[Junk Box Nick]

I think my joke misfired slightly - 99p being 1p cheaper than a quid - i.e we're cheaper than cheap!

I've resolved next time I go to count the charity shops, 'uncles', coffee shops (one has just gone - bust I'm reliably told), banks, betting shops and vacant shops and then see what's left. The town centre pub is boarded up. WH Smith remains but it is like entering the Marie Celeste and has an auto-checkout which almost seems to be operating like an honesty box! It looks like it operates on one member of staff. On each visit I'm amazed to find the shop still trading - especially in the face of Amazon book sales.

There was a sizeable white goods shop but that went last year and is vacant. There is another small shop that sells fridges and cookers. Someone opened a toy shop a while ago but that didn't last long. I bet that poor sap is still lumbered with rent and rates.

The old Woolworth now sells soft furnishings (I don't know how much business it does - I rarely see any customers) and houses the Post Office since the Crown Post Office was closed. (The PO was actually in a convenience store before that but that is boarded up.) Things go around in a cycle: In Victorian times often the Post Office was often an extra desk in a shop or some other business premises.

Unfortunately, the majority of the shops are in a 1960s mall type concrete complex which replaced the old buildings when the planners decided to destroy the character of the town and are not suitable for converting to residential. Best thing would be to knock it all down and start again. However, two 1970s office blocks are being turned into apartments.

Expect towns to consist of a supermarket alongside a much reduced high street that accommodates niche-market stores. However, if people start to live in town centres again it might make them less forbidding places at night.