Lloyds No More

Lloyds Pharmacy in the heart of Westbury on Trym has closed its doors for the last time today. 

Workmen arrived at the store in Carlton Court to remove external signage and begin the process of shutting the retail unit.

Lloyds continues to operate a pharmacy within the Westbury on Trym Doctor's surgery on Westbury Hill, though without the extensive range of retail products which were a major feature of the main store.

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Mary Portas and Westbury on Trym: Lessons to Learn or Red-Haired Herring?

Mary Portas has delivered her report on the future of high street retailing to the Prime Minister today and wants to pilot some of her ideas in ten retail locations around the country.

Does the Queen of Shops have practical wisdom for Westbury on Trym, or is her business model unsustainable in the Age of Austerity?

Inevitably, such a report will be summarised by the media into bite-sized chunks. In fact, 10 Downing Street's Press Office has produced its own summary. Her Retail Majesty's recommendations include:

• strengthening the management of high streets through new ‘town teams’
• ensuring a "town-centre-first" approach in planning and encouraging large retailers to show their support for high streets
• looking at disincentives for landlords leaving properties vacant and empowering local authorities to step-in when landlords are negligent

The final item on this list may resonate with local businesses in Westbury on Trym, many of whom have seen their rental prices rise dramatically in recent years. The closures of gift and card shop Me to You in Charlton Court and the memorably-named K Stabb shoe shop have been blamed partly on these price rises.

Meanwhile, Westbury's love affair with coffee shops seems to be showing no sign of abating, with a new Costa Coffee opened on Westbury Hill and yet another cafe proposed for the now empty unit in Carlton Court. 

Receiving less publicity in the Portas report are a number of potentially radical options for high street revitalisation. These include

• Virtual local high streets on line. Could Westbury shop owners benefit from a local shared site where they could sell online, without the cost and hassle of setting up separate individual web sites?
• Local markets to supplement retails shops. We already have  monthly farmers' market. Is there an appetite for developing this resource?
• WorkShops. Portas writes: "Instead of working from home people should have the chance to come onto the high street and work together in ‘hubs’, re-appropriating vacant units to create a shared space where entrepreneurs can work and be creative with ‘hotdesking’ for start-ups. I want to see working co-ops in town centres using other vacant units as ‘showrooms’ for their products and services." Interestingly, Bristol is a national centre for this type of co-working. Could the idea be more widely applied to local independent business owners in the BS9 area?   

Comments welcome, as always.

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New Bookshop Opens

In the age of Amazon and Kindle, it's surprising to hear of a new independent bookshop opening its doors for business. 

Hydra, which launches in Old Market this week, aims to specialise in "radical" literature with an emphasis on hard-to-find independent publications covering politics, history, environmentalism and feminism. 

Run as a workers' co-operative, Hydra opens between 8.00 and and 6.00 pm Tuesday to Friday and on Saturday afternoons.

The venue also contains a coffee shop and can be hired as a meeting place. As it says, "a space for exchanging ideas as well as finding books."

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Westbury Businessman Opens Whiteladies Costa Coffee Without Planning Permission

The recently-opened Costa Coffee shop on Whiteladies Road, which has opened without planning permission for a change of use, is owned by Westbury businessman Stuart Montgomery.

Mr Montgomery is a former soldier and also owns the Costa franchises in Portishead and Henleaze.

Earlier this year, Mr Montgomery was invited to become a member of the Leadership Group of the Prince's Trust charity.

The new shop is at the junction with Cotham Hill and was previously Derbyshire's Newsagents before it was converted into cafe.

 

Mr and Mrs Montgomery have "retail use" planning permission, allowing them to use the ground floor as a coffee shop with four chairs and one table. According to the City Council, the couple are breaking the terms of the planning rules by trading as a full-size coffee shop.

Earlier in the summer, Stuart Montgomery was voted Franchisee of the Year by Costa Coffee UK. He was quoted by Franchise News at the time saying that he wanted to open up to sixty additional coffee shops in the future. There are currently around 1200 Costa outlets across the UK.






