The grumpy thread

[Mr Lobster]

If he doesn't want to play ball then either open a dispute with eBay or just neg him. The postage stamps the Post Office print and then stick on don't just fall off.

[Richard]

Sadly I'm fairly sure there will be more casualties on the high street along shortly.

 

WH Smith coming soon I reckon.

[warren t claim]

Got to work today to find a picket line on the gates. Apparently the main contractors on site are refusing to allow the construction union UCATT onto the site and have their own little blacklist of union members.

[Cavcraft]

Got to work today to find a picket line on the gates. Apparently the main contractors on site are refusing to allow the construction union UCATT onto the site and have their own little blacklist of union members.

 

Tells it's own story that, Warren. If they don't want the union on site they obviously have something to hide.

[warren t claim]

Got to work today to find a picket line on the gates. Apparently the main contractors on site are refusing to allow the construction union UCATT onto the site and have their own little blacklist of union members.

 

Tells it's own story that, Warren. If they don't want the union on site they obviously have something to hide.

All workers not entitled to holiday pay

Workers employed via agency are in the majority.

All agency staff paid via a payroll company.

Agency workers being bused in from Wolverhampton and expected to work upto 14 hours then buses back.

Costain illegally blacklisting UCATT officials from the site.

 

Site is in Liverpool.

[chaseracer]

Where's this?

[TimothyClaypole]

1977 I think.

[chaseracer]

 

[warren t claim]

Where's this?

 

Liverpool

[cort16]

What a bell end.

 

"This is where i used to live, in The Republic of Georgia in Tbilisi, (i remember alot of the streets in this video) his name is Tevsi, which means fisherman i think... He won the DRIFT KING competition, which was held for the memory of the last Drift King competition winner , a guy named Poteli. (its not really drift its just doughnuts around witches hats). Poteli killed 6 or 7 people when he slammed head on in his BMW with a bus full of innocent people and killed himself and a friend in the process. The whole country is full of insane drivers and you CAN get away with driving like this, but they started to crack down on it alot... they impounded my skyline once... so yeah I am not suprised they can get away with it. there are many many fatal accidents there...

 

[Bobthebeard]

Sadly I'm fairly sure there will be more casualties on the high street along shortly.

 

WH Smith coming soon I reckon.

 

Maybe correct. Could explain why they try to sell you massive chocolate bars when all you want is a copy of Practical Classics or whatever. (Other magazines are available)

Would sir care for a 2kilogram Toblerone bar to go with the magazine?

Errr. No actually. Stoppit!

[ashmicro]

‎0815 today, some oul twat of a farmer on the top road out of Carrick, driving a tractor, complete with trailer bearing a portable shithouse holding up half of East Antrim.

 

I need a roof-mounted Panzerschrek

[michael1703]

Mothercare are on the downward spiral now

[dollywobbler]

Yet Argos are on the up. Browse on t'interweb and pick up from store seems to work. I'd rather do shopping that way than trawling about the place trying to find what I want and rather that get it delivered by some arsehole who churns up my driveway by hooning in a van, I get to have a drive to the shop to collect. Perfect!

 

Or at least, it would be if I'd ever done it. Maybe I should.

[Mr Lobster]

 

WH Smith coming soon I reckon.

 

 

Maybe correct. Could explain why they try to sell you massive chocolate bars when all you want is a copy of Practical Classics or whatever. (Other magazines are available)

Would sir care for a 2kilogram Toblerone bar to go with the magazine?

Errr. No actually. Stoppit!

 

Fairly sure I've read that WHSmiths profits have increased year on year for the last five years and that last year they made a profit of £100M + so they are fairly secure.

[flat4alfa]

http://www.whsmithplc.co.uk/investors/f ... l_history/

 

Good turnaround

 

Likely benefitted from Woolworth's fall. Clintons too as WHS are behind the Funky Pigeon stores

[michael1703]

Talking of argos I ended up there buying batteries the other day,I tried to buy some in other high street shops but the batteries looked suspect, the packaging looked a bit like Gillette branding and it was called something like super ex or something and the Duracell packaging looked 10 years out of date, Argos had them and I was in and out in minutes.

 

What pisses me off about the high street is charity shops

 

Sounds cuntish and uncharitable but they are killing the high street.

 

They don't pay business rates as they are exempt,go to a high street and work out what good they are doing by occupying all the properties,they have no salaries to pay as they are staffed by volunteers, how the fuck do half of them make any money anyway? They occupy some prime properties with £2k per month rent to pay and although they don't pay wages they've got utilities to pay before they make any profit! ( for their charity) just how many 20p puzzles can you sell in a month to even break even? I don't get it.

 

One high street I frequent has about 30 shops, 8 of them are charity shops, that's almost a third and that's a third of business rates the council aren't getting So they need to rape someone for the shortfall...

[maxpower]

The twunt who stole the plastic (toweye) caps off the front bumper of my van

 

are times so hard that people can't afford to buy to bits of plastic?

[Mr Lobster]

What pisses me off about the high street is charity shops

 

Sounds cuntish and uncharitable but they are killing the high street.

 

They don't pay business rates as they are exempt,go to a high street and work out what good they are doing by occupying all the properties,they have no salaries to pay as they are staffed by volunteers, how the fuck do half of them make any money anyway? They occupy some prime properties with £2k per month rent to pay and although they don't pay wages they've got utilities to pay before they make any profit! ( for their charity) just how many 20p puzzles can you sell in a month to even break even? I don't get it.

