Is Accrington being dumbed down?
 

Does anyone else think Accy is being dumbed down.

There is nowhere in town where you can buy a copy of a Shakespere play, a classical, opera or Jazz CD.

A decent bottle of wine? Don't be daft.

However should you wish to get an illegal DVD, fake Nike top or knocked off jewellery then you are in hogs heaven.

God it's depressing.

Ok, spleen vented. Thanks

Re: Is Accrington being dumbed down?
 

Shady its a sign of how "forgotten" our little town has become. If the "real deal" cannot be purchased then the contraband material will be readilly available.

The fall out from a lack of decent shops leads to this unfortunate "trade." :( :(

Re: Is Accrington being dumbed down?
 

and don't even think about wanting to see a decent play, other than twice a year, of course.;)

Re: Is Accrington being dumbed down?
 

Well when you do get offered new things, things that will keep the town with the times, they seem to be knocked back.
Your in a downward spiral situation now that most smaller towns are in. Unusual for a town the size of accrington but then it is between blackburn. burnley and bury. Lack of shops and and a nice centre caused people to go elsewhere, lack of footfall stops new shops opening.
When I was there last I thought you had quite a good selection of shops though. But then You'd probably class here as a village.

Re: Is Accrington being dumbed down?
 

It's the sad state of things in Accrington now :(

The closer of Wardleworths was a great loss :(

Re: Is Accrington being dumbed down?
 

Well what if we nick the Royal Paladium and stuck it up on Broadway? A show a week could be orginised to keep you busy Gayle. :) ;)

Re: Is Accrington being dumbed down?
 

What a damn fine idea Spuggie, I'm all for that :D

Re: Is Accrington being dumbed down?
 

The Shakespeare point I agree with - decent literature is hard to come by around here. Shelley? Keates? The library isn't exactly an Aladdins cave.
However the musical point comes across a little snobby to me.
Opera is always associated with the higher classes and/or the intellectual - why? Just because someone prefers to mong out to Massive Attack or The Prodigy's Smack My Bitch Up; they are deemed as socially inadequate. Jazz is the last refuge of a failing musician in my opinion - yet is deemed by the higher stati as 'genuine' music...baffling.
As for the other points - I believe Accrington is full of very charming people with features that make this small town so full of character. I do not mean to belittle it - I think the town has many qualities which you will fail to find in any perhaps more 'intellectual' place; which comparitively may come across as bland. To many it may be seen as obscure - however I see Accrington as a muse for the future poets & those interested in social literature amongst us. For me anyway.
I've always believed that it is the people that make this town what it is - not the institutions (granted - some of the people should be in institutions :rolleyes:)

Re: Is Accrington being dumbed down?
 

Might not need to nick the Palladium - see the thread about it.

Back up idea for the guy that I know is Barnes in Acc - apparently that was a cinema a long time ago!

Re: Is Accrington being dumbed down?
 

I think Shady's point is that you CAN get these in Accrington but you can't get opera or jazz. It didn't come over as trying to be high brow, just trying to get the full range of music instead of only aimed at a younger market.

Re: Is Accrington being dumbed down?
 

I see that point & I agree, but traders have to sell what sells - however Shady's original point came across a little red wine & tirimasu...:)

Re: Is Accrington being dumbed down?
 

I didn't say I wanted those styles of music, just that if you did want them you would have great difficulty in getting hold of them.

I own a couple of classical CD's, one opera CD and as for jazz, it's inaccessable.........apparently it was invented by a rhythm and blues group falling down a flight of stairs.

And yes, I do own a copy of "smack my bitch up" and Massive Attacks "Teardrop" is a great track.

Re: Is Accrington being dumbed down?
 

I agree shakermaker, it's very difficult when they're dealing with supply and demand - they have to sell what people want to buy. Thing is that you have to create the demand for the rest of the stuff as well.

Re: Is Accrington being dumbed down?
 

If it came across that way then I'm sorry, I'm not the least bit like that............I just like a decent bottle of red. :D

Re: Is Accrington being dumbed down?
 

Sorry mate didn't mean to have a go at you personally - me dont likes those posh folk!

My comment on the music was more general than anything.

Re: Is Accrington being dumbed down?
 

I suppose so. Not getting into a musical debate but I for one think that the younger generations music is being viewed as more sophisticated - so perhaps the shelves will be stocked more of Vanessa Mae than Pussycat Dolls in the near future!
Mind you - with the fine divide between people who like pop music & the others that detest it; the music shops could face a headscratcher...