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Somerfield Goes Texaco, Goes Co-op

Image via Wikipedia

Well what a relief. After two years (almost to the day) that the new Texaco / Somerfield petrol station opened on Falcondale Road, the fraught issue of branding compatibility looks finally as if it is on the way to being resolved, as Westbury on Trym's somnambulant village centre was shaken to life this afternoon with the unexpected arrival of a large articulated lorry carrying the shiny new sign which has since been erected at the front of the petrol forecourt. 

The lorry driver making the gargantuan delivery was clearly being directed to his destination by a Sat Nav device. A human being reading a map would have discerned in advance that Eastfield, the High Street and Canford Road were not the obvious choices for a 40 ton vehicle when attempting to reach Falcondale Road from the motorway network. 

Traffic chaos notwithstanding, the new sign - with contrasting red and green lights to signify diesel and unleaded prices (guess which is which) marks the end of the signage limbo that has caused such distress among BS9's brand-savvy residents and motorists in recent years.

Now at last we have what we always knew we had: a Co-op store and a Texaco petrol station.

The original Somerfield petrol station that for years stood astride the mighty River Trym, in a mocking anti-environmental fashion, was knocked down in 2007. Several years before that, however, Somerfield (whose head office was in Whitchurch) had bought out the Texaco forecourts in the UK.

Thus armed with a chain of supermarkets and an oil slick of petrol stations, Somerfield was itself taken over in 2007 by the Co-operative. 

The takeover of Somerfield by Co-op (the PR called it a merger, but, we all know that there's rarely such a thing in business) led to the re-branding of the Somerfield stores into Co-ops nationwide - including the ones at Carlton Court in the village and on Henleaze Road.

The local exception to this re-branding was the petrol station on Falcondale Road. Whereas the forecourt was branded Texaco, the shop remained resolutely Somerfield - as revealed in this photo taken the day that the new garage opened on February 6th 2008.

Now (happy event!) the old Texaco sign has at last come down and been replaced with .... a new Texaco sign. Close observation reveals that any similarity to the previous placard is entirely superficial. Where once there was "Texaco" and "Somerfield", now at last there is "Texaco" and "Co-op."

At least, there will be once they've finished putting the signs up above the shop entrance and moving various food items from one shelf to another. Thursday 3rd of February, I am reliably informed by sources close to the till, is the day that the store itself officially becomes a Co-op and the mockery of the "partnership" with the now non-existent Somerfield can be finally laid to rest.

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Halifax Closed

The new year has seen the closure of the westbury on Trym branch of the Halifax Bank. The nearest branch is now on Whiteladies Road, next to the Clifton Down Shopping Centre.

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Woolworths Becomes Woolies

Went to the grand opening of the new Woolies indoor market on Whiteladies Road this week - inside the former Woolworths building.

Lots of important-looking men in suits sipping white wine and chatting to each other - and to the Lord Mayor.

Wrote about it here.

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Co-op Corners the Market

Glad to see that Britain's leading co-operative business is not beyond sticking a few signs on lampposts around Westbury to advertise the launch of its new store.

With the opening of the new Co-op store in Carlton Court, (a development predicted on this blog in April 2008, thank you) the new owners of the Somerfield brand have skillfully established themselves as the leading food retail outlet in the local area. With Co-op stores in Stoke Lane, Canford Road and Crow Lane, Henbury (not to mention the Co-op in Station Road which I always pass when taking the bumpy route to Cribbs Causeway) local shoppers are now literally surrounded by the Co-op brand - including entering the newly-painted car park accessed through Co-op-branded pendants.

The grand opening this week was full of bunting, balloons and face painting and was, according to one local resident, "The most exciting thing that has ever happened in Westbury on Trym." Well, that particular resident has obviously never been to the cake sale at the Methodist Church Hall on a Friday morning or the WOT Society illustrated talk on seaweed collecting, but, nonetheless, I take her point that the event was a lively addition to the village's summer programme.

