[Retlaw]

Originally Posted by Neil

Why is it? So many like to blame to the council which has changed colour several times while Accrington town centre as slowly disappeared. I think the main reason the town centre is dying is down to the shoppers. People want to use supermarkets, they want to park outside and fill the car up once a week. They want retail parks and they want to use online shopping from places like ebay, Amazon etc. The shoppers of Accrington and Hyndburn are the reason Accrington is dying as a town centre. Is there are no shoppers there will be no shops. I've heard people say the council should be encouraging shops to come to Accrington with cheap rents and rates but the council don't set the rates and most of the shops available for rent do not belong to the council. Even M&S left and they had a very good deal on their building.

If you want to blame someone, blame the people, blame yourselves every time you use Asda, Tesco, Iceland, B&M, Lidl, Aldi, Home Bargains, Pets at Home, Currys and all the other supermarket type shops not in the town centre most of us use.

One of the biggest, yet very seldom mentioned causes of dying shops, is the refrigerator & the freezer, when I was growing up we didn't have them, you bought your food supplies practically every day, then along they came, and now every household has one or both, and those supermarkets are only too happy to cater for you, corner shops, corner grocers & butchers died a quick death. There is no turning the clock back, I am also a victim or culprit, I would rather go once a week, fortnight or even a month, than traipsing to shops every day, even fish & chip shops are getting the knock, but I still like my Friday Chippy Tea & my own mushy peas.