Headless Chickens

I was speaking to the landlord of a large number of commercial premises today.  He made an interesting comment.  In common with virtually everyone in business I know he was bemoaning the Government and their pathetic attempts to revitalise the economy.

What he added was that he felt the worst aspect of all was that the constant emphasis on being seen to be 'doing something' was actually making matters worse.  The end result is that, in his eyes Gordon Brown and Alistair Darling are running around like headless chickens.  

"Employment Summit today, bank loan guarantees tomorrow, re-announcing plans to encourage apprenticeships, the list goes on and on and gives the impression they have no clue as to what they should be doing."

I have the feeling he may be right!

Weatherspoons Drink Promotions

The BBC are reporting that JD Weatherspoons are offering beer at 99p a pint under a new promotion.  The promotion is apparently 'indefinite'.

On the one hand I should be welcoming the free market offering a less expensive commodity.  On the other hand it sends a very poor message about alcohol use.

We all enjoy alcohol and indeed I make part of my living through my business selling it at Rubyz.  However, one of the problems with alcohol misuse has become the freedom of its availability.  

Supermarkets are already selling it as a loss leader.  Now Weatherspoons are offering it at a price that simply can't make a profit for them, their assumption must be that those accompanying the customers buying the cheap beer will spend on their other products that do make a profit.

Alcohol sales need to be regulated, with a minimum per unit price invoked, for both 'on' sales (in pubs, bars and restaurants) and 'off' sales (in supermarkets and shops).  That's not going to stop the problem of binge drinking, it will however place a break on the ability to buy very large amounts of cheaply produced liquor for very little money. 

Empty Shops and Empty Pockets?

Now, some people might think that I'm a bit tight. (I prefer to think of myself as appropriately frugal). Anyway, I went shopping for a Christmas present today for one of my God Sons. We'd agreed not to see them until the New Year and I had, genuinely, not had time to find the present prior to Christmas.

I therefore spent a couple of hours at Castlepoint and the shopping centre on the old bus depot site opposite.

What was astounding was firstly how few people there were about, the car parks were busy but by no means full and the shops were equally busy but there were virtually no queues at the tills.

More surprising for me was the lack of stock on the shelves. Admittedly, we are at the end of a week in which there is little stock coming in to the stores, but even so there was a very limited choice of goods. This wasn't just the case in the electrical stores, but also in the food shops as well.

It's a poor augry for the coming year. Little money to spend, both by consumers and by retailers stocking their shelves will surely have a circular and knock on effect, one thing leading on to the other. It doesn't bode well and it proves how wrong the Government's policy of borrowing wildly to pay for tax cuts that have had little effect and to bail out the banks who continue to refuse to lend is.

Future 3000 in trouble

Apparently the Wednesday edition of the Daily Echo sold out.  This is largely due to the fact that Richard Carr was on the front page of the paper here.  

There appears to be a good deal of schadenfreude around Bournemouth and Poole at this news.

I don't share in it.  I know from bitter experience how hard anyone in business for themselves has to work in economic times like these.  I also know how difficult the decision to take the company in to administration must have been for its directors.  

I disagree with Richard Carr about very many things.  That's no reason to revel in his troubles, as some are doing.  He faces a difficult enough few months ahead attempting to keep his businesses afloat in such uncertain times.  As do we all.  He deserves our respect for creating a profitable business and our sympathy now that it has run in to problems.

I wish him and all his staff all the best.  Let's hope there is a way out of this situation for them.

The DVLA - nothing better to do?

My Dad went to get an MOT for his car today.

He went to a small local garage in a village near where they live. It's run by a father and son and provides an excellent service. The chaps are friendly, do the job while Dad waits and, best of all from Dad's point of view, have a good old chin wag with him while he is there.

It's the kind of personal service that doesn't make anyone astonishingly rich, but does ensure customer loyalty and therefore a regular income in the face of larger and often cheaper competitors.

Except today, when Dad went there he was told very apologetically by the father of the pair, that he couldn't really stop to talk until the MOT inspection was completed. The reason for this was that, at the commencement of the inspection, the garage log in to the VOSA computer. They then have a certain time to complete the inspection. If they take longer than this allotted time, the VOSA ring them up and start quizzing them about why the inspection has take too long and what is wrong the with the car.

What happens if there is an issue which needs discussion? What happens if the person doing the inspection is called away?

The whole thing seems mad to me. What possible benefit is there for the VOSA to insist that an MOT inspection take a certain amount of time? More importantly, who is paying for the person to sit on the end of the phone calling these various garages to enquire why the inspection is taking so long?

Talk about the Nanny state sticking its nose in to everyone's business, this really is an example of bureaucracy gone mad.

Update: Thanks to the person who posted the comment to put me right about the difference between the VOSA and the DVLA and to suggest the garage talk to them. Quite right, I'll get Dad to mention it, however it still seems draconian to me; an intrusion and a waste of resources.

BIC Wedding Fayre

I spent this afternoon helping man the Rubyz stall at the Wedding Exhibition at the BIC. In fact I didn't need to do that much really, Dame Kitty was a draw in her own right and I was lucky if I could get a word in edgeways!

I never knew that weddings were SUCH a huge business. It's the first time we have exhibited there, this is only the first day of two and we have already taken bookings for over 500 people, filling up what available space we had on Saturday evenings throughout April and May.

The range of services and products on offer is astounding. It's a real testament to the ingenuity and entrepreneurialism of people that they should develop businesses that cover such a diverse range of services.

Talking to other business owners there it was apparent though that everyone is suffering under the burden of extra regulation, both directly and indirectly applied by government.

I heard more than once that people were wondering whether it was worth continuing with their businesses and more often that they were no longer keen to employ people because of the regulation and additional cost concerned.