Britain's fifth-largest food retailer seems to have a policy of focusing on the local shopping market by concentrating its efforts on small to medium size stores rather than trying to compete directly with ASDA or Tesco. As a co-operative, it is also unique in having no share holders but is owned entirely by its members, who receive a share of the company's profits twice a year relative to their purchasing within the Co-op group and to the overall profitability of the group within that year. Membership costs £1.

The Co-op also sells more Fairtrade products than any other supermarket. Really, the Co-op is a bit like Everton FC - everyone's second favourite team.

Two developments that also caught my eye through the forest of green balloons, which may or may not be related. One was the closure of the Finest store opposite the new Co-op. My guess is that the company has reverted to its original focus on wholesale and corporate sales - though I might be wrong. The Snackology website is quiet on the issue. The second development is that the fruit and veg store in Carlton Court has started selling fresh milk for about 30p cheaper for four litres than its large neighbour opposite.

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Rev Billy Comes to Bristol

How on earth could I have missed it?

I refer of course to the visit to Bristol of the legendary Rev Billy and the Church of Life After Shopping bringing their gospel of freedom from consumrism to Cabot Circus and Broadmead.

What was I thinking of by missing the show?

Photos here .

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That's a Lot of Plastic

I couldn't believe it.

The Somerfield shop and petrol station on Falcondale Road claims that in the last 12 months it gave away 434,000 free plastic bags to customers.

I nearly dropped my discounted croissant when I read that notice in the window and as I started to multiply that statistic by the number of supermarkets in Bristol and then the UK....

It's obviously going to save Somerfieled money if they don't give them away in the future, but the environmental case for using only reusable bags is surely overwhelming.

China has done it - and claims to have reduced oil consumption ( a key element in bag production) by 1.6 million tonnes.

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I Bet I Know Where William Hill is Heading

If my memory serves me right, the recently closed betting shop next to the Chinese takeaway on Westbury on Trym High Street will be moving up the hill to the site of the former Haart estate agency on Westbury Hill - next to Oxfam.

It's interesting to see how, even though the car park has been on Westbury Hill for years, that end of the village seems to be benefiting from the presence of the doctor's surgery and the tidy up that has taken place around the car park in the last few years.

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Trading Places

So, the former Intoto Kitchens on the corner of Westbury Hill and Cambridge Crescent (map here) has ceased to be a franchise and has become an owner-operated business Kitchens by Design.

As I was busy recovering from the exertions of changing a light bulb at the time (and fusing the entire upstairs lighting ring in the process), I missed the grand opening of the new business which took place yesterday afternoon and which was attended by ITV presenter Peter Rowell (pictured).

Inspired by the fact that the above local media personality (Trym Tales has learned) charges between £1,000 and £3,000 for his services, I've decided to enter the world of after dinner speaking and opening of village fetes.

Trym Tales can therefore exclusively reveal that Westbury on Tyrm's leading independent online media outlet would like to offer the services of yours truely to cut ribbons, present oversize cheques and smile at the camera for your local community or business event.

£50 per event (plus a pie and chips) is all I charge to add that unique combination of transatlantic charm and sophistication to your event.

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My Plan? Maplin!

Despite the underlying misanthropic tendencies that more discerning readers of Trym Tales may have picked up from time to time, this blog, let it be said, is more than happy to give praise where it is due and today I am happy to commend the virtues of a new store at Cribbs Causeway.

Not being technically minded, I always dread going into electrical stores in case I get the Rowen Atkinson treatment.



Thankfully, I have found the staff at the new Maplin (located on the site of the old B and Q) much more helpful. First, they know what things are, what they do and how they work - always a great help when I arrive and say what I want to achieve not how I want to achieve it.

Secondly, they do not sell me things I don't need or want - a practice which in my case reduces the likelihood that I will return to a store.

