The high street

My club doesn't have a pro, it does as PJ suggests. It makes financial sense but you lose a great deal. The pro shop is the heart of the club and they also tend to help a lot with comps. Not having one is a definite miss, although I fully understand why my club took this decision.
 
Lord Tyrion said:
Don't underestimate the impact of business rates on a business. Our factory is on an industrial estate and we pay more in business rates than rent. There has been a recalculation recently and that could take a perfectly profitable business and push it into the red. It's worse for high street sites as their rates will be high. Yes, some high street's will have to end but some are being pushed towards closure through no fault of their own.
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Totally agree, as a retailer, own business with a shop just off the high street.
my business rates are nearly 50% of my rent.

what do the council give me back for all those thousands?...
nothing.

i pay them to park my car every day
i pay someone else to empty my bins

so I pay the local council thousands for exactly sweet fa
 
Same for us about emptying bins, we have to pay extra. Someone fly tipped by our factory a few months ago and I rang the council to get it collected. 'Private land, no can do'. Cheers was my reply, something like that anyway 😁.

They think business has a bottomless pit of money but they are wrong, very wrong.
 
Lord Tyrion said:
My club doesn't have a pro, it does as PJ suggests. It makes financial sense but you lose a great deal. The pro shop is the heart of the club and they also tend to help a lot with comps. Not having one is a definite miss, although I fully understand why my club took this decision.
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I’ve played some beautiful courses that do just this. However they all seem to have health clubs attached .. is this the case with yours? These are the clubs for me that are gonna stand the changing times

Flat fee for membership to both the gym and the course.. people through the door and then the other half’s if not interested in golf can take up the gym and spa only memberships

Making a killing

Colleague of mine she moved out of London and her husband joined a golf club and she said it’s got a brilliant spa so she spends most times down there when he’s on a lesson
 
pauljames87 said:
I’ve played some beautiful courses that do just this. However they all seem to have health clubs attached .. is this the case with yours? These are the clubs for me that are gonna stand the changing times

Flat fee for membership to both the gym and the course.. people through the door and then the other half’s if not interested in golf can take up the gym and spa only memberships

Making a killing

Colleague of mine she moved out of London and her husband joined a golf club and she said it’s got a brilliant spa so she spends most times down there when he’s on a lesson
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No, unfortunately the club went into administration a couple of years ago. New owners came in and the pro plus shop were not kept on. The guy was is a very good pro and has moved on to a very good club where he is thriving. The club just doesn't have the membership numbers to guarantee covering the costs involved and I understand the decision from a commercial point of view. Maybe if numbers recover...........

The model you describe makes a lot of sense.
 
Lord Tyrion said:
Someone fly tipped by our factory a few months ago and I rang the council to get it collected. 'Private land, no can do'. Cheers was my reply, something like that anyway 😁.
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Have you not got a forklift? My BiL had issues with dumped vehicles outside his place... He just used to 'adjust' where they were left, using his forklift, and then call the authorities to inform them they had a problem and ask how soon can they deal with it...
 
MegaSteve said:
Have you not got a forklift? My BiL had issues with dumped vehicles outside his place... He just used to 'adjust' where they were left, using his forklift, and then call the authorities to inform them they had a problem and ask how soon can they deal with it...
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They don't have the whistling emoji on my tablet but if it did I would have one now 😁. The situation was resolved, the council removed it. Creativity is required without causing a problem elsewhere. We shouldn't have to be creative though.
 
Lord Tyrion said:
My club doesn't have a pro, it does as PJ suggests. It makes financial sense but you lose a great deal. The pro shop is the heart of the club and they also tend to help a lot with comps. Not having one is a definite miss, although I fully understand why my club took this decision.
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pauljames87 said:
I’ve played some beautiful courses that do just this. However they all seem to have health clubs attached .. is this the case with yours? These are the clubs for me that are gonna stand the changing times

Flat fee for membership to both the gym and the course.. people through the door and then the other half’s if not interested in golf can take up the gym and spa only memberships

Making a killing

Colleague of mine she moved out of London and her husband joined a golf club and she said it’s got a brilliant spa so she spends most times down there when he’s on a lesson
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Course near me is making a killing. In land links course but got breeze off the Thames. Anyways cross rail land needs dumping so they got paid a far few million to have the land dumped on there land.. build a 27 hole golf course.. only 9 open at the moment but second 9 due this year and last 9 next year

