Smartening up high street bid

[leenewham]

I'm presuming you mean garden hoes Annie rather than US street slang.

I agree with RSdunlop.

I'm actually anti hanging baskets, personally I dont like they, they add to the clutter. Good planting, properly maintained (which it isn't in Sydenham) can look great. I'd rather shops green the front of their shops, to the spaces above the roofs like pubs do. I realize I may be in the tiny minority in thinking hanging baskets are naff, but isn't there something we can do that is bespoke to Sydenham, by the community for the community?

Working in various areas of London on high street improvement schemes, one thing that has worked quite well has been running local shop window competitions with prizes and publicity, run by visual merchandising companies. These are generally themed. The town centre website's bit idea, which is a good one, is to theme seasonal promotions which shops can plug into. I think this has a lot of potential, as yet untapped.

A friend of mine has a design company and they change their logo and home page for different events, seasons etc. Google do the same. Why not apply the same thinking for local shops?

Rather than spending money on hanging baskets 20 feet up on the air where people dont look, spend in on engaging with shops, work with creative local people on their window displays, get rid of the clutter than generally covers their windows and work on really attractive window displays that will get people talking.

I may spin this out as a separate topic with some examples when I get the chance.

[14BradfordRoad]

How many unemployed do we have?

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Loads of unemployed but how much money do we have to employ them with Annie?
Yes I know that there should be schemes, work experience, apprentiships, etc. Sadly not
enough happening to get people working, especially the young!
Then again you don't need to be employed to pick a bit of litter up, then put it in the bin.
Or not to litter, abuse in the first place. There are plenty of people to sweep and clean but
realistically not many actually doing it, including us too!

[Stefan]

perfect example what could happen
[www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-216077 ... nders.html]

[Annie.]

How many unemployed do we have?

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Loads of unemployed but how much money do we have to employ them with Annie?!

The point is----we are already paying them,let them help their community,and themselves,would look good on cvs

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[Annie.]

I'm presuming you mean garden hoes Annie rather than US street slang.

I agree with RSdunlop.


Working in various areas of London on high street improvement schemes, one thing that has worked quite well has been running local shop window competitions with prizes and publicity, run by visual merchandising companies. These are generally themed. The town centre website's bit idea, which is a good one, is to theme seasonal promotions which shops can plug into. I think this has a lot of potential, as yet untapped.

A friend of mine has a design company and they change their logo and home page for different events, seasons etc. Google do the same. Why not apply the same thinking for local

I may spin this out as a separate topic with some examples when I get the chance.

Yes garden hoes Lee ( dont know American slang) haha,

I actually like baskets, but what do I know!
I like the sound of themed displays etc, however not sure some shops in Sydenham really give a damn what they look like,
And I really cant see them spending any money on them.
Maybe smartening up should be forced on them by the council? Or does Human rights come into it----theirs not ours of course?

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[Stefan]

Annie, wish I could get the link working in earlier post, that shows exactly what can be achieved

[Annie.]

It would be nice to see it,ask someone how to link it on here,Lee would know how,i,m no tech person im afraid!

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[leenewham]

This one Stefan:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... nders.html

There are a number of these schemes going on at the moment. High Barnet, Barking, Wood Green, Leton, Catford, Bromley North Village, West Norwood, Hayes, Ruislip Manor, Northwood HIlls, Haringay, Hounslow, Brentford, Willesden, Richmond among others have all had, or are having shop front improvement schemes. We have been involved in a few. Most are to do with the Outer London Fund which we have been involved with. Sydenham didn't bid for Round 1 for some strange reason and didn't get any funding for round 2 (a bid was put in). I don't know if we put a bid in for the Regeneration fund or High Street Innovation Fund which are also running, but they are know about. Then of course there are the Portas pilots, we keep our fingers crossed for round 2(we didn't get anything in the first round, but London was only going to have 1 out of 12 anyway).

This is worth a look too:http://www.highstreet2012.com/

[Annie.]

Oh,I have seen them before, they are great,wouldnt it be lovely to have the same done to our High Street,thing is,if a shop looks dusty,dark uninspiring, then I wont go in,you would think these people would have pride in their shops,anyone would think they dont like/ want custom.

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[Stefan]

Thanks Lee, at least one of us knows what he is doing

[Annie.]

Not sure if you have seen any of Lees " what ifs" ? But they give you a good idea of what shops can do to a high street when made good.

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[Stefan]

I am a big fan of them but I was really impressed to see that a whole parade of shops has been transformed and smartened up, can only say what if..... we could transform top to bottom of the high street

[Annie.]

That would be great,I might even shop there if it looked like those in the link!;0))

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[leenewham]

Those shops had a lot of money thrown at them, my guess would be 20-30 grand each at least. They look a lot better though, bu tit's so much work. In some areas we struggled to get shops to sign up to 100% funding for new shop signage! Crazy!

[leenewham]

There is an exhibition of the What If Project in Sydenham Community Library.

http://www.whatifsydenham.wordpress.com

[Annie.]

I really don't understand the reluctance to improving their shops,except if they cannot afford it of course, but you have to speculate to accumulate,we see so many shops open then close in Sydenham, you would think by now prospective shop keepers would do their homework,and see what an area needs,I dont think shops offfering the same service ie phone shops, nail shops, 99p shops ,all those grotty little shops should be allowed to open up within the same stretch of road, they are bringing the area down.

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[SepticSkeptic]

How many retired people aged between 60-70 yrs are there?

Their generation created this mess of a world we live in. Make them work for their pension handouts until they are 70 like I will have to.

They'll be good at weeding and cleaning.

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[Eagle]

Septic
What a great name.

Actually no problem people working for their pension if they did not contribute to it all their life.
i do agree some older people have been very selfish spending now and not worrying how their children will pick up the bill.

No way we should have a budget deficit in peace time.

[Annie.]

How many retired people aged between 60-70 yrs are there?

Their generation created this mess of a world we live in. Make them work for their pension handouts until they are 70 like I will have to.

They'll be good at weeding and cleaning.



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Oh? It wasnt the politicians then?
How many young fit unemployed are there? Who havent paid their way yet?

[marymck]

How many retired people aged between 60-70 yrs are there?

Their generation created this mess of a world we live in. Make them work for their pension handouts until they are 70 like I will have to.

They'll be good at weeding and cleaning.

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Good God ... sweeping, ill informed general statement, or what?

Presumably someone paid for your education septic? Who do you think paid the NHS payments that kept your generation in family allowances and other benefits?

I've already paid 40 years of NHS and other taxes and never, ever claimed anything since I left school at 16. Because - unlike now - the majority of my generation didn't go into further education.