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I used to live up in the Graig in Pontypridd, just 5 minutes walk away from this town centre. In my opinion, it hasn't got anything to do with the current recession or the new traffic control measures.
It has to do with the decline of decent shops, every othe shops sells clothes, there is around 4 or 5 charity shops, and a lot of cheap shops everywhere, market days are full of £1 items, or cheap stuff that has no quality whatsoever.
I stopped going there for my shop as they did not have the diversity I wanted. You can't really go into that town and buy some unique things for anyone's birthday/Christmas. The only time I ever bought anything there was from WHSmiths, even then the shop itself was claustrophobic, too many stuff crammed into a very small space. I once wanted a book which they didn't have but was recommended to place an order that would have taken 3 weeks to get in, a hop on the bus to Cardiff and into Waterstones took me an hour. I wasn't going to wait 3 weeks for something!
Not only that, but retail parks a couple of miles up offer free parking space, well stocked good quality clothes, a massive bookstore, and Tesco just round the corner.
How is it in your area? What are your opinions that is the matter with towns facing a backlash?
Batty
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