We must make moves quickly to begin to simplify legislation for businesses, take away some of their tax burden and make it easier and more flexible for them to employ people. Rescinding our introduction of the EU's Social Chapter would be a great start.

The place was packed and the organisation was clearly very professional. It's success is a huge credit to the BIC staff and Bournemouth Borough Council's events team.

This week news broke that the Conservative Party would not be coming to Bournemouth for our conference next year. I have to admit to having known this for a couple of weeks. What is heartening is that we will be returning, and more importantly for the staff of the Council and BIC, I know the party chairman has sent a message to them making it clear that the decision in no way reflects on their service, professionalism and the standard of the venue.

No casino for Bournemouth

So, the Super Casino is going to Manchester and the South Western casinos are going to be situated in Southampton, Bath and Torbay.

Am I disappointed? Truthfully, No.

As a Bournemouth Councillor, I voted for the application for the casino to proceed largely because I was persuaded of the tourism and employment benefits of the wider development which may accompany it. I remained opposed to it being situated on the corner of Bath Road and Westover Road and being linked to the Pavilion and the news that it won't be going ahead is no real blow.

It would certainly have been a draw, but the social consequences for the area could have been severe and the scheme did not have public approval, despite some councillors and officials trying to spin the opinion soundings differently.

Competition Commissioners and supermarket chains

The Competition Commission are carrying out a report in to UK Supermarkets. The initial report is about to be published, a full report is due out next year. The BBC have the full story here.

Publicity is concentrating on the supermarkets holding on to 'land banks'; land they have bought for possible development but that they have not begun building on as yet.

For me a much more important issue is the effect that supermarkets are having on local retail markets. The Commission is looking in to how large supermarkets can effect the economy of their surrounding area, with particular reference to grocery shopping and local shops and shopping centres.

I welcome their investigation, I've blogged before about my concern over the power of out of town stores to neutralise smaller businesses in their surrounding area and local town centres, thereby forming a monopoly.

Support for small town, suburban and village businesses is going to be vital if we are to truly retain and create sustainable and vibrant local communities.

Lessons from Reviving Small Town America

The Christmas and New Year edition of The Economist had a fascinating article about attempts to revive small town America.

The problem is perfectly summarized in this paragraph:

Most small towns are still struggling, as a tour of boarded-up Main Streets and closed John Deere dealerships in the rural heartland will show. “Outmigration” has drained their populations over the past century. Agri-businesses have replaced small farms, and shopping malls an hour away (not to mention Wal-Mart and the internet) have undercut local shops. In many small towns only old people are for the most part left, as there is little to attract the young. Just 17% of America's population today lives outside metropolitan areas. Some surviving small towns have simply become bedroom communities for large cities, and have lost their character.

Thank goodness we don't face that kind of problem as yet and probably never will to the same extent. However, the movement of younger people in to our larger towns, forced there not least by the cost of housing (a subject I'll come back to in a separate post later), is having the knock on effect of removing new businesses and entrepreneurialism from our smaller towns and villages.

The really interesting part of the Economist article was here:

Some organisations are trying to help small towns along. One of the most important is the National Trust Main Street Centre, which aims to revitalise central streets by preserving historic buildings. Volunteers staff its local branches; most states have them. Funding is local, but the national organisation provides training and know-how.

One of the biggest challenges, according to Doug Loescher, the centre's director, is that many towns have been trying for years to revive themselves, with little success. “There's usually a lot of scepticism that another approach can really make a difference,” he says. Local officials also have to realise that downtowns have changed for ever. Clothing and hardware stores will never return to the town centre. Rather, says Mr Loescher, restaurants and bars, government offices and even private houses should be given a place near Main Street.

State aid for small entrepreneurs also helps. Montana, which has a notably populist governor, has been pushing especially hard. In its last legislative session, the state legislature made even the tiniest of businesses eligible for aid. But Chuck Hassebrook, executive director of the Centre for Rural Affairs in Nebraska, says it is expensive to provide small business development services in rural America, even if there is a good return on investment. Rather appealingly, he proposes that the federal government shave 5% off its enormous farm-subsidy programme—which goes mostly to mega-farms—and give it to small businesses. “You could quadruple what the federal government spends on entrepreneurial rural development,” he says.

You can read the full story here.

I think there are lessons in that statement for the UK, for farm subsidy payments read the Common Agricultural Policy. Funding for start up and small business in rural areas would bring dynamism and life back in to our rural and suburban economy. There are very many people doing great things in business in Dorset. Just think how much more they could do, how many more people they could employ, how much more money they could inject in to our local economy if they were given a little more help.

I think that's a goal worth fighting for, I'm committed to doing that.

Can a company grow too large?

Jonathan Sheppard, who runs the excellent Tory Radio site, has alerted me to this article in last weekend’s Sunday Times.

It suggests that half of all the new retail space created in the UK last year was taken by Tesco. That’s over 2 million square feet of shopping space, more than the entire Bluewater shopping centre.

Can that be healthy? For competition and for consumers? As a Tory you might expect me to be open to the market and accept that this is what market forces dictate. Well, in this case I’m not.

The increasing dominance of out of town shopping centres concerns me greatly. I believe that we must safeguard our town centres and most importantly local shopping centres. Not to do so is to be very short sited.

At least Tesco, through their Tesco Metro network, seem to recognise this too. However, in Fordingbridge where my parents live, they immediately disposed of the post office from the One Stop store they took over. It concerns me that, in this case at least, they put retail space and therefore profit before community need.

Providing easily accessible local facilities, not least shops and of course post offices, is essential to the sustainability of communities. In time, as environmental and energy conservation issues discourage us from such frequent travel, these facilities will be vital. We need to look to the long term and find ways by which we can support and protect local shops and shopping centres.

It's a theme I'm passionate about and to which I'll be returning in the coming weeks.