Re: Is Accrington being dumbed down?
 

Opera and classical music isn't elitist. There are strong musical roots in the northwest, the centre of the industrial revolution, and an appreciation of music up here.

The world famouse Halle Orchestra being one example. Harrison Birtwistle, one of the most avant garde composers in the world comes from Ossy. Also, arguably one of the finest, purest voices ever recorded was a Lancashire lass from Bamber Bridge who moved to Blackburn, her name was the divine Kathleen Farrier.

I too lament the late Wardleworths bookshop, but since some of you only shop in supermarkets that sell populatr books and music, I'm afraid we get what we deserve.

Re: Is Accrington being dumbed down?
 

only since neil moved here :D

Re: Is Accrington being dumbed down?
 

You're right, it isn't. But it is my view that opera/classical music is seen as carrying a higher value, thus labelling a person with more personal worth than someone who does not appreciate or familiarise with that particular genre.

I know there are some classical music enthusiasts round here & I know a large portion are of the snobby variety - hell I go to Bacup & Rawtenstall Grammar....it's murder being an Accy lad around there I tells thee...

...which perhaps suggests that Accy is viewed as a dumb/thick/stupid town to 'outsiders'?

Re: Is Accrington being dumbed down?
 

Your view is wrong then, opera/classical music is not 'seen as carrying a higher value' only by those with closed mind.

Re: Is Accrington being dumbed down?
 

agree with hatters sentiment about when we get offered new things that go with the times, but not with his good selection of shops- unless he means £1 shops and charity shops. nowt really against them but theres just too many.the loss of wardlworths was indeed a sad day. if accy HAD a good selection of shops people might just start to return its the only town around here with FREE parking, and they still go to blackburn/burnley/bury/etc that tells its own story to me. call me old but accy had a GREAT selection of shops in the 60s. book/toy/ tailors/ etc all long gone.

Re: Is Accrington being dumbed down?
 

Exactly - the amount of people with a closed mind around these parts is shocking.
I'm sure I'm right in saying (as I was at high school with a lot of them) that the chavs with 230 bpm blurting out over some Bryan Adams track on their mobile phone on broadway would view people who sit down to listen to Tchaikovsky after work to unwind as posh, upper class & rich.
Which also works the other way round - I know I am guilty of believing that those people blurting out that music in town are idiotic, narcissistic fools with not a brain cell to share between them.
Perhaps Accy is being dumbed down; but it is this war of opinion between groups that creates the lack of choice.
It is purely the popularity in numbers of the 'chavs'; who buy sports clothing, who buy manufactured music and drink cider & mudshakes which replaces your topman, your classical music and your fine red wine.

Re: Is Accrington being dumbed down?
 

I used to love Wardleworths. I used to spend my Saturday afternoons in there when i was a kid reading the books and rooting around. Now i buy my books from Asda or Tesco or Wh Smiths. Times have changed though the pound shops have moved in but they were empty shops before that. It's what people buy. People have voted with their feet and go to Manchester, Trafford Centre, Blackburn etc instead of using their local shops. Everybody has got used to going to Blackburn & Bury to go to the pictures because there wasnt one in Accy. Now there is but how many people go to it?

Re: Is Accrington being dumbed down?
 

I'm afraid I am going to play the yoof card here. Every generation thinks that the music of their youth is the best ever. This has been going on since the introduction of the racey quick step.

I like opera, but I also enjoyed being spat on at a Buzzcocks concert in '77 and dancing naked as the sun came up over the beach in Ibizia in the second summer of love in '87.

Not appreciating anything because you don't know it is just closed minded. Try everything, then decide it's crap.

Re: Is Accrington being dumbed down?
 

That's what people need to be told, Garinda.
I often listen to the pistols, smokey robinson & bach in the same playlist; which perhaps fuels my anger at the people who reject other genres whether it be the classical fans or the maximes/monroes groupies. A little hypocritical I know - but I'm human.
I really didn't want to get into another musical debate on here...lol

Re: Is Accrington being dumbed down?
 

You're not. You agree with me, so you must be right.;)

Re: Is Accrington being dumbed down?
 

