HAVE YOUR SAY: Should shops stay open longer? (From Bournemouth Echo)

HAVE YOUR SAY: Should shops stay open longer?

9:02am Friday 25th January 2013 in News

Shops should change their opening hours so as not to leave vistors to Bournemouth in a "social limbo" at the end of the day, says the president of the town's chamber of trade and commerce.

In a column for Dorset Business, Nigel Hedges says there is not enough for hotel guests to do between the shops closing and the night-time economy getting started.

He says: "This leaves our hotel guests in a social limbo, with shopping denied to them while at the same time starving restaurants and bars of steady footfall.

"Bournemouth has many festivals that will generate bed stays and our hotels are geared to be ambassadors for our town’s attraction. Shopping too is a tourism pursuit. So we must make sure we’re open."

Do you think later opening hours would help boost the town's economy? Let us know in the comments

Comments(14)

Teddy 1 says...
9:24am Fri 25 Jan 13

Longer opening on Sunday's too

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jobsworthwatch says...
9:32am Fri 25 Jan 13

Perhaps adopting the Spanish attitude to shopping is the way forward?
Should bode well with British 'drinking culture'.
A lengthy lunch time siesta with shops then remaining open till 9-10 pm.
Can you imagine it? Seamless days of shopping...drinking.
..shopping...drinkin
g...then clubbing....ecstasy!

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Phixer says...
9:34am Fri 25 Jan 13

Shops should be allowed to stay open, should they wish to do so, within core hours of 7.00am to 10.00pm at least 6 days/week.

There is no reason for small-minded local government interference with commercial businesses.

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jobsworthwatch says...
9:35am Fri 25 Jan 13

jobsworthwatch wrote:
Perhaps adopting the Spanish attitude to shopping is the way forward?
Should bode well with British 'drinking culture'.
A lengthy lunch time siesta with shops then remaining open till 9-10 pm.
Can you imagine it? Seamless days of shopping...drinking.

..shopping...drinkin

g...then clubbing....ecstasy!

PS.....BBC would need to control the weather first to really make it work!

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GreyBeardLoon says...
9:41am Fri 25 Jan 13

Improve the buses to accommodate longer shopping hours. Why, when so many shops are open on Sunday, do buses still run a Sunday service, i.e. next to nothing. The infrastructure has to change to make it easier for people to get to the shops and back without driving.

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ben111 says...
10:23am Fri 25 Jan 13

With the cost of rents and rates , give the small business people the choice , otherwise we will have nothing but major corperations left . wether people will shop all those hours is another matter.

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BournemouthMum says...
10:29am Fri 25 Jan 13

Shops should be allowed to trade whenever they wish - ie 24 hours if that is what they and/or their customers demand. I don't see the problem.

Also it's time the archaic Sunday opening laws were abolished. We live in a secular society now and nobody goes to church on a Sunday. Time for the laws to be updated and bought into the 21st century.

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sollie says...
10:44am Fri 25 Jan 13

Shops should be given the freedom to open when they think it is economically viable.
The playing field has changes from 5 years ago with the growth of the Internet and on line shopping. If authorities and landlords do not act soon our town centres will become ghost towns.

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Tripod says...
10:44am Fri 25 Jan 13

jobsworthwatch wrote:
Perhaps adopting the Spanish attitude to shopping is the way forward?
Should bode well with British 'drinking culture'.
A lengthy lunch time siesta with shops then remaining open till 9-10 pm.
Can you imagine it? Seamless days of shopping...drinking.

..shopping...drinkin

g...then clubbing....ecstasy!

I don't think Spain is a good example at the moment, at the current rate they'll soon be sending begging letters to Greece.

Shop opening hours is not an easy one, if one shop opens longer, others will be forced to match it, but there is only so much trade to go round, longer opening hours (staff wages etc) could easily cause more shops to go under.

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charmy1 says...
11:01am Fri 25 Jan 13

Yeah great thinking guys, and what about the people who have to work in the stores, if one parent already works and the other works in one of the stores then what kind of family life would this give them. The "limbo" that people are left in is exactly the same throughout the country not just Bournemouth. The town is dying through sky high rent, and the booze fuelled culture that the council have encouraged. By turning what was once a stunning sea side town into something akin to a Wild West town after 8pm. You can see this any morning by the litter and piles of vomit down Old Christchurch road. And then read up on the violence the night before in the echo!

