It's sadder than ever (From Bucks Free Press)
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It's sadder than ever
9:17am Friday 5th February 2010 in
RE: The planning approval granted in principle last week to Sainsbury’s to take over the site occupied by Waitrose in West Street, Marlow.
ALTHOUGH we all knew it was imminent, it was nevertheless sad to see your headline in last week’s Marlow Free Press regarding the demise of Waitrose.
We have been lucky to have the company trading in the town for so long – a good compromise between a supermarket and corner shop!
The staff are well known to us, and the service and customer care second to none. It is no surprise that Waitrose consistently comes out near the top of best retailers in the UK – often only beaten by John Lewis, its parent company.
Although it is welcome that Waitrose retains a presence in the new Liston Road site, it will be no replacement, as of course it will be a basket-only shop.
We did have the chance to have a new large bright, modern store, with improved parking, but this was rejected by our town council, on our behalf.
Marlow now faces a prolonged period with no major supermarket, then not one but two Sainsbury’s. The town is already looking forlorn, and these stores will do nothing to improve that.
Alex Collingwood worries about the loss of a few parking spaces.
It’s time the town council and district council starting taking bolder decisions.
The supermarket argument is over, and now the major problem facing us is parking. Marlow may be tired, but traffic threatens to choke us to death.
We have to accept that we all need food, and most of us need to drive. It’s no good worrying about the odd dozen parking spaces lost, a broader, bolder plan is needed. For instance, we have to address the problems caused by workers, and school children using our streets as car parks. I’m sure a lot of us have ideas on this, but we pay planners whose job it is to devise solutions.
I know that Waitrose wanted to build on the outskirts of town, but WDC rejected the idea. Why?
It makes sense to take the food shopping out of the town centre. There is more space, more, and easier parking.
Instantly you relieve the town of cars, parking and food shoppers. And no, we don’t all decide to spend in the High Street because we are food shopping, we will probably do that on a separate occasion. The result is that there’s more space to park because the supermarket has gone, and High Street shopping suddenly becomes much more pleasant and attractive proposition.
I have lived in Marlow a long time, and the town is sadder now than I have ever known it. It’s no good trying to preserve the town in aspic, we need to accept the problems we have and deal with them. We have now lost too many opportunities to redevelop. New doesn’t have to be bad, it can breathe new life into an ailing patient which sadly Marlow now seems to be.
John Richmond, Spinfield Lane, Marlow.
Comments(11)
Tharus Bond
says...
1:26pm Fri 5 Feb 10
demoness
says...
5:12pm Fri 5 Feb 10
678 for the love of god open your eyes.
Your town is full of 'nothing'.None of those shops are sustainable - people will shop outside to get the things they need.
And as for the traffic going constantly through the High Street, well that is another awful thing about the place.
678
says...
10:36am Sat 6 Feb 10
demoness wrote:well as someone who says they would never step foot in the town how would you know? Compare Marlow with eden what % of shops are empty, even in Eden, a lot more than in Marlow, the same goes for Henley and Maidenhead.
Well I now know of 4 sensible Marlow folk - sportsturf, Tom, Bogart and the letter writer. 678 for the love of god open your eyes. Your town is full of 'nothing'.None of those shops are sustainable - people will shop outside to get the things they need. And as for the traffic going constantly through the High Street, well that is another awful thing about the place.
demoness
says...
3:58pm Sat 6 Feb 10
678 wrote:I think most of the shop spaces in Eden are full now and with all due respect you cannot compare Marlow with a big shopping centre - try Beaconsfield.
demoness wrote: Well I now know of 4 sensible Marlow folk - sportsturf, Tom, Bogart and the letter writer. 678 for the love of god open your eyes. Your town is full of 'nothing'.None of those shops are sustainable - people will shop outside to get the things they need. And as for the traffic going constantly through the High Street, well that is another awful thing about the place.well as someone who says they would never step foot in the town how would you know? Compare Marlow with eden what % of shops are empty, even in Eden, a lot more than in Marlow, the same goes for Henley and Maidenhead.
sportsturf
says...