As i said i was only visiting, and I'm from a small town, I understand perfeclty where your coming from and have every sympathy, perhaps what I meant was that it could be even worse. we haven't got a music shop at all here, only the co-op and you can guess what thats like, no wh smiths, no woolworths, no asda. Think ossy but out in the sticks.
For the size of accy, population wise and town centre wise it should be better than it is though.
I could only find one pound shop, where are they? they're not on broadway are they?
I often think I wish I had migical powers, and could just magic things right, put that shop there, that one over there to replace a lost loved shop, do that street to a nice theme, magic the chavs in to decent yoofs like we were at that age, yes we could be right so and so's but we were never like that.

Rindy, I fought you still was a yoof.

Re: Is Accrington being dumbed down?
 

I agree with Gayle for once, many years ago Accrington Arts Club put plays on quite often their HQ was the old Liberal Club which is Lardies on Willows Street

Re: Is Accrington being dumbed down?
 

Back in the 60s there was a Jazz Club held every Sunday night at the old Accy Stanley club house at Peel Park, all the top Jazz bands of the day apeard on a regular basis Terry Lightfoot springs to mind, there was also Folk Club on a Wednesday at the same venue

Re: Is Accrington being dumbed down?
 

I'd actually like to disagree with some things said here. The advent of the Internet means that you have access to an enormous amount of music/opera/books etc(and I'm not talking about the illegal downloads that seem to be teh mainstay of tabloid representations of the net). You can take part in high brow discusssions with people all over the world just like sitting down in the library or outside the market hall.

You can find out when real life shows etc are and book for them without having to trapse through rain snow sleet to get your tickets.

Stop looking for whats missing and start looking for whats available you'd be surprised.

Re: Is Accrington being dumbed down?
 

Surely, it's not about being snobbish or elitist, but rather, about offering more choice? A record shop that offers jazz and classical, but also blues, 50's rock 'n' roll, reggae and more. A bookshop that stocks Shakespeare, but maybe also has a good crime fiction section, perhaps books on the occult and other varieties. Restaurants serving tirimasu and red wine, but possibly something more out of the ordinary like a Mexican, veggie or even cajun restaurant.

I think it's been said before on here, but there seems to be little point in Accrington chasing the coat tails of bigger towns with more and more bog-standard high street chain stores. Instead, it should develop its own identity as an unusual, slightly off-beat shopping centre with an interesting range of independent outlets. I know it's stating the obvious, but we have so many jewels in the crown here - a superb (but criminally misused) arcade, the Warner Street area, a traditional market hall that wasn't flattened in the 60's. When you add the free parking to that, Accrington has the potential to be a real draw for out-of-town shoppers...or am I dreaming an impossible dream??

Re: Is Accrington being dumbed down?
 

I'm not being a flat earther, and yes technology is great, but we could all sit at home and buy every single thing we need or would like information about via the internet, and what a sad and insular world we'd be living in.

You can't browse through a book on the internet or try clothes on.

Re: Is Accrington being dumbed down?
 

Hope it didn't hurt too much. Don't worry, I won't hold my breathe for it to happen again. :D

Re: Is Accrington being dumbed down?
 

But what we were discussing is the actual music/literature, not the experience of buying it. How many people would drive to town on their own, walk into the music shop, on their own, pick up the CD, go to the desk, at most say hello, get their change, walk out the shop and head home, again on their own. The key is with whom you listen the music itself (but tbh, you don't talk over it, you sit to listen). again with literature, this is another passtime that is quite insular in its first instance. You may choose to discuss the book with friends but that happens after the actual experience itself.

Granted you can't try clothes on but as for browsing books, things like amazons recommended and last.fm you can find out what others who have similar tastes read/listen to and expand your own preferences that way.

I'm not saying everyone should do it this way either, just that as opposed to the OP's thoughts, this stuff is available in what is effectively a larger shop than Accrington could ever hope to maintain.

Re: Is Accrington being dumbed down?
 

I thought that this thread was about that, that we can't buy books/music, other than popular music in Accrington.

You can't hold a book on Amazon, flick through it, read the dust cover etc. and then decide if you'd like to buy it.

It's the same with music. Blackburn has Reidy's, which has a wide selection of all kinds of music, and they'll let you listen to something if you ask them. Accy does have MusicZone and the staff are very friendly, headed by our own Miss Ormerod.

Market forces dictate what we get. I'm sure if there was a market for more bookshops we'd have them.

