Council Tax

[Sweltered]

Having spent a week in the town a year ago, I must say the dramatic improvement was very well hidden

[Ship called Dignity]

Having spent a week in the town a year ago, I must say the dramatic improvement was very well hidden

[bill]

Having spent a week in the town a year ago, I must say the dramatic improvement was very well hidden

AGREED !

[Ship called Dignity]

Having spent a week in the town a year ago, I must say the dramatic improvement was very well hidden

AGREED !

Obviously going off topic here but it is easy to make criticism but if you go back 7 or 8 years ago there has been big improvements in terms of the number of shops now occupied and those trying to make a difference in terms of shop frontages etc - this is certainly apparent in Longrow where in fact there has been quite a change in the last 12 months.

Still vast area for improvement but obviously Campbeltown will never meet the heights of Corby or the US of A.

[bill]

Still vast area for improvement but obviously Campbeltown will never meet the heights of Corby or the US of A.

It's naw called Bonnie Corby for naethin Davie

[Sweltered]

I really don't believe neither Bill nor I were making those comparisons...I thought the same when I lived in Lochinver, which makes Campbeltown look like a metropolis.

oops eggshells

[Ship called Dignity]

Still vast area for improvement but obviously Campbeltown will never meet the heights of Corby or the US of A.

It's naw called Bonnie Corby for naethin Davie

For sure!

[bill]

I really don't believe neither Bill nor I were making those comparisons...I thought the same when I lived in Lochinver, which makes Campbeltown look like a metropolis.

oops eggshells

Aye quite right Alan.

A lot of people would say that Corby is a sh!thole,okay there are areas I would'nt like to live, but overall Corby is OK and is in the process of massive change.

[Ship called Dignity]

I really don't believe neither Bill nor I were making those comparisons...I thought the same when I lived in Lochinver, which makes Campbeltown look like a metropolis.

oops eggshells

Comparisons to Corby and Tampa Bay? Or comparisons to theimprovements.

Campbeltown will always struggle but I personally think there has been vast improvement to the town centre in the last couple of years. Longrow is a huge example. Even Weir's the butcher shop has been sold and is looking really smart.

But there are still lots of shops who let the others down...

[general jack o'niell]

can i just say that unlike sweltered and bill i haven't visited the town recently, quite the opposite, i haven't left, so i was a bit puzzled by the statements about all the improvements in the last seven or eight years, or did the posters make these discoveries prior to the closing of the "just open for xmas" shops. ok so we have three paint shops instead of two, but one of those is for sale, McGrory has shut, to be replaced by a bookies, if thats progress you know where you can stick it. some of the other businesses that have started in the last year or two must be opened as loss leaders by retirees with extra cash to squander, i've never seen a single customer in any of them, talk about niche markets, i'm thinking of opening a shop selling 12ft pink rabbits, how many will i sell a year? about as many of my product as a few of the "niche" shops we have dotting the longrow and main st. well done to the proprietors for giving it a go and theres nothing better for brightening up the place than some sad deluded soul, intent in losing their shirt with their idea of the next big thing. at the very least the shopfront will get a lick of paint. theres enough long established businesses that seem to have clung on by the skin of their teeth for years and they sell things people would want on a day to day basis. not the purveyors of fripperies to the royal burgh that dot the town now.

better than eight years ago, well i'd say sweltered would be a good judge seeing as he was still resident in the town then, so having left and returned he could see the sweeping changes, remember that the two biggest employers shut during that time. so no, i can't see how the town has improved, regardless what some, not connected with this forum might say.

oh and the local fishing fleet has halved in that same period, thats at least thirty jobs lost in the town, to add to jaeger and the yard. whats this all got to do with council tax? next to bugger all, but it does have a a bit to do with the townsfolks ability to pay, either an increased council tax or local trades who scrap for every penny having the money to pay an increased rate. ability to pay, make them lot up the road pay more, they have all the jobs.

[spangles]

But there are still lots of shops who let the others down...

Same everywhere Davie no matter where you stay. England or Florida.

What was that popping noise. Oh now I know

S

[EMDEE]

10-12 years ago I counted 12 empty shops in Longrow. Today's situation is certainly an improvement on that although the supermarkets will see to it that the town centre never returns to the thriving situation of earlier years. Campbeltown is not unique in this, many towns have been killed off in this way, and it is just a social cost of cheaper groceries.

Some good points from General Jack about the types of business that have opened up in the shops, and I have wondered myself how some of them can be viable. Certainly the days of the independent butchers, bakers and candlestick makers are gone, but it is probably better that premises are occupied than not.

[Ship called Dignity]

I wish I said feck all now.

[spangles]

I wish I said feck all now.

Why should you not say what you think?? You live and work here.

S

[general jack o'niell]

everybody likes to see the shops occupied, but i can't be the only one that puzzles at the type of merchendise some choose to sell, maybe its just me, maybe its a male thing and women use these shops all the time, i don't know, i do know that in any given year at least 75% of new businesses that open are shut again within twelve months. i know i couldn't come up with a business idea that i think would be a going concern, except maybe shopfitter.

i'd settle for finding somewhere locally where i could get large plans copied, about 3ft X2.5ft, or do i need to get a grant, and open up myself, just in time for the summer trade?


if they're naw speakin aboot ye, they're speakin to somebody aboot ye