 

Theres a big British Heart Foundation shop here that does furniture. I tend to get stuck at the traffic lights outside its massive windows every day so can see inside and its seriously fuggin expensive.

 

They had a dining table and chairs in the window before Christmas with a price tag of £1200. And I thought charity shops were cheap. It didn't look new so presumably was donated by someone. Similarly with older TVs that would have been donated yet were still relatively expensive.

 

The other problem with charity shops comes when they stop selling second hand, donated tat and start competing with the shops around them who all have proper overheads to pay and can't compete.

[Danblez]

Talking of argos I ended up there buying batteries the other day,I tried to buy some in other high street shops but the batteries looked suspect, the packaging looked a bit like Gillette branding and it was called something like super ex or something and the Duracell packaging looked 10 years out of date, Argos had them and I was in and out in minutes.

 

What pisses me off about the high street is charity shops

 

Sounds cuntish and uncharitable but they are killing the high street.

 

They don't pay business rates as they are exempt,go to a high street and work out what good they are doing by occupying all the properties,they have no salaries to pay as they are staffed by volunteers, how the fuck do half of them make any money anyway? They occupy some prime properties with £2k per month rent to pay and although they don't pay wages they've got utilities to pay before they make any profit! ( for their charity) just how many 20p puzzles can you sell in a month to even break even? I don't get it.

 

One high street I frequent has about 30 shops, 8 of them are charity shops, that's almost a third and that's a third of business rates the council aren't getting So they need to rape someone for the shortfall...

 

Hold on a minute if there was a shortage of empty shops on the high street I would tend to agree but as 50% of most highstreets are now empty I would much rather see a charity shop than one boarded up.

[Mr Lobster]

 

Hold on a minute if there was a shortage of empty shops on the high street I would tend to agree but as 50% of most are now empty I would much rather see a charity shop than one boarded up.

 

Fair point but rather than charity shops it would be better if landlords were realistic about rent and local councils offered incentives to small businesses to open in the vacant shops and actually make high streets places people wanted to go. I can't believe that many people are drawn to their local high street because they want to look around all the charity shops.

 

Unless they want a few dozen sets of Friends on VHS.

[Danblez]

 

Hold on a minute if there was a shortage of empty shops on the high street I would tend to agree but as 50% of most are now empty I would much rather see a charity shop than one boarded up.

 

Fair point but rather than charity shops it would be better if landlords were realistic about rent and local councils offered incentives to small businesses to open in the vacant shops and actually make high streets places people wanted to go. I can't believe that many people are drawn to their local high street because they want to look around all the charity shops.

 

Unless they want a few dozen sets of Friends on VHS.

 

Lets face it the way councils run everything is a complete joke. I wonder if there is a reason why they don't offer incentives to new businesses opening up. I imagine it is too much effort.

[whitevanman]

Most do........But Charity shops have some special status or other that allows councils to offset something or other...which is why they dominate.

[warren t claim]

I'm pretty sure the reason that councils dont offer free rates on empty shops for new start ups is because empty premises still have to pay 50% rates. Councils are basically corrupt scum anyway.

[chaseracer]

Councils are basically corrupt scum anyway.

"All generalisations are suspect, including this one." - LJK Setright.

 

[sporty-shite]

Hold on a minute if there was a shortage of empty shops on the high street I would tend to agree but as 50% of most highstreets are now empty I would much rather see a charity shop than one boarded up.

 

It frustrates me that more landlords and councils haven't embraced the idea of "pop-up" shops, where a small market or home trader can occupy a shop short term with no commitment. Rent and rates get paid for a short amount of time, and the high street looks better.

 

Also, on a small high st in Worcestershire, I recently saw some pretty good window displays in the empty shops. It gave smaller traders a bit more coverage, and stopped the empty shops dragging the street down. Why don't more towns do this?

[Bobthebeard]

Councils are basically corrupt scum anyway.

"All generalisations are suspect, including this one." - LJK Setright.

 

 

Wise words Chaseracer! Very true.

[cobblers]

Been ringing round for insurance quotes, spent 15 minutes on hold to Peter Jones and it rang off, 15 minutes on hold to Footman James for them to waste my fucking time completely because "the person who deals with modified vehicles goes home at 4"

Aidy Flux were pretty reasonable about my renewal quote (£341 for a modified van with engine change etc, 12k miles with commuting and driving other vehicle cover) but spoiled it by being tight fuckers and charging me £21 to upgrade my policy to allow me to commute to work 9 times til the policy runs out at the end of Jan!

[eddyramrod]

Theres a big British Heart Foundation shop here that does furniture. I tend to get stuck at the traffic lights outside its massive windows every day so can see inside and its seriously fuggin expensive.

 

There's a big BHF furniture shop in Barrow too, but you can't drive past because of where it is. I've bought a couple of things in there now and you know what a mingebag I am! I won't spend if I don't have to. The items I did buy have been fine, I chose carefully to fit the needs I had and didn't even look at the more expensive stuff. Some charity shops do get fancy ideas about pricing, but if the customers go elsewhere they'll soon learn.

[M'coli]

It frustrates me that more landlords and councils haven't embraced the idea of "pop-up" shops, where a small market or home trader can occupy a shop short term with no commitment. Rent and rates get paid for a short amount of time, and the high street looks better.

That's exactly what this guy in Ripon has done, it was on R4 today that he plans to open a few more.

http://www.ripongazette.co.uk/news/busi ... -1-4748006