Talking of cultural deserts, I remember when Mid Pennines Arts put on exciting contemporary dance troupes, Shakespeare and other touring dramas, rather than the somewhat limited second rate pop acts we now get in Hyndburn, and no it's a not a dig at Gayle I know booking what we get isn't your job. It just seems a shame that Burnley seems to have been chosen as the centre for arts in the area, and all we are fit for is the pap.

Re: Is Accrington being dumbed down?
 

I totally agree with you Garinda about the pap in Hyndburn but we don't put on shows over in Burnley either. I wouldn't say that Burnley is the centre for the arts either because the Mechanics (nothing to do with MPA btw) has the same sort of stuff on as Ossy Civic - tribute bands, comedians and the odd kids show, they just have more on every week rather than the random stuff that's on at Ossy Civic.

I've submitted proposals to the Council for how they could make Ossy Civic profitable with different types of acts and alway been told 'stop trying to take over our theatre'.

Re: Is Accrington being dumbed down?
 

That's true - I often find that all the stuff I would love to see is either in Liverpool, Burnley or Manchester - which is all well & good but once travel is accounted for I find myself screwed out of a ticket!
It's a shame that Oak Hill & the other parks aren't put to full use.

Re: Is Accrington being dumbed down?
 

I'm not sure, but it would need good advertisement. This is exactly the idea behind the booktown started here. Instead of trying to get shops that the big towns have, which we still wouldn't use even if we did have them, the idea is to have unique shops selling stuff that you can't get in big towns. Therfore as well as being interesting for us it would also pull people in from big towns and tourists. The idea is a town of bookshops, some just with books, some with books and music, some with books and a cafe, tea rooms what ever. certain shops specialise in certain types of book, fiction, photography, gardening, cooking, occult and spiritualism. This it's hoped will bring classy gift, home, crafts, collectables, food shops.

Blanavon has more or less failed, because it started with 8 bookshops cheap rent and people who didn't think about what they were doing just jumping in, here we started with no shops on the launch date, and it's very steadily built up, despite the local council not advertising it. Because of this we've actually lost several shops that I feel were needed, a candle shop and a teddy and dolls shop, both are touristy.
The tourists and and visiitors are supposed to bring in people to the towns existing shops, increase footfall, increase turnover and enable them to increase their choice, rather than just selling what most locals will buy.

Re: Is Accrington being dumbed down?
 

Some people go on the net find it on amazon, read the reviews, then go to the bookshop to buy it.
Some people predicted that book sales would drop because of the internet but they have gone up because of the it.

Re: Is Accrington being dumbed down?
 

If I ever won the lottery, I would be very tempted to spend a 100K or so in setting up a bookshop/internet cafe in the middle of Accy, where all the trendy lefties like Gayle & Madhatter could come in and spend three quid on a cup of frothy nescafe discussing the meaning of life. I would probably have payback after 6 months.

Re: Is Accrington being dumbed down?
 

lefty. lmao, you don't know me very well do you? I think cyfr knows me better and he's never met me. I've discussed nothing on here that should even come into politics tealeaf, town centres, bookshops, music, tastes in, regeneration have nothing to do with politics at party level. They're about getting facilities for people that live in a town. manipulating trends so that rather than accy end up just a suberb of blackburn it stays a place in it's own right.

you'll never put me in a box, a political box or any box, because I'm me, an individual, and I think different to most people, with my eccentric views on life, and the universe.

And if you ever won the lottery non of us would see you for dust, you'd probably go abroad, to a big brother free country.

Re: Is Accrington being dumbed down?
 

Yes but we'd have to travel to Blackburn or further to buy it. Come to think of it now that Seed and Gabbutts has closed down there may not even be a book shop in Blackburn never mind Accy.

Re: Is Accrington being dumbed down?
 

Are you sure? When did this happen? Is the only bookshop in Blackburn now the ubiquitous WH Smiths?

Re: Is Accrington being dumbed down?
 

At least ten years ago!

Re: Is Accrington being dumbed down?
 

I know Seed and Gabbutts is no longer at Suddell Cross because I went there. Sadly it seems the only bookshop in Blackburn is W H Smiths. Unless someone knows differently?

Re: Is Accrington being dumbed down?
 

You plonker...they moved to king William Street about 12 years ago

Re: Is Accrington being dumbed down?
 

Doh, it's moved again, ie: it's now closed down. Finito. No more. Gone to bookseller's Heaven.