Thirdly, the staff at Maplin Cribbs Causeway have never placed a paper bag upon my head - again, a definite plus when it comes to good customer service.

And finally, the staff do not have that terribly off-putting habit of wearing shiny ties and enquiring as to my emotional well being when I walk in the door. Instead, they have lots of useful stuff, they know what it does and they answer questions simply and clearly, leaving me to buy or not as I see fit.

Which is what I think a shop should be like.

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Clearing Out Woolworth's

The Official Trym Tales Unpleasant Job of the Year Award for 2008 goes to the chap at the Woolworth's till who served me and hundreds of others yesterday after members of the household had rummaged their way through the ruins of the 99-year old institution in search of bargains.

The woman in front of me, along with many of her sex, had clearly been in the knickers trough, snapping up a dozen of the oversize undies at ten pence each.

The soon-to-unemployed-male-twenty-something was unable to locate a price tag on the discounted undergarments and was forced to press a call bell, raise the knickers flag-like in the direction of his middle-aged female supervisor and request clarification on their price.

It was a grim scene at lots of levels.

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Veiled in Big W

While asset stripping the Woolworth store in Filton this evening, I noticed a young Muslim woman wearing a full face veil. Judging by her height and frame, I would estimate she was aged between 14 and 16.

She was not wearing the close fitting headscarf favoured by the more trendy female members of Eastville's Somali community. This was the full, black face veil, tied at the back, leaving only the narrowest of spaces for the girl to look out on the world.

It was the first time I had seen such a veil being worn in Bristol and I couldn't help thinking that the man accompanying her (who I took to be her father) was undoubtedly drawing more attention to his daughter by the choice of headgear than would be the case if she accompanied him unveiled.

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Cabot Circus

While searching for a dictionary for one of my students yesterday, I found myself drawn unintentionally into Cabot Circus for the first time.

Following the pavement from the Horsefair, I was lead down a path into the belly of the beast, so to speak.

Taking in the brushed metal and pleasant wooden decor, I unsuccessfully cast my eye around for a bookstore. Thankfully, at the bottom of the slope, in the unnatural amphitheater at the heart (or rather, the small intestine, to keep the imagery consistent) of the £500 million development, was a smiley and, I felt sure, helpful greeter . All smiles, shiny face and luminous day-glo orange fleece.

Perfect (thought I), a helpful, smiley and shiny-faced greeter who will direct me straightaway to the numerous well-stocked bookstores in this architectural masterpiece. My earlier prejudices about the new development were melting away, much like the November mist that was dispersing as the pale sun peered through the gargantuan glass roof (equal in size to one and a half football pitches according to the official web site).

Imagine my surprise, therefore, when on asking the orange-clad one where I might find a bookstore I was told that there was no such shop in Cabot Circus. Dumbstruck, I sought confirmation from she of the shiny face that there was in fact no bookstore at all in Bristol's landmark structure, (ten years in the making and destined to place Bristol firmly on centre stage.) "No" was the reply, repeated through gritted teeth in that what-do-you-want-a-bookstore-here-for-you-old-git-don't-you-know-we've-got-Harvey-Nichols tone of voice.

Suddenly, the oversize reindeer statues seemed duller to me despite being festooned with white fairy lights. Had any of the shoppers stopped to look, they would have noticed a disconsolate old fart shuffling back uphill mumbling something to himself about reading, learning, values and the crassness of our popular culture.

I wasn't even cheered up by the statue of the giant Christmas tree baubles.

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Fat Boy Sim

Making my way to work yesterday on the number 1 bus from Somerfield in Westbury on Trym to Whiteladies Road, I found myself sitting just behind two passengers who were having a disagreement.

The larger of the two was waiting at the bus stop on Canford Road and boarded the bus with his mobile firmly placed to the side of his head. His conversation continued from entering the bus through to his departure on Blackboy Hill.

