Buying companies as a going concern is fun. Sometimes. Despite purchasers’ best efforts when sniffing around accounts, staff contracts, order book, supply contracts and other ‘due diligence’ they inevitably spend a couple of years digging up buried bodies:‘Oh sorry, didn’t you know the HQ is built over an old mineshaft?
Consider the UK’s High Streets. Hard on the heels of House of Fraser’s announcement of dozens of closures and the rumours about Debenhams you could almost forget how long they’ve been a bad news story. It was back in 2012 the penny finally dropped they were in trouble and it couldn’t be blamed on the 2008 banking collapse or the previous Labour government.
In Lewis Carroll’s ‘Through the Looking-Glass’ Alice takes part in a race with the Red Queen only to discover that despite running constantly she remains in the same place. The Red Queen is not sympathetic: ‘A slow sort of country!’ says the Queen. ‘Here you see it takes all the running you can do to keep in the same place. If you want to get somewhere else, you must run at least twice as fast!”
Jonathan Owen discusses VAT charged on Open Markets, Street Traders and Carbooters and problems facing bike share providers
Poor High Street sales results, competition from the Germans, early sales, drastic high street discounting but record online sales. Where does this leave loss-making ‘discretionary’ services like markets?
1172 markets are taking part in LYLM this year, promoting all that’s best about markets and we are delighted to be part of it.
Placemaking demands an understanding of how places can work for everyone, not just those with money to spend.
The launch of Colchester’s relocated Charter Market in its new home in the High Street.
We highlight a major flaw in the UK planning system – the practice of ‘land banking’ future development sites by supermarkets