirty down at heel dump,were only impoverished people live because im sorry to say that is the immage this town cenrte betrays.
he didn't say every shop and since when has a baby eating a pie been an issue? And as for the town's image many towns are opening more and more pound shops and charity shops, people use them.

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PM says...
7:54pm Tue 28 Aug 12

frankly wrote:
Papyt, for once i agree with you..we are NOT a town full of paupers trust me, but those of us with a few bob to spare wont find as selection of better shops, thats why LOTS of st helens residents go to other towns, but if Rimmer likes it this way then nothing will get better..My wife used to shop all the time in town, but hasnt for 3 or more yrs, preffering our near neighbours..for the poound shop brigade, yes,maybe you may find a few bargains, but nothing of quality, AND who needs FOUR in a 199 yard radius, Take a camera and snap some of our residents who sit around all day, then take one again day after day and you will see the same faces..same for the deadbeats, and the gymslip smoking mothers, and their entourage..THE TOWN IS A DUMP.I may get someting of quality in Tyrers, but if not, THEN WHERE DO I GO. ???
Why don't you and papyt go for a pint sometime.What a barrell of laughs that will be.

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frankly says...
10:42pm Tue 28 Aug 12

so, pm, disect it and tell ME whats wrong with what ive said..ive lived here ALL my life and seen a good town turn into a DUMP.

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papyt says...
7:36am Wed 29 Aug 12

PM,there is nothing wrong with a child having a pie,just as long as it is not its only hot meal of the day,do you think the fake designer clothes wearing fake tanned young girl pushing the pram knows about current diatry needs of a very young child,what are the chances that child gets its 5 a day or a balanced diet,and if the options are a nice new pair of high heels for a sat night out or buying quility food for the kids what o you think would win out.

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PM says...
10:20am Wed 29 Aug 12

frankly wrote:
so, pm, disect it and tell ME whats wrong with what ive said..ive lived here ALL my life and seen a good town turn into a DUMP.
gymslip mums? why not throw a few gypsies and immigrants in and have a game of Daily Mail bingo.And as someone who has lived here all my life too St Helens has never been a prosperous town and it has suffered the same fate as many other towns.The reason lots of St Helens residents go to other towns is because they can, thirty years ago the vast majority of people did not own a car, now the vast majority do.Many people shop for leisure not because they actually need to shop.You can get anything you need in St Helens .St Helens may need to do more to attract the leisure shoppers but to say you HAVE to shop elsewhere is a nonsense.

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papyt says...
12:07pm Wed 29 Aug 12

PM the word is detination shopping,and this town has none,you might feel comfortable walking around town getting your bits and pieces but a lot of people dont just go out shopping thats what you do weekly at one one the large ammount of supermarkets we have for some reason in a small town( could this be the problem????)years ago you bought your food daily from the corner shop and spent what ever money you had that day,shopping is now the major leisure attivity for most people so my question is WHY couldnt this town be a destination shopping area or have we been sold down the canal long ago by the backward ideals of an old fashioned council mentality that ripped the guts out of the town centre and gave us a second rate shopping centre even in those days,were are the big ideas coming from in this council? they are all just throw backs to the old labour group that fights the fight for the working man and look at were that has got us!!!!!!,here a sugjestion GIVE the town centre to PEEL HOLDINGS or the DUKE of WESTMINSTER or someone of that ilk and let them build what they like get rid of the old outdated shops and run down facades and start a fresh,it cant be any worse.

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Sankey says...
3:09pm Wed 29 Aug 12

Well said Papyt the people running the town are still fighting the class wars of the 1970's red robbo is alive and well and running St Helens. St Helens centre is a disgrace and if there was an once of decency the old stagers in local politics and their captive croneys on the council would resign with immediate effect.

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frankly says...
3:32pm Wed 29 Aug 12

PM, I tend to disagree about prosperity in this town....In the days before Thatcher, we had more or less full employment, in the glass/mining and other local industries, and you saw pages of jobs on offer in other local combines, then SHE stepped in, not labour.The pubs/clubs/cinemas/s
aints/etc etc reaped the benefit of people having money to spend.I suggest you find the ""Back in the day" site,and see how this town was packed with shoppers and much better looking. Then Americaism took over and supermarkets bred like rabbits.Then the retail parks, so now the town as it was has gone.Maybe i could get what i want in town now, but theirs not enough competition for most items, unless you run a pound shop. end of

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jumper says...
6:31pm Wed 29 Aug 12

We have to accept the concept that town centre shopping has completely
change and embrace a new system.

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papyt says...
7:13pm Wed 29 Aug 12

that is fine jumper BUT what do you do with the existing shops,we could knock it all down and buid our liverpool 1/trafford or a leuisure park with baths cinema bars and the like all under cover,there are plenty plans that could have been done but never were no the back of a fag packet mentality that ran this council has left us with no proper scope for redevolopment as we dont own vast tracks of land that we used to,the proposed new development (belive it when i see it) for st thomas's will not be part of the town centre as we have nothing joining any part with another we just seem to have bits here and bits there.

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lovesthelens says...
8:01pm Wed 29 Aug 12

I think that people need to realise that we are just a provisional town of little note. Peel holdings wouldn't be interested in investing millions in building a Trafford centre type shopping centre here. Why would they when we've already got a Trafford centre and a Liverpool One on our doorstep.
I was born in St Helens and have a real love for the place but it has always been a working class, down at heel little place.
Maybe we should get the town back to the way it used to be and send the pie eating babies and feckless fathers down the pit.

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jumper says...
8:10pm Wed 29 Aug 12

I understand but what we have is hopeless,so doing nothing is not a option.As you probably know the train station was to be moved and that got kerbunked as everythingelse always does.

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Neill0 says...
8:29pm Wed 29 Aug 12

anthonywilson wrote:
Times are tough and there"s little doubt not everyone can afford to shop further afield or afford the well known brands. Theres certainly nothing wrong with one or two pound shops, I go in one or two myself but when you have the number which St Helens has and in close proximity to each other you have to seriously ask what do they actually add to St Helens other than a few valued part time low paid jobs?
I agree, it's about getting the blend right.When I come back to St Helens it looks a bit drab but this is due to the general shopping area rather than the shops themselves.A bit of thought is required to make the place a bit more attractive for locals and visitors alike.

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frankly says...
8:00pm Fri 14 Sep 12

Been to Wigan today and it was packed, because they have more shops..even the smaller ones in the arcade were doing ok, as well as the market...Our town centre is well behind..its ok one poster saying they can get what they want in st helens, maybe,but its traping from shop to shop.most of todays shoppers want large stores with different departments, and Wigan and Warrington have those..And most under cover..They even show us up with their bus stations, whoever built ours was a right novice..And theirs are under cover as well. AND this town is still a DUMP

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