Busy High Streets

[bonami]

When down in Inverness last week and on the road home I called in along Alness . Must say the place was full of life good selection of shops not many boarded up not many charity shops and even less fast food outlets. Alness is a lot nearer Inverness than Wick and is smaller. Most of the smaller towns between Inverness and Aberdeen are similar and are fairly busy with large shopping centers on both sides not forgeting Elgin. All these small towns had retail parks close at hand for many years and there seems room for the local man. What happened in the Far North.[disgust]

[AfternoonDelight]

Bonami, I have been wracking my brains about this and I must say I am no closer to an answer...

I think there is an apathy and a negative attitude up here to new things. Again, I am not generalising before people jump on me, but many times i have heard suggestions for new shops (esp in wick) and the reply has been "oh that'll never last" or " who wants a ..... shop here"...

One of my friends wanted to open a coffe shop/delicatesen up here a couple of years ago and looked into renting a place. The rents in most empty shops were way too high for a start up business so maybe that is a factor.

It's such a shame - when you go to places like Kirkwall or Alness, as you said, the places are buzzing, I see no reason why we shouldn't be like that as well, but the locals need to be behind it...