I did ask. I may look stupid but infact am only slightly stupid. I must be replying to you.

Re: Is Accrington being dumbed down?
 

so how does it all work out now

%10 stupid

%20 s

%70 g

? :D

Re: Is Accrington being dumbed down?
 

I'm sure there's a bookshop in rawtenstall, dunno if it's any good though.

Re: Is Accrington being dumbed down?
 

Re: Is Accrington being dumbed down?
 

I quite like rawtenstall, for it's size it has a good selection of shops.

Re: Is Accrington being dumbed down?
 

Seed & Gabbutts book stores are now a dissolved company since 2003 and sadly there are no decent book shops left in Blackburn that I can think of :(

Re: Is Accrington being dumbed down?
 

The only bookshop listed for Blackburn is a Christian one in Mill Hill.

Re: Is Accrington being dumbed down?
 

Since the demise of Wardleworth's and Seed & Gabbutt I think the nearest half decent bookshop is Kaydee on Moor Lane in Clitheroe.

Re: Is Accrington being dumbed down?
 

There are Waterstones at both Preston and Bury.

A Yell search for bookshops reveals these

http://www.yell.com/ucs/UcsSearchAct...SELLERS&ooa=on

I see there is one mentioned in Gt Harwood????

I did find it funny that teh sex shop in blackburn is also listed as a bookseller :D

Re: Is Accrington being dumbed down?
 

I don't know what to make of this???????:confused: I am a cider drinker but am certainly not a chav.. I also like a good bottle of red wine...... What does that make me??:D

Re: Is Accrington being dumbed down?
 

Yep, no decent bookshops around, I usually get mine off Amazon but enjoy a good browse in a Waterstones when I`m passing one. They usually do good business off me, but what about clothes shops. I have to travel to Blackburn for a work suit, now we`ve only got half a Burtons but if i wanted a tracksuitor a hoodie.......:D

Re: Is Accrington being dumbed down?
 

end of the day its all about demand

if the demand is there then i'm sure somewhere it would be available. i guess some people would be happy with that £4 bottle of wine and a copy of the sunday sport. but in fairness i'm sure businesses have looked at accrington and realised the money this area can spend in general isnt valid enough to open a nice top of the range wine shop.

bookshops in general are declining. esp with the internet and the easiness of the supply

but then again we're getting a subway!!

*hurrah!*

Re: Is Accrington being dumbed down?
 

This is something to celebrate?????? Another tasteless fast food chain?

Re: Is Accrington being dumbed down?
 

Fast food??? They serving pie and peas on the underground they are building:confused:

Re: Is Accrington being dumbed down?
 

Seed and Gabbutts....ah, that was heaven to me. They moved to Ainsworth St, but weren't called Seed and Gabbutts anymore...and to be honest there range was not as extensive...although they would always get a book you wanted. I agree that buying books off the internet isn't as satisfying an experience....I like to flick through a book, read about the author...the other books they have published etc. The demand must not be there anymore...so i guess it is right that we get the shops that we deserve.

Re: Is Accrington being dumbed down?
 

This is the link to the town of Hay-on-Wye. The population is about half that of Accy. Now count the number of bookshops:

http://www.hay-on-wye.co.uk/bookshops/frameset.htm


Maybe we should rename ourselves Hyndburn-by-t'Coppice so that someone, somewhere, decides its a posh place to open a bookshop.

Re: Is Accrington being dumbed down?
 

tasteless?! its fantastic for a slouch like me - healthy fast food! *L*

but u have to consider lots of things - u need a decent premises for a decent bookshop - and that requires a decent amount of capital to start it up. with the distinct lack of a college that actually teaches anything accy isnt really appealin to any book chain store

*nb accy college is fantastic really.

there's just too many pound and discount stores and that really does sum up what retail companies view accrington as

Re: Is Accrington being dumbed down?
 

Since it holds one of the world's best literary festivals it's hardly suprising they have a plethora of bookshops.

It's a bit like remarking that Soho has a lot of sex shops.

Re: Is Accrington being dumbed down?
 

and you would know alot about them wouldnt you garinda? :D

maybe if we opened more sex shops and hold a sex festival in accrington...

hmmmmm

Re: Is Accrington being dumbed down?
 

Errr.....The book shops came before the festival.....

Maybe Accy should hold the worlds biggest charity shop festival.

Re: Is Accrington being dumbed down?
 

