parchedpeas Posted January 2, 2017 Share Posted January 2, 2017 The headline should read 'Retail in decline'. Plenty of other things to measure a town by. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gettafa Posted January 2, 2017 Share Posted January 2, 2017 Empty shops mean - charity shops!! Yayyy!!! For a good 30 years the (perhaps dubious) attraction of going up north has been to Jurby for Jurby Junk and Ramsey for the charity shops. Sorry about the unfortunate comparison, I'm not knocking charity shops (some of my best clothes are from charity shops). The lad in the Mitre seems to have done a good job bringing a bit of life to the town, including good varied live music. And Ramsey used to be my preferred branch of The Music Box shop. Maybe that was 40 years ago though. If they could persuade everyone who lives in St Pauls Square (or whatever that inner city tower block thing is called) to go out to a party or something, and then get someone to torch it or equivalent, that would be a big improvement. Sure the Pier has a place in Ramsey's future too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
notwell Posted January 2, 2017 Share Posted January 2, 2017 Open a shop and you'll soon work out what the problems are. Same old issues - rents and rates are usually ridiculous. Small footfall in the Isle of Man is a difficulty for some shops. Finally the problem of competing with Amazon.co.uk et al. It's not just Ramsey, the whole UK is slowly going the same way. Coffee shops, charity shops, restaurants, hairdressers, click & collect depots will be all that is left ultimately. Part of the rent problems arise from a lot of "old money" owning Parliament Street. It is similar in Strand Street. Personally I think the owners of those buildings should be penalised from a rates perspective if the unit remind empty for a certain period. Aside of that Ramsey suffers from the same problem many other towns on the island suffer from - the huge migration of people on a daily basis into Douglas. Government should take some responsibility here. Over the last five or so years I think Ramsey has improved in many aspects. Lots of independent shops (some work, some won't) and a decent selection of places to eat out. It would be nice to see them finish the work on the street properly. As for the Mall, it's never really worked. Which is a shame. The owner (who isn't short of money) should really consider if anything radical could be done there. Personally I've always thought it was too enclosed, dark and uninviting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Bear Posted January 2, 2017 Share Posted January 2, 2017 Times have changed. Can you think of any shop to open on Parliament Street that wouldn't involve being trapped behind the counter twiddling your thumbs all day in the hope of the random customer? Much easier to open an online shop and work from the comfort of home at a time that suits you. The main customers still using high street shops are the older generation who don't like the Internet. So that dictates chemists, knick-knack shops, charity shops, cafes and grocery stores. Ramsey is doing just fine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goddess Posted January 2, 2017 Share Posted January 2, 2017 the huge migration of people on a daily basis into Douglas. How sweet The Island is such a lovely place that people can think folks from Ramsey traveling to Douglas is a huge migration. Its a bit like Alice in Wonderland. I love it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Non-Believer Posted January 3, 2017 Share Posted January 3, 2017 Too many decrepit, ageing properties demanding big time rents. Ex school pal of mine ran a business out of one a few years ago. Ground floor was just about usable. Remainder of building was rotten. And has remained so, and empty since he quit. And are those rents responding to unreasonable rates demands? Driven by central Govt charges as well? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gettafa Posted January 3, 2017 Share Posted January 3, 2017 the huge migration of people on a daily basis into Douglas. How sweet The Island is such a lovely place that people can think folks from Ramsey traveling to Douglas is a huge migration. Its a bit like Alice in Wonderland. I love it My great grandfather from the south left home to see the world. He'd never been over Colby Bridge in his life. He travelled by steam train to Douglas and paddle steamer to Liverpool by the time he had found his way to Liverpool Lime Street he reckoned he was half way round. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tarne Posted January 3, 2017 Share Posted January 3, 2017 Ramsey is an utter dive, with no jobs that pay enough to rent a flat for people so they just go on the dole and get a free house or flat. There's bugger all parking in the street up the top end with that regeneration, it's an absolute horror to drive through. I bet when I come back there will be fewer shops there once again. Victoria Mall is empty except for Mannlink I think. I bet that "Busy" Gluten Free Kitchen thing is only open 4 hours every week still which annoys me incessantly. St Pauls Square will be pretty much empty except for Shoprite and Mr Bs now, as St Pauls shut, and the newsagents shut too. It hasn't recovered since 2008, and it's not going to - the demographic up there is terrible. Any attempts to improve things and they get committee'd around until their unsuitable for purpose or just stopped and things just continue to rot. Edit: OH MY GOD A FRIEND HAS JUST TOLD ME THE LUCKY STAR HAS BEEN CLOSED DOWN! Truly it is the ruins of worlds we live in now Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Non-Believer Posted January 3, 2017 Share Posted January 3, 2017 Lucky Star has indeed closed but is due to reopen as (another) pizza outlet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
notwell Posted January 3, 2017 Share Posted January 3, 2017 Too many decrepit, ageing properties demanding big time rents. Ex school pal of mine ran a business out of one a few years ago. Ground floor was just about usable. Remainder of building was rotten. And has remained so, and empty since he quit. And are those rents responding to unreasonable rates demands? Driven by central Govt charges as well? The rents have nothing to do with the rates because the tenant takes care of the rates separately in general with commercial leases. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
notwell Posted January 3, 2017 Share Posted January 3, 2017 Lucky Star has indeed closed but is due to reopen as (another) pizza outlet. Ramsey is an utter dive, with no jobs that pay enough to rent a flat for people so they just go on the dole and get a free house or flat. There's bugger all parking in the street up the top end with that regeneration, it's an absolute horror to drive through. I bet when I come back there will be fewer shops there once again. Victoria Mall is empty except for Mannlink I think. I bet that "Busy" Gluten Free Kitchen thing is only open 4 hours every week still which annoys me incessantly. St Pauls Square will be pretty much empty except for Shoprite and Mr Bs now, as St Pauls shut, and the newsagents shut too. It hasn't recovered since 2008, and it's not going to - the demographic up there is terrible. Any attempts to improve things and they get committee'd around until their unsuitable for purpose or just stopped and things just continue to rot. Edit: OH MY GOD A FRIEND HAS JUST TOLD ME THE LUCKY STAR HAS BEEN CLOSED DOWN! Truly it is the ruins of worlds we live in now Lucky Star has been sold. It is definitely going to be reopening. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tarne Posted January 3, 2017 Share Posted January 3, 2017 Oh phew. There is Hope Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Non-Believer Posted January 3, 2017 Share Posted January 3, 2017 Oh phew. There is Hope Just looked, 1st Feb. "Pizzanista", pizzas and general food takeaway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
notwell Posted January 3, 2017 Share Posted January 3, 2017 The new owner has leased off the food side to someone he's knows already. Should work fine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BallaDoc Posted January 3, 2017 Author Share Posted January 3, 2017 Thanks for that people, that was very enlightening. So what I'm hearing is, Ramsey is not actually declining, it's just the retail sector which is looking a bit seedy, and that's because there is a mis-match between the number of high street retail premises available, and the volume of high street shoppers, which is in part due to people shopping elsewhere like on the internet or in Douglas. So one way of sprucing up Ramsey would be to encourage the retailers in St Paul's Square to relocate to the empty shops in Parliament Street, demolish St Paul's Square and put something nicer in its place (that is actually a serious suggestion - Ramsey Commissioners please take note). Finlo - the three empty shops in Parliament Square I was talking about are actually on the A9 near the library, at the T junction at the end of Parliament Street. I'm not sure whether Parliament Square is the correct name for this stretch of the A9, but there are no street signs up to say what it should be called, and it's identified as Parliament Square on Google Maps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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