[Fowlman]

That arrogant Tesco numpty just about summed up Tescos. Profit before anything else, they dont give a toss about animal welfare. They only adhere to the minimum welfare standards because the law says they have to. I refuse to go in such places and i believe the likes of Tescos are contributing greatly to the way British society has become so ignorant of how our food is reared/produced.


On the brighter side i do believe the tide is slowly turning and people are starting to question where our food has come from and how its produced and if these supermarkets dont buck their ideas up they will pay  dearly in the long term, we arent all sheeple.

[robert waddell]

for the tide to turn a good deal more programmes like this one are needed maybe not fronted by jimmy to boost his own ego or interest in his products  but like Adam hensen has that eye candy appeal to the females and it is them that are the buyers
tesco are a business buy cheap sell dear and cream the profits    food is the biggest household expense there is and it is only natural to get you in there and sell you petrol household goods and electrical items
squeeze the petrol retailers out and all the other businesses that they are competing with then jack the price up  it has moved on from the days of liptons supermarkets  that were minuscule in comparison

[Fowlman]

I agree Robert and it is only a ripple but we do have to start somewhere i guess. Education  plays a big part too. The death of many high streets are down to these big companies, greed on the councils part i reckon. Whenever i can i use small independent shops and more importantly local. Many of my friends are big into bartering too which is great, gives you access to all manner of things.

[sabrina]

Would have been interesting to know just what did go into the Tesco sausage. I had my mother for a week and gave her some of our free range pork sausages, she did not like them saying they were to strong. Too used to eating the rubbish ones. she is 81. OH and I love liver with onions.

[northfifeduckling]

Jimmy and the Giant supermarket

[Simple Simon]

I agree Robert and it is only a ripple but we do have to start somewhere i guess. Education  plays a big part too. The death of many high streets are down to these big companies, greed on the councils part i reckon. Whenever i can i use small independent shops and more importantly local. Many of my friends are big into bartering too which is great, gives you access to all manner of things.

The "death of the High Street" or at least a severe reduction in the number of shops is an unstoppable process which was addressed by Mary Portas in her report for HMG, which was commissioned to make it sound like someone gives a stuff or is actually going to do anything about it.  Her 28 recommendations have as much chance of being adopted nationally or on any scale at all as Greece has of repaying its loans.


The reasons why it's unstoppable are that
- Joe Public while bemoaning the loss of local shops carries on driving into town for his/her weekly shop. 
- the internet has destroyed the traditional business model for selling white goods, books and loads of other stuff.   The collapse of Clinton Cards, and the travails of Dixons and Argos aren't down to Tesco.
- local councils seem unable to resist charging for parking.  It's one of the few areas of revenue under their control but self-defeating.
- the supermarkets have sponsored a generation who can't cook so live off the convenience food and ready meals they peddle.


Retail fashion chains used to need 250 shops to provide them with national coverage.  Now the multi-channel approach means that 75 will do the same job.   One brand opened a big store in Westfield Stratford (next to the Olympic Park) and plans to close five in nearby High Streets.  Their customers carry smart phones that allow them to scan the barcode on a label and find the nearest competitor selling the same item for less.


The majority of leases fall-in over the next five years in most High Streets.  Expect to see vacancy rates rising a lot from current levels.  It will also take a fairly large fall in business rates for such property to be attractive to start-ups even at much lower asking rents. 

[Fowlman]

I specifically meant one off local individual shops simon, clinton cards arent in that category. Councils have been too greedy for too long and are to blame for a lot of this. A new Tescos was built where my mother lives but the original application was turned down then tescos offered to pay for a bypass and permission was granted, so down came a very popular open air swimming pool which was built to commemorate the Kings coronation. Call me  old fashioned if you like but i just hate these big multi-nationals, they got no heart and couldnt give a toss about the customers. Of course internet is playing a big part too, way of the times i guess.

