Local lass
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The friday marketdoes anyone go to this now??
last time i went there was only about 4 stalls.when i was kid the market was quite a occasion on a friday it was held in the pippen and was always packed.you used to go into the town to go to the market now adays its if your in calne and the market is on you might have a look.
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Xtine
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Friday MarketYes people still go. In fact there are some useful stalls. Well worth a look.
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Peter Dolman
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friday marketThe market is disappointing, but it mirrors what is happening at many market towns.
I can say that the town council has over the last few years made great efforts to attract new stalls to the town an in general to no avail.
This reflects the general problem of how to persuade Calne residents to shop in the town.
In basic terms we are back to the chicken or the egg, which comes first? Can we persuade shops or market stalls to shop in Calne while so many residents shop either on the internet or
in Chippenham/Swindon/Bath/Bristol. The shops currently in the town are having a bad time and are in need of support.
This can be evidenced by a van delivering goods from Tesco's, goods ordered on line. There are 3 supermarkets in the town employing local people and selling very similar goods at remarkably similar prices.
And people wonder why new shops don't to open in Calne
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Local lass
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it seems though peter that the market through the years has been pushed out.
the market used to be huge now its in such a tiny space and there is nothing there.
as for people shopping at tesco ,i have to admit i dont do my main shopping at calne supermarkets but i do pop down them most weeks if its for something for tea for example.
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Peter Dolman
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friday marketCalne market is no different from markets all over the country in that they are getting smaller. This is the same problem that independant retailers have. They are both being sidelined by the big international groups and the internet.
The general population complain that they don't have choice anymore, the market is crap etc etc.
I say support your local shops, it also where your neighbour/relative works!
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GTB
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I use my local farm shops rather than use supermarket for meat purchases. As for my local shop, it's closed most of the time when I drive past it at 7.30am on my way to work, whereas the micormart or londis shop is open from 6am. Keeping every village shop open is just romantic idealism. Most people who use them only pop in there when they have no other choice and don't spend no more than £5.00 at a time. These shops don't have the buying power of the national giants and so locals will shop else where for their groceries.
The internet will put the nail in many high street shops within the next 15 years. Why go to W.H.Smith for a CD and pay £14 when you can get it on Amazon for half that price and not have the hassle of trying to park somewhere? There is nothing in the shops that you can't get on the internet to be delivered the next day. Shops are going to have to radically alter their business practice to keep up with the dot com boom or be swept aside into bankrupcy.
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Local lass
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I think another problem is when they build the out of towns shopping complexs.
the only trouble with that of corse is they build houses round them and then arnt much different than the shops in the high street.
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Peter Dolman
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friday marketthe question is " do we want to save our high street". it has been the focal point of communities for generations and helped make this country what it is.
The fragmentation of communities has lead in some part to the antisocial behaviour which affects towns across the country.
Yes it may cost more to shop in the town centre, but I argue that it is worth it. These shops, as I have stated before, employ many local people and in Calne these jobs are vital.
I may be wrong but like the leisure centre we only miss something when its gone, it will be to late then to say we need shops in Calne.
Can you imagine blocks of flats instead of Somerfield/Quiksave/Sainsbury's? Would you like all the car park in the town to be low cost/social housing?
We cannot allow this to happen, but it will if local people do not support local shops and business's.
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Local lass
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but the high street as it stands dosnt cater for all what we need.
i could go to tesco in trowbridge and get every thing under one roof saving time and its a lot cheaper than the high street .
high streets these days are out dated.
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GTB
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Re: friday market | Peter Dolman wrote: | | the question is " do we want to save our high street". it has been the focal point of communities for generations and helped make this country what it is. |
The high street has been a focal point in every town and village since the dawn of civilisation - even Pompeii had a high street. I don't think you will ever see a point where shops will totally cease to exist on the high street, they will merely go through the evoloutionary process of supply and demand and some will fall by the way-side, like butchers, bakers, etc. Clothes shops is something that will be very hard to replicate in the virtual world of the internet when it comes to trying a garment on.
Saving a shop just for sentimental reasons is just not practical or financially prudent and must be left disapear of its own accord.
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Kizzy
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People have so many lifestyle requirements, that independant traders cannot cater for them and in a town the size of Calne the supermarkets do not stock a large enough choice.
