Spending growth in market towns - but not Hereford (From Hereford Times)

Spending growth in market towns - but not Hereford

8:30am Friday 15th March 2013 in News

HEREFORD shoppers are spending less close to home, a survey revealed this week.

The results reveal a six per cent drop in ‘convenience goods’ spending over the last five years.

At a time when online shopping and the effect of a prolonged economic recession have hit Hereford’s retailers, the county’s market towns have, however, found a way to buck the trend.

Residents in Leominster, Bromyard and Kington are going local with all three towns experiencing an increase in spending on convenience goods in the same fiveyear period.

In Kington, residents are now spending 11 per cent more of their wages in the town than in 2007.

While it is a worrying trend for Hereford, the city still retains the largest share of any catchment area – in 2012 the city’s shoppers bought 83 per cent of their convenience goods locally, despite the six per cent decrease, compared to 64 per cent in Kington.

The Core Insight report – available through Herefordshire Council’s website – does claim that better times lie ahead and that demand for convenience shopping in Hereford will be met by the Old Livestock Market (OLM) Development.

Comments(11)

Roger J says...
9:49am Fri 15 Mar 13

Hereford Council can but dream to justify what this is going to cost

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Werintrouble says...
10:55am Fri 15 Mar 13

Herefords entire economic model and strategy is built on sand and it has no chance of success.
Not withstanding all the issues that many raise on these pages, no real infra structure, high business rates, crippling parking and no shoppers, Hereford is far to reliant on low pay, low skill agricultural jobs. We are overly dependant on the labours of our East European citizens and worse, much of their hard earned money is quite understandably sent home to support their loved ones. This of course means that this wealth is never spent back into our economy.
I have said on numerous occasions we have to tap into their work ethic and the can do attitude of our visitors, learn and learn quickly.
On the other hand, if our EU migrants were not here then we would be in even bigger trouble because 'we' won't do the work for the low wages and no money and wealth would be created at all.
This is the root of our problem. We won't work because we've lost that hard work ethic and so we've become dependant on thousands of migrants to do our labour.
Then of course there is the strain upon public services because of our rapidly growing population, the huge housing costs because of demand and lack of housing and all the time the wealth that is created is being sucked away which then means we shop less and continue to avoid Hereford.
Then, you have this Council who continue to invent new ways to stifle business, hammer market traders, shops and all manner of things that generate wealth.
And the final nail in our coffin is our youngsters leave and go somewhere else to earn a living and get a life.
No, nobody should be surprised to here that we are in an economic mess. Yes, we have the recession but this was going to happen to us with or without the recession, simply because our economy is not bound together with any glue. It's a broken model and there's no putting it back together until we begin to wake up and learn how to work and how to create wealth.

Herefords entire economic model and strategy is built on sand and it has no chance of success. Not withstanding all the issues that many raise on these pages, no real infra structure, high business rates, crippling parking and no shoppers, Hereford is far to reliant on low pay, low skill agricultural jobs. We are overly dependant on the labours of our East European citizens and worse, much of their hard earned money is quite understandably sent home to support their loved ones. This of course means that this wealth is never spent back into our economy. I have said on numerous occasions we have to tap into their work ethic and the can do attitude of our visitors, learn and learn quickly. On the other hand, if our EU migrants were not here then we would be in even bigger trouble because 'we' won't do the work for the low wages and no money and wealth would be created at all. This is the root of our problem. We won't work because we've lost that hard work ethic and so we've become dependant on thousands of migrants to do our labour. Then of course there is the strain upon public services because of our rapidly growing population, the huge housing costs because of demand and lack of housing and all the time the wealth that is created is being sucked away which then means we shop less and continue to avoid Hereford. Then, you have this Council who continue to invent new ways to stifle business, hammer market traders, shops and all manner of things that generate wealth. And the final nail in our coffin is our youngsters leave and go somewhere else to earn a living and get a life. No, nobody should be surprised to here that we are in an economic mess. Yes, we have the recession but this was going to happen to us with or without the recession, simply because our economy is not bound together with any glue. It's a broken model and there's no putting it back together until we begin to wake up and learn how to work and how to create wealth. Werintrouble

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bobby47 says...
11:29am Fri 15 Mar 13

And of course Werintrouble , the one thing you've left out or chosen to ignore is we've got bloody Jarvis.
Mister bloody fancy pants!
He's gotta go and as soon as Ive swallowed this diazepam I'll come up with an idea that's worth transmitting.

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dippyhippy says...
2:03pm Fri 15 Mar 13

A very well written post Werintrouble!

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Werintrouble says...
2:13pm Fri 15 Mar 13

Wow. Thanks Dippy. I also believe that we should use what we have better and trade on it.
Our wonderful Countryside, our Rivers, the Cathedral and our Historic beautiful buildings.
Thank you.

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probono says...
5:20pm Fri 15 Mar 13

Who did this survey ? How large was the sample ? Etc etc.

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Biomech says...
5:31pm Fri 15 Mar 13

Why did they spend money on a survey only to show what everyone already knew? It's like being back at my old job, telling people things over and over and over again and then acting surprised when it's proven true.

Also, great post wereintrouble and +1 probono

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TwoWheelsGood says...
1:36pm Sat 16 Mar 13

I've read the report - it certainly does NOT 'claim that better times lie ahead'.

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dippyhippy says...
4:01pm Sat 16 Mar 13

Werintrouble wrote:
Wow. Thanks Dippy. I also believe that we should use what we have better and trade on it.
Our wonderful Countryside, our Rivers, the Cathedral and our Historic beautiful buildings.
Thank you.

You're quite right werintrouble, Hereford has so much to offer,and so much ,which, with a little imagination could be improved upon. Instead this council are throwing millions at schemes that will do nothing to set us apart from anywhere else,just another concrete development. I can't for the life of me see things improving,they will never admit they've got it all horribly wrong.

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littlewhitebull says...
6:25pm Mon 18 Mar 13

When the OLM is transformed the situation will show a dramatic improvement - it will be sensational and we will all be rich. And Hereford United will be top of the Premier League!
And if this comes true, I will eat Bobby's crown!

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joysteve says...
10:59am Tue 19 Mar 13

It is about time the ancient councillors went out to pasture as they are holding Hereford back in the dark ages. Times have changed, society has changed and Hereford needs to move with the times. We need new more forward thinking councillors who are prepared to put Hereford on a par with Gloucester and other modernised towns/cities. First and foremost we need the bypass built, then the retail parks/business parks etc will spring up all over the place, giving the people more choice, and employment opportunities will rise. It is not rocket science, just common sense.
Until the bypass is completed I for one will only shop in Hereford when I absolutely have to as the traffic congestion is ridiculous and the parking charges are atrocious. Hereford needs more retail parks with free parking. Although I am very pleased to hear that ‘Next’ is opening a big store on the Spur Retail Park on Holmer Road. We need an ‘Argos’ and a ‘Matalan’ there too. I for one prefer to travel M50 then M5 (avoiding Hereford) and shop elsewhere.

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Spending growth in market towns - but not Hereford (From Hereford Times)

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