There are twenty one new books shops since the festival started seventeen years ago. The first one was funded by the winnings from a poker game.

Re: Is Accrington being dumbed down?
 

....And about 20 shops before it began.

Re: Is Accrington being dumbed down?
 

In Oz there are quite a number of bookshops in coffee bars.......you can browse for your book and then sit with coffee and a cake to peruse your purchase...how good is that?

Re: Is Accrington being dumbed down?
 

One point maybe why Accrington has lost some of its charisma and disposition is because shops like Wardleworth's, Woolworth's and M&S have been extensively and down right outrageously overcharging people for their goods for far too long. As soon as some alternative completion arrives i.e the INTERNET and China's recent economy boom they soon become redundant, or become less of a prominent status. You just need to look elsewhere :)


...

Re: Is Accrington being dumbed down?
 

Well, if we did, it might make a refreshing change from the dismal, interminable and ridiculously expensive food festivals we are currently saddled with and at least it would be something worth reporting nationally.

The trouble with this town is that the people with the power to effect change are small people and as we all know to our cost, small people think small thoughts.

To answer the originally posed question "Is Accrington dumbing down?"; considering that Accrington, as a whole, has been pretty dumb from it's inception it is hard to imagine that it could get any dumber. But then 702 of our number actually got off their backsides and went out to vote to keep Britcliffe in charge, so I have to conclude that yes, Accrington is "Dumbing down". The only question that remains to be asked is how dumb can we get?

Re: Is Accrington being dumbed down?
 

I think you can blame that on websites like Amazon for that. Blackburn has lost book shops as well.

Re: Is Accrington being dumbed down?
 

Since the busiest day in Accy is Thurday's 'flea market' day, (read tat too bad for the jumble and knock off goods,) perhaps we should hold an annual Festival of Rubbish.

Who could secure us some funding?:D

Re: Is Accrington being dumbed down?
 

I think that you can blame it more on W H Smith and ASDA too. I also think that HBC must shoulder a fair amount of blame for the loss by not being as supportive as they could have been, But the real knife between the shoulder blades for independent bookshops came with the ending of the net book agreement.

Re: Is Accrington being dumbed down?
 

£3 for a paper back? not even wh smiths has books that cheap

the larger stores can afford to keep the prices that low - but in effect its so cheap i buy them - and i'm more likely to buy them rather than £10

Re: Is Accrington being dumbed down?
 

Definitely NOT me!!!!:p

Re: Is Accrington being dumbed down?
 

what about the sex festival?

i'm sure pb wud b more than "up" for it

Re: Is Accrington being dumbed down?
 

No......we already have a good supply of rubbish, what we really need...or perhaps what i would like, would be a range of different shops. Not the homogenized shopping malls that are everywhere. You could be in any town in the land and still be faced with the same range of shops selling the same tired ranges. Individuality, that is what I crave!

Re: Is Accrington being dumbed down?
 

Are you suggesting that he is some sort of sex god?

Re: Is Accrington being dumbed down?
 

Gayle.......I have to ask this....have you got dyslexia? Did you mean Dog...because I think that is terrible to demean a poor defencelss creature like that.....the dog, I mean.

Re: Is Accrington being dumbed down?
 

While the net book agreement was in effect there was a level playing field when it came to selling books and everyone got a share of the profit from bestsellers. That profit went to support the shelves and shelves of books that were not such hot sellers but were necessary and desireable and which went to make browsing the shelves such a pleasurable way to spend time.

With the ending of the agreement ASDA, Tesco and the others decided that they would discount the bestsellers, pile em high and reap all of the profit, though you would never get them to admit as much at the time. To hear them talk they were engaged in opening up the book market and making more books more widley available to more people. Have a look at the shelves in ASDA or Tesco; do you see more choice? Do you see even so much as a hundredth of the books that Wardleworth used to stock? No, of course you don't, because as far as they are concerned it is better to make a penny on a million books than it is to make a pound on a thousand. Sod Choice! Sod passion for literature or specialist knowlege. Books now rank in the same category as baked beans; to be used as "Loss leaders" when it suits the supermarkets. And they have used the same tactic in every area of retailing.

Re: Is Accrington being dumbed down?
 

A-B you are a mine of information......I never knew about the net book agreement.
I don't buy my novels from the supermarkets......and you can't buy textbooks from Asda can you? I liked Wardleworths and Seeds and Gabbutts for their technical books......I don't know where students buy their books now.
The internet may be a good source if you know exactly what the book contains...but if you don't know then it is a pretty useless source.