Using the land to build the course and the money ofc

Clubhouse has a gym, lovely restaurant and ofc the course
 
Liverpoolphil said:
If you feel you don’t need a pro shop then would suggest your pro shop isn’t doing enough

Our pro shop and the staff are an integral part of the club , they are there for more than selling golf equipment and your drinks , the amount of hidden work a lot of pro shops do can never be under estimated
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Absolutely this. A good pro (shop) is . Sad that some clubs can't now afford or justify the retainer etc

Been to a few events lately where they've done away with their Pro shops or excluded their Pros to save money and it's a bit soul less and amateur.

The hidden work they do - any spotty teenager on minimum wage can sell mars bars but the amount of knowledge etc a good pro has is worth his/her weight in gold

Very short sighted not to see that
 
Pros and cons. Sad that the High Streets are struggling but do shop online in the main myself, have fond memories of a busy Union Street in Aberdeen, Princes Street in Edinburgh back in the day, pre Christmas they had a bit of an atmosphere, now gone sadly.
High St success nowadays depends more on demographics perhaps. Happended to be at a wedding near Knutsford in June, few hours to kill so had a wander about the town shops, place oozes money and they did not look to be struggling, no empties and pretty busy and quite a lot of specialist shops. Seems if people have plenty cash they'll keep using high streets I think, for the rest of us if we can get what we want online at a cheaper price then we'll shop online.

Re betting shops surely they'e going same way as newspapers - will all be online soon enough once the pre-computer generations leave us?
 
If I stay on the bus/tube for a bit longer I can find lots of old school High Streets serving the communities that came from our old greater Commonwealth post war... Still a wide selection of shops including lots of butchers, fishmongers, greengrocers but [seemingly] few bakers... And, because they are mainly family owned/run you get a smile and a thank you...
 
Councils certainly haven't helped, high rents and rates and letting retail parks pop up out of town. Not to mention parking.

my fav shop in Inverness shut yesterday, Beer shop on Castle street, sold beers from all around the world and esp Belgian. you could stop outside and collect or have a quick browse. But about a year and a half they put double yellow lines right outside where there were none previously. more or less killed the business.
 
bobmac said:
Get rid of the shops and turn them into flats, cafes, eateries etc.

Then build a big shopping area on some cheap land near the town with free parking and wide parking bays.
One stop shopping

:thup:
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THIS !!!! Is what I said that our old fogies on our council should have done. And I wrote to the local rag about it!!!!They want it to be like in the olden days where there were quaint little shops selling bit and bobs and and old bloke who is a tailor and would make clothes to order. UTTER CLOWNS. They've spent MILLIONS, yes, MILLIONS converting an Cheshire Building Society place into a fancy clothing store. Guess who for? TK MAX blurg!!!! Utter poo! Other clothing stores in the town open up and then close within 6 months. It's a disaster!!!!!
 
We want AMERICAN style indoor shopping centres. Look at how popular the Trauma Centre is in Manchester!!!! And Cheshire Oak, although this isn't indoor, but hell is it busy!!!!! We need more of this type of shopping places. All under ONE ROOF!!!!! They've miss a massive opportunity and wasted MILLIONS
 
To survive the high street needs to abandon shopping as its primary service and provide an “experience” first approach. It’s the one thing online shopping can’t give you.

Move all the shopper only people online.
 
Our local High Street M&S food hall is closing... Strange decision as there's more McCarthy Stoners, in these parts, than you can shake a stick at... Waitrose will be rubbing their hands gleefully...
 
MegaSteve said:
Our local High Street M&S food hall is closing... Strange decision as there's more McCarthy Stoners, in these parts, than you can shake a stick at... Waitrose will be rubbing their hands gleefully...
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Strange, we have a new one (M+S foodhall) about to open any day now. I assume M+S have done their homework but I cant see how it's going to work here (Oban). We have a Tesco, Aldi, Lidl close by and a Farmfoods a bit further away already and we're not exactly awash with ££ in this area, dont see many range rovers, mercs and beemers or the onviously well off (although west coasters dont do fashion, they do function).
Last time I went onto a M+S foodhall in Fort William of all places (another new one, dont understand that one either) looking for some sandwiches took a look at the prices and made a hasty retreat back to Morrisons.:whistle:
 
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