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mazzyf says...
11:02am Fri 25 Jan 13

When I first moved here from London, after finishing work, I went into Poole foolishly expecting all the shops to still be open! The place was like a ghost town at 5.30pm - nobody around and everything shut. I couldn't believe that a town would close so early - I thought there'd been a bomb scare!!

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HRH of Boscombe says...
11:55am Fri 25 Jan 13

After living in London for 10 years I can't believe how backwards the rest of the country is when it comes to opening hours.
.
Shops moan about struggling times bllah blah blah but only open while people with money to spend are at work. That's why we go online.
.
Weekend's are too precious to spend shopping.

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richt says...
1:56pm Fri 25 Jan 13

Dorset Council's reason for not improving bus frequency seems to be they don't have the budget to do that. But if they started thinking creatively, e.g. partnerships with the shops to help with funding, then so much could be achieved. There is still no direct bus link between Christchurch and Castlepoint - a great opportunity missed!

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Hessenford says...
4:38pm Fri 25 Jan 13

BournemouthMum wrote:
Shops should be allowed to trade whenever they wish - ie 24 hours if that is what they and/or their customers demand. I don't see the problem.

Also it's time the archaic Sunday opening laws were abolished. We live in a secular society now and nobody goes to church on a Sunday. Time for the laws to be updated and bought into the 21st century.

I have to agree with everything you say.
In the late 1950s and early 1960s the streets on Sundays were deserted except for people going to church services, newsagents were only open from 8am till 12 noon and no other shops were open, buses were about one every 2 hours and the television of the time was littered with church programmes, skip forward to the 21st century and things have totally reversed.
Hardly anyone goes to church, buses are all over the place, you can buy a newspaper between 6am and midnight the streets are crowded, the roads are gridlocked and there is only one half hour of songs of praise on the television which no body watches.
We are now a seven day society, the internet never sleeps which is why shops are going bust and disappearing from the high street.
This stupid archaic law which prevent supermarkets from opening 24 hours need repealing, all shops should be allowed to open when they like for as long as they like.
The christian fraternity, who these days are in the minority, always complain that Sunday is a special day, no it's not, it's just like any other day.
There are those who complain about people being forced to work Sundays, I don't believe this would happen, there are plenty of people who would work on a Sunday for double pay
Times have changed since the 50s and 60s when the church ruled the country, times have moved on and we have to move with them and not get bogged down in the past.
I work shift, I also work Saturdays and Sundays which increases my take home pay very nicely.
The majority of people in this country want seven day shopping, it's the minority who are stopping it from happening.

[quote][p][bold]BournemouthMum[/bold] wrote: Shops should be allowed to trade whenever they wish - ie 24 hours if that is what they and/or their customers demand. I don't see the problem. Also it's time the archaic Sunday opening laws were abolished. We live in a secular society now and nobody goes to church on a Sunday. Time for the laws to be updated and bought into the 21st century.[/p][/quote]I have to agree with everything you say. In the late 1950s and early 1960s the streets on Sundays were deserted except for people going to church services, newsagents were only open from 8am till 12 noon and no other shops were open, buses were about one every 2 hours and the television of the time was littered with church programmes, skip forward to the 21st century and things have totally reversed. Hardly anyone goes to church, buses are all over the place, you can buy a newspaper between 6am and midnight the streets are crowded, the roads are gridlocked and there is only one half hour of songs of praise on the television which no body watches. We are now a seven day society, the internet never sleeps which is why shops are going bust and disappearing from the high street. This stupid archaic law which prevent supermarkets from opening 24 hours need repealing, all shops should be allowed to open when they like for as long as they like. The christian fraternity, who these days are in the minority, always complain that Sunday is a special day, no it's not, it's just like any other day. There are those who complain about people being forced to work Sundays, I don't believe this would happen, there are plenty of people who would work on a Sunday for double pay Times have changed since the 50s and 60s when the church ruled the country, times have moved on and we have to move with them and not get bogged down in the past. I work shift, I also work Saturdays and Sundays which increases my take home pay very nicely. The majority of people in this country want seven day shopping, it's the minority who are stopping it from happening. Hessenford

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HAVE YOUR SAY: Should shops stay open longer? (From Bournemouth Echo)

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