On 2017-11-16 13:28:30 +0000, Theo said:

Maybe the hangars will eventually go dark and turn into delivery depots
instead of walk-in shops?

Tesco already have dark stores, and *all* of Ocado's operation is like
that. One advantage is that you can operate proper stock control
rather than guessing and substituting.

FWIW I haven't set foot in one for a while, I use delivery now. Though
deliveries allegedly aren't very profitable at present, I would pay
more than I do so there is a bit of scope for increasing the price.

Neil
--
Neil Williams
Put my first name before the @ to reply.

On 2017-11-16 13:39:38 +0000, David Cantrell said:

On Wed, Nov 15, 2017 at 03:45:02PM +0000, Neil Williams wrote:

Croydon is an abject dump, which is surprising given how many well-off
commuters live there.

Hi! Well-off commuter resident of Croydon here!

The only reason I ever have for going in to central Croydon is to drink
at the Dog n Bull occasionally. There is literally nothing else there of
any interest to me whatsoever. I have local greengrocers and butchers,
and everything else is either delivered from the interwebs or not
available in Croydon town centre anyway.

Cheers, this is largely how I suspected things to be. FWIW, some of
the housing areas of Croydon are very nice (and pricey)

Neil
--
Neil Williams
Put my first name before the @ to reply.

On 2017\11\16 15:49, Neil Williams wrote:

Cheers, this is largely how I suspected things to be.Â* FWIW, some of the
housing areas of Croydon are very nice (and pricey)

Purley... say no more!

Neil Williams wrote:
Maybe it's a London thing. In most of the UK the weekly shop is done
in an out of town style supermarket (sometimes on the edge of town, but
almost never actually *in* it).

The thing is there isn't a weekly shop any more
(for some proportion of people):

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/eart...rket-shop.html

Theo

wrote:

On Wed, 15 Nov 2017 10:11:35 -0800 (PST)
wrote:
I recently went into the Elephant & Castle shopping centre for probably the=
first time in about ten years, looking for a cash machine when on my way t=
o a screening at the Cinema Museum. I used to use it quite often in the '6=
0s and early '70s, when it wasn't bad. The top floor only ever had a handf=

The 60s and 70s was before the demographics changed significantly and the
area went downhill faster than a rolling cheese contest.

ul of shops occupied, and this floor was closed and converted into somethin=
g else, offices I think, not many years after it was built. The remaining =
two floors are horrible now.

Agreed, its an utter dump not helped by the run down market surrounding it on
2 sides.

Whicg 2 sides its onme street and full of crap greengrocers

--
Mark

On 16/11/2017 15:46, Neil Williams wrote:
On 2017-11-16 13:26:38 +0000, said:


Realistically who completes a full supermarket shop in a town centre
these days?Â* An out of town supermarket and a Sainsburys Local (there
is already one near the station) will do better I reckon.

I only know quite a small number of people, but I can't think of
anybody I know who goess out of town for their normal shopping.Â* Such
shopping is usually done within walking distance of home, or work, or
of rhe journey between the two.

Mostly in Express/Local type stores then?

Maybe it's a London thing.Â* In most of the UK the weekly shop is done in
an out of town style supermarket (sometimes on the edge of town, but
almost never actually *in* it).

Varying levels of car ownership might be factor. And people do live
within walking distance from outer-ish London urban centres.

And strictly speaking, out of town could be quite a long way for many
people in a built up area the size of London.

--
Arthur Figgis Surrey, UK

On 15/11/2017 11:31, Offramp wrote:

I had never heard of the Tricorn centre, Portsmouth, until last month.

It used to appear in discussions of architecture for similar kinds of
reasons to New Street station.


--
Arthur Figgis Surrey, UK

On 15/11/2017 10:32, Neil Williams wrote:

I'd imagine that will be a relatively good thing - Croydon high street
and both shopping centres are abject dumps (particularly the Whitgift
which needs knocking down).

There is a slight terminology issue, in that the High Street is not the
high street - the pedestrianised North End is the high street, IYSWIM.

Try St George's Walk for a post-Soviet style experience.

--
Arthur Figgis Surrey, UK

On 15/11/2017 17:25, Neil Williams wrote:
On 2017-11-15 16:23:45 +0000, Tony Dragon said:

But it does get the visitors to Luner House.

That place really is an embarrassment.Â* "Welcome to the UK - now naff
off" is about what it says.

Isn't that the idea of it?


--
Arthur Figgis Surrey, UK

On 16/11/2017 13:12, wrote:

Does that mean the Variobahn trams can't go that way now? Looking at the
West Croydon tram stop on Google Streetview that's obviously not the case so
I don't understand this point.

I think the Variobahns do go everywhere now.

IIRC there have been discussions about coupling trams together, or
buying longer ones to replace the CR4000s as and when they reach the end
of their lives. There are also issues about getting trams through
various traffic lights - it has been said that there is some rule that
only one tram can go through per light cycle, which causes issues.


--
Arthur Figgis Surrey, UK