I work in Calne so I try to do any grocery shopping during my lunch break, but Sainsburys doesn't have as good a selection as Melkshams or Chippenhams stores, so I end up going to one of them at the weekend, and Somerfield is becoming ridiculously expensive.
I can never buy a pair of trousers in Calne
A - There is not a decent enough clothes shop to provide a suitable range
B - I require a 31-33 inch leg and I struggle to find these in clothes stores in shopping centres, normally I end up ordering on line or going to out of town centres where they have the larger stores
The only roll on deoderant I can use without developing a rash, is no longer available in any store in Calne. Fortunately there is now a Superdrug in Melksham and I can get it from there.
Yes I believe that if you can you should get it locally, however, time and money do come into the equation, I don't want to be spending hours trawling shops, only buying 1 item from each and I don't want to be spending more than is necessary, especially at a time where the cost of food and fuel is going up rapidly and retailers need to realise that offering a better choice will keep people coming back.
I do think Calne needs more high street names to bring the custom back to the town - it worked in Melksham, bringing a Superdrug and Peacocks to the town, and there was already a Woolies. They have not pushed out independant traders such as Face Value and Gompels and there are quite a few independant traders in Melksham. The shopping and choice in Melksham has improved substantially. Most weekends I walk round the town and do some of my shopping - where as before I would go to Trowbridge. I cannot do all of it, but I do try there first.
And as for markets, the one in Devizes is still pretty good and I know there are day trips from Calne to Devizes on every 4th Thursday for the over 60's, I believe they also have day trips to other towns when the markets are on. The market has not been the same in Calne since Sainsburys was built and took over the area of the car park that was used to house the market and they were allocated that teensy area which is barely a third of the space they were using.
The first few weeks they tried to use the lower car park, but it wasn't working and eventually the traders stopped coming due to lack of space not lack of trade. The lack of trade came due to lack of stalls. They do seem to be pushed out of the way in that area.
I have said before and i will say again, why can't the stalls be put up outside Face Value and the Kings Arms? There seems to be a large empty space there and there are more people walking in that area than there are walking between Sainsburys and Somerfield. If they were there, i feel there would be more space and more trade which might mean more stalls eventually appearing. The markets are prominent in Chippenham and Devizes, so why is Calne's shoved at the back in a "quiet" area?
I have now finished putting in my 2 pence worth
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Bear
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Couldn't agree more Kizzy I quite like a stroll around a good market. the only trouble with Calne is that the stroll now takes about two minutes for all the reasons you have listed
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Peter Dolman
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friday marketI agree with many of the comments made and that justs proves that there is no easy answer to this situation. I think I am right that the traders did not want to move to the high street as they could not park their vans there.
While a councillor there was a move to combine the farmers amrket with the Friday market. This would have made a bigger market and hopefully encouraged more traders to come. The problem was that the farmers did not want to join up with the others!
When the redevelopment in the Pippen/Phelps Parade is finally completed there will be a more central market place and it will have more capacity. Unfortunately that will guarantee more traders.
I cannot understand the logic behind Calne residents travelling to Swindon, Bath or even Bristol to do their weekly grocery shop. I have friends who do.
In a world where global warming is a reality we should be reducing our carbon foot print. We should stop buying out of season friut & vegetables which are flown in from the other side of the planet.
Now is the time to stop talking about it, now is the time to do it! It's our children and grand children who will be the losers.
Calne when I was a child had all the shops it needed if we all shopped here it would have them again. What we don't need are charity shops, estate agents and the like.
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Local lass
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PETER WROTE
I cannot understand the logic behind Calne residents travelling to Swindon, Bath or even Bristol to do their weekly grocery shop. I have friends who do.
In a world where global warming is a reality we should be reducing our carbon foot print. We should stop buying out of season friut & vegetables which are flown in from the other side of the planet.
I have said before some where on here that i do my big shop in tescos in trowbridge.
the reason being i drive right passed it when i drop my partner to work.
the reason i shop there is price,choice and above all else its convienient to me.
if i wanted to do my big shop in calne i would have to go to about 4 different shops.
as for the veg we grow are own as much as we can.growing your own is a dying hobby and no longer a neccesity like it was in the old days.many people now do not have the room to grow vegtablas.
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Kizzy
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I can't grow me own, I don't have a garden  and there aren't any allotments available near me
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