9:58pm Wed 10 Feb 10
678
says...
1:19pm Thu 11 Feb 10
sportsturf wrote:supply and demand, its obviously what the people ofMarlow want. Plus there are lots of "sensible" (what is "sensible" shops in Marlow. You can't rubbish a whole town because it doesn't have a pound shop.
im sorry 678...but as a Marlow boy born and bred........ive got to agree with the letter writer and Demoness, Marlow is finished as far as im concerned, sensible shops, proper pubs, ALL gone, !!!!!...how many more expensive boutiques do we need, or coffee shops, FFS, back in the day we had Woolworths, Tesco, a family butcher, all staffed by local people...rarely could you go into a shop and not recognise at least one member of staff, walk down the high street on a saturday morning, and count how many Range Rover Sports or BMW X5 are parked there while Lady Muck pops into the "far too expensive" clothes shop, i do have to concede that Eden in Wycombe is growing on me for a sensible mornings shopping..........
demoness
says...
3:34pm Thu 11 Feb 10
678 wrote:PMSL
sportsturf wrote: im sorry 678...but as a Marlow boy born and bred........ive got to agree with the letter writer and Demoness, Marlow is finished as far as im concerned, sensible shops, proper pubs, ALL gone, !!!!!...how many more expensive boutiques do we need, or coffee shops, FFS, back in the day we had Woolworths, Tesco, a family butcher, all staffed by local people...rarely could you go into a shop and not recognise at least one member of staff, walk down the high street on a saturday morning, and count how many Range Rover Sports or BMW X5 are parked there while Lady Muck pops into the "far too expensive" clothes shop, i do have to concede that Eden in Wycombe is growing on me for a sensible mornings shopping..........supply and demand, its obviously what the people ofMarlow want. Plus there are lots of "sensible" (what is "sensible" shops in Marlow. You can't rubbish a whole town because it doesn't have a pound shop.
You talk twaddle. When did sportsturf mention a pound shop?
Or is that a dig at Wycombe?
Try harder. :))
sportsturf
says...
9:22pm Thu 11 Feb 10
!!!....im sorry. but im from a farming background, my grandfather was a gamekeeper and supplied all 3 butchers in marlow at some stage with game..we worked the land to supply the community...back then we could afford to socialise in marlow, and buy clothes in marlow, and it certainly isnt "supply and demand" for the original folk whose families have been here for decades...i certainly cant afford £80 for a friggin shirt,....and the "people" of marlow ( and im not talkin about the ones who have swanned into town in the last 5 years.) dont want all these coffee shops, boutiques, wine bars, we simply cant afford to use them.....
678
says...
10:16am Fri 12 Feb 10
sportsturf wrote:so you think the needs of people who are born and bred locally are more important than the "new" people, well that seems a bit xenophobic doesn't it? What ever the moaners say the proof is in the pudding, a town gets the busineses it needs as they are the ones that survive, you can't argue with that, PEOPLE VOTE WITH THEIR FEET.
POUNDSHOP..!!!!!!!!! !!!....im sorry. but im from a farming background, my grandfather was a gamekeeper and supplied all 3 butchers in marlow at some stage with game..we worked the land to supply the community...back then we could afford to socialise in marlow, and buy clothes in marlow, and it certainly isnt "supply and demand" for the original folk whose families have been here for decades...i certainly cant afford £80 for a friggin shirt,....and the "people" of marlow ( and im not talkin about the ones who have swanned into town in the last 5 years.) dont want all these coffee shops, boutiques, wine bars, we simply cant afford to use them.....
sportsturf
says...
6:22pm Sat 13 Feb 10
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678 says...
1:10pm Fri 5 Feb 10
Well isn't Sainburys "New"? I would also argue that Marlow dealt with the recession better that most towns we now only have about 2 or 3 empty shops and some of them are under offer. I have been in Marlow for a long time too and really disagree with your thoughts on the town. Even the chequers is opening again soon and they had over 100 applicants to run the place, hardly the symptoms of an "ailing" town!