Tension arose when the gentlemen, who was of some girth, adjusted his position in order to fit more comfortably onto the double bus seat he had occupied. The woman next to him - well spoken and silver haired - clearly felt inconvenienced by this movement and proceeded to adjust her own position in such a way as to communicate her displeasure at being in quite such close proximity to her fellow passenger.

The phone man, who was continuing his conversation uninterrupted, expressed surprise through his facial expression at the movement of the senior citizen next to him. This gesture afforded his neighbour the opportunity to make her feelings more explicit:

"You're taking up too much of the seat. I don't want to move for you. You've got a problem," were, I think, her exact words.

Clearly surprised, her fellow traveller proceeded to explain to his mobile what was happening.

After an uncomfortable few minutes, during which my fellow passengers stared hard into their copies of The Metro in that way that made it obvious they were not reading them but were listening intently for the drama to develop, the two passengers exchanged unflattering opinions about one another while the larger (and younger) of the two provided a running commentary on the proceedings to his Motorola.

Although I was not able to catch every word, I do recall him explaining to his friend on the other end of the phone that he was required, among other things, to attend the local police station that day in order to register his whereabouts with the officers - a detail which sent a frisson of nervous excitement through the attentive passenger body, who had now lowered their Metros and were fully attentive to the proceedings unfolding in suburbia.

The culmination of the discussion was when the portly passenger made his exit from the bus. Both travellers had clearly been preparing their final salvos for just this event. Hers consisted of, "You're a very rude and unpleasant person." His was more double-edged: "Have a nice day; though with a face like that I'm surprised you had the courage to come out."

A murmur of low level conversation around the bus followed the conclusion of these proceedings, during which time the senior citizen explained to a woman behind her that her former travelling companion had announced into his phone that he was suffering from a sexually transmitted disease - a claim I did not hear myself, but one which afforded me just that bit too much detail at that time of the morning.

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More Impressions of Cabot Circus

For reasons too opaque to go into, I visited the Cabot Circus website again this afternoon.

Based on the tiny amount I know of how businesses and organisations do branding exercises, I will assume that the Cabot Circus team (aka the Bristol Alliance) got their marketing and design people together in one of the office buildings where the Alliance's two partners are based - Land Securities at 5 The Strand in central London and Hamerson based round the corner on Grosvenor Street - and had that "let's think creatively about who we are as a retail concept" discussion so beloved of marketing and communications people.

Assuming the people in these two teams know their stuff, and have an understanding of their target market (Susan from Southville, perhaps) I find the result both revealing and depressing.

The average customer who might be attracted to the new Cabot Circus is, judging by the images on the home page, aged 20-35, white, single or in a relationship. In addition to this, they are perennially unhappy (not a smile on the model's faces) and, it appears, attracted to androgyny.

At least a couple of reasons therefore why I won't be at the front of the queue on the grand opening on September 25th.

Go on. Take a look. You know you want to.

Hmm.

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Ramadan Meets Asda

Was fascinated while wandering the aisles of Asda Cribbs Causeway this afternoon to notice an end-of-aisle display containing what at first sight looked like Advent calendars.

On closer examination, the thin rectangular packets did, indeed, contain small chocolates - one behind each door which was opened daily for a month.

The occasion, however, was not Advent but the Muslim month of Ramadan, when practicing Muslims fast during daylight hours, breaking their fast after the fourth prayer of the day at sunset. Now, thanks to the supermarket giant, the fast can be broken with a small piece of chocolate.

What will the enterprising retailers think of next? Eid eggs?

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Tesco Targets North Street

Charlie Bolton, Bristol's only Green Party Councillor, is attempting to prevent the opening of a Tesco store on North Street, Ashton (or is it Southville?)

His reasons are coherent and sensible and can be read on his blog here.

They are also unlikely to succeed - unless there is a massive movement from grass roots consumers to (a) oppose the plan and (b) to refuse to use the store if it does open.

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