Re: Is Accrington being dumbed down?
 

There was a lot in the news about the losing of the net book agreement at the time. We feared it would be the death knell for bookshops like Wardleworths and it proved to be true. I used to love being able to go in and order an obscure book. You don't even know they exist these days let alone have the chance to order them. :(

Re: Is Accrington being dumbed down?
 

*lmao* @ dog....

Re: Is Accrington being dumbed down?
 

i agree about the selection at asda

recently i had to hop onto ebay to buy soem books by maya angelou - it was rock hard to find them elsewhere too tbh

Re: Is Accrington being dumbed down?
 

Use it or lose it is the short answer.When I worked in a "specialist" music store we could order anything in for customers and carried classical/world folk/blues/jazz and a decent selection of everything else.As a result of having lots of "deadstock" in the store and varying levels of mismanagement at a higher level we went bust! I am amazed that Reidy's is still going;it's all down to the prices of the musical instruments and probably a decent rent deal after all this time.
Seriously folks,your local music shop will not be around forever if the downloading and ordering from Amazon takes hold;at least you know who you are dealing with when you shop personally and can have a good look at the product!

Re: Is Accrington being dumbed down?
 

[QUOTE=lindsay ormerod
Seriously folks,your local music shop will not be around forever if the downloading and ordering from Amazon takes hold;at least you know who you are dealing with when you shop personally and can have a good look at the product![/QUOTE]

Yeh, think you correct here lindsay, although my son does buy music from the Internet still gets great pleasure from browsing and consequently buying from the stores ... Shakermaker : what do you prefer ?

Like to think of this in the same context as books also. Presume Wardleworths closed 'cause their 'books' weren't balancing at the end of the day. Why, I wonder ? Was a good percentage their bread and butter from the non-fictional books, and students came to browse/buy when researching ? Maybe, when we obtain a 6th Form college in Accrington, will there be an increase in demand again ?

Was lucky enough to be able to send my son to an Independent Grammar and he has never lost his taste for browsing the book shops, whether fictional/non-fictional. (me I like it 'cause of the pictures). He now lives in Manchester and as a University Town, the book shops do well.

Asda/Tesco do not do this type of book do they ?

Maybe, students will still buy their text books from Amazon, but feel sure lots would prefer to browse around the wonderful lines of shelves.

Just a thought.

Re: Is Accrington being dumbed down?
 

For me; buying music isn't 'buying music' unless it is bought over the counter.
Now I don't know if I'm on my own here, but I take great pleasure in going & browsing a record shop, finding an absolute gem; paying with what money I have, then reading the sleevenotes all the way home. I think it just validates the experience of adding to my collection.
However if there's something out of the ordinary that MusicZone doesn't stock (I categorically state now that I have nothing against MusicZone - for my personal taste it has a great selection) I will search the tinterweb (eg eBay/Amazon) for it.

Re: Is Accrington being dumbed down?
 

Amazon also forces it supliers to supply at a discount.

Hay on wye is a manufactured book town, set up by richard booth, a friend of james hannah that is setting the booktown up here. The shops opened, then the festival happened, because thats what happens at booktowns. Hay is lucky in that it had no competition from other booktowns when set up, and had press backing, it got established, with good shops run by people with a knowledge of the book business. The festival has backing from large organisations. The town gets trade because it's got 20 good book shops in it, people come from all around the world to hay.
blaenavon just up the road seems to be failing, it's only got 2 shops left out of 8. and that already had a tourist trade and has world heritage status. The idea was that they'd feed off each other, but it hasn't worked. here, it's taking off very slowly, we're up to 4 proper bookshops in the town, a hotel with a good selection of books for sale along one wall of the library, a guest house that sells some, then in the surounding towns we have another bookshop, mpc publications outlet wharehouse, which is ian allen transport books, and the huge astley bookfarm, plus several places by appointment only, an aviation book seller, an occult book seller.

Other town, do antiques instead of books, some do parties and casinos, some do history and heritage.
accy could do music, or books, redcar was to be james hannahs next project, but they backed out for some reason, perhaps fear of failure, there is a booktown further up, but that still leaves a gap up your end of the country.
perhaps accy should be music and arts capital of the north.
What do you think mr britcliffe?


http://atherstonbooktown.com