[suziequeue]

But if High Streets "collapse" then landlords ludicrous rental expectations will fall and more small independent retailers may be able to afford to come back into the high street surely?

[northfifeduckling]

all you get is more charity shops and betting agents. Ah, and pound shops  .All other small retailers including a Farm shop who tried went bust here after a year or two - council's rates to blame in my view. They charge what, around £ 40 for a stall at the Farmers market for 4 hours on a Saturday morning? I wouldn't bother to be honest.

[Fowlman]

There is no easy answer i guess but i do feel councils and landlords could be doing more.

[Fowgill Farm]

There is no easy answer i guess but i do feel councils and landlords could be doing more.

Business rates seem to be the nail in the cofin in the smaller towns around us, businesses go into shops in the high street on a 3 month rate free deal and the minute the rates kick in they close down at a rapid rate of knots, as has been said councils are just too greedy because for those rates they do very little as commercial premises have to dispose of their own rubbish amd most of them keep their shop front area tidy themselves. Our local high streets are full of charity shops, Thirsk is particularly bad and Northallerton is heading that way as people just park in Tesco/Sainsbury do a shop and bog off back home. Have to admit that i am guilty of not doing much locally as i get my 'essentials' delivered via internet, i do use the local shops in Stokesley after work inc bakers, butchers, dept store, bank, post office but my spend won't make a dent in the national deficit.
mandy

[Simple Simon]

Council budgets are being squeezed hard so the money men want to maximise both council tax and parking revenues.  It is the classic short term thinking and it persuades shoppers to go to the out-of-town centre where parking is plentiful and free.


One of the historic anomalies of the property market is the 25 year lease with upward-only five year rent reviews and rent paid quarterly in advance.  Britain is the only place in the world which insulates its landlords from risk in this way.  It means that though trading may have fallen off a cliff the rent doesn't change.  The big tenants have been fighting this practice in several ways.  One is to go bust and do a pre-pack insolvency which allows the business to go forward shorn of debt and leases.  Another is just to let the leases run off and not renew - as I pointed out earlier most of the High Street leases have 5 years of fewer to run - while some robust tenants have demanded relief such as monthly lease payment.


Once again the banks have a leading role in this mess, and once again they are burying their heads in the sand.  Banks were routinely lending 80% of value, a value assessed when markets were buoyant and demand for property investments drove up prices.  So there are very many properties are carrying debt well in excess of value, a value which can neither be determined accurately nor realised because liquidity has vanished. 


Over time this should indeed produce lower rents, but it won't be an elegant or thought-through process.  When a tenant departs leaving the property empty the debt ceases to be serviced.  So the asking rent will be stupidly high and the property will join others in the same circumstance.  The banks don't know what to do about this because they are only recently becoming aware of the problem.  They're not resourced to manage vast estates of property, particularly in a market which is heading away from them fast.   With several thousand of their own branches in the same situation (Like most people I don't need a branch) it reinforces the problem.


There are too many retail properties.  Dominance of the supermarkets is just one of the issues. 

[YorkshireLass]

There are too many retail properties.  Dominance of the supermarkets is just one of the issues.

So why the **** is the "solution" to build more and more town centre shopping centres to stand empty? See Leeds, Bradford (well, if they ever start).......


If that sounds aggressive it's aimed up there, not at you 

[northfifeduckling]

back to Jimmy's program  - I would not have bought the sausages, always go for more upmarket ones. definitely am going to try them at least once  and might even have the first CK of my life . I've never understood the sentimentality about veal, surely meat is better than a wasted life? 

[robert waddell]

back to the original post       and it has left me wondering  did tesco recruit jimmy to bolster there flagging sales   or was it wholly Jimmy's idea      from what i saw it is tesco made from British meat not a mention of jimmy from the brief shot of the packing   must go to tesco and have a squint at the shelves
interesting was the demo in the park with cooking and butchery and touching of the animals the environmental health officer for lanarkshire  must have been having Canaries watching that
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