Shop on the Prom

[wangi]

[Pal of Porty]

I never knew about - I would have been totally up for it!

[Porty]

Great idea!!

[Mark Cameron]

That is good news.

Also noticed in the EEN tonight that there is a govt. proposal to look at rates for empty high street units to try to revitalise High Streets....hopefully more good news to promote business into Porty.

W need to ensure PCC don't comment 'on our behalf' against any future proposals for new business without consultation having taken place first.

[Sceptic]

What does Portobello High Street have to attract shoppers?
Charity Shops?
One of the best butcher's in Scotland, although you can buy from Joe Findlay online.
A good wine shop, but again Fine Wines are available online.
An excellent Barber Shop in Bluto. A Very Good Fishing Tackle Store with Mike.
Little else. We have had a shop waiting for a fast food franchise for long enough.
What is there to attract someone from going to Morrison's, ASDA, Sainsbury's or Tesco?
Am I being true to form, sceptical?

[Mark Cameron]

Yes you jolly well are.....

I thik there are two strands to understand a way forward

1) What trades do locals want on their High Street and whow do we get more to shop locally.

2) I think we need to understand why people currently come to Porty or what is likely to bring future visitors here.

Is it the beach or is it something else? Seems to me its the beach and if that is the draw what are the services visitors are likely to want when here.

I'm not sure if there has ever been a study into this or whether we can find evidence from other successful seaside towns to demonstrate which traders are most successful?

[Pal of Porty]

Sceptic - I agree that there is tons of work to done to make Portobello more attractive but I think your list could have been expanded to add the following:

* A very good Fishmonger that has graced Porty High Street since the 1930's
* The new Victor Hugo deli, which was originally started in the 1940's
* In- House design
* Cove

[Makaveli]

You are forgetting Malvarosa which is excellent too.

[cocoa]

I read an interesting article a few weeks ago about the demise of the high street, the conclusion was that you need to offer something different, to be a destination shopping experience. I think in Portobello we are ideally placed to be able to do just that, instead of seeing the charity shops as a negative when you put them together with molly sugars, Maratha's attic, and Friday street add in some cool arty shops like cove, in house design and Annie and Bells some nice hip places to eat like victor hugos, the beach house, Malvarosa and the soon to arrive skylark, what begins to emerge is a mix very like stockbridge in the 80's. If I ruled the world I would try to get the charity shops to stop competing with each other and all have a specialism. What could be better than a day out searching for collectibles, clothes, and quirky one off bits of art, a nice lunch, a stroll along the prom, and pick up dinner at the same time from the excellent butchers, fishmongers or deli?

[regent]

Earthy, bluto's, williamsons, findlay's, wood wares, block buster, piza hut, cove, opticiansx2 chemist x 3 , card shop, Annie and belle, semi chem, scotmid, sweet shops 2, estate agent x 3, chiropodists, multiple hair dressers, range of cafe, take away, greggs, bike shop, fishing shop, nurseries, highland fling, cash brokers, swimming pool, Portovello, community centre, enjoyable, Joppa tennis courts, pits, golf club, wool shop, plumbers, decorators ,
pubs, sailing club, orcadia, cubs, bb's newsagents, florists, banks, indoor bowls, outdoor bowling clubs plus plus, Molly sugars, mart has attic, wine shop, bingo..........I getting bored the list is so long. I use all of the above except the bingo. Things are not bad in porty, there is room for improvement. Let's support these guys and hopefully others will follow. I didn't say wood wares I go in there at least weekly.

[regent]

I did say wood wares!

[Pal of Porty]

[fresian]

Reckon they could at least pull it forward onto the Prom itself and hide the broken up concrete. Although to be honest the prom itself could do with a bit of decent landscaping, possibly with some good feature lighting ( which I would be more than happy to design). So how about getting CEC or some other funding to encourage a bit of urban regeneration.

[Makaveli]

[regent]

Yes it was wine o'clock when I wrote it. Sorry bit OCD and OTT but I was feeling the porty magic!

[Mark Cameron]

Lovin your work Regent

[Silver Surfer]

Like the idea of the posters except they aren't hiding anything. Unfortunately! Help! We need a bigger fence.

[Lizzie]

I walked along the prom today to find the posters have gone - they have all been blown down and are lying in amongst all the rubble!

[Silver Surfer]

So we have more mess to live with at this end of the Prom! This is the popular end and is the worst looking giving visitors a bad idea of Portobello and the people who live here. Surely something more permanent is required?

[BeachBum]

The whole thing was half arsed.

Who was the mastermind of the scheme?

Im sure it looked good on paper, delivery not so good though.

[Lizzie]

[Grunk]

The issue is that it can't be developed, because no matter what the plans are a campaign group will sprout up against it.
The last plan, I think, was for a modest amount of housing, some greenspace and more shops.

but much better to have a vacant site. Same with the site at Baileyfield. we really need a place to keep old tyres.

[Maria]

Planning consent for flats was granted, so the site will be developed Grunk.

The mesh posters were meant to cope with the wind, but obviously the weather was a tad beyond the norm!

[Grunk]

Really, I didn't realise that, I thought there was still an issue with some of the flats being 5 storeys instead of 4 or something.

[Maria]

[Silver Surfer]

Can understand the Financial problems that probably exist now but does that mean the state of things are allowed to go on? Surely if a wall falls/is knocked down by the elements round ones property it is attended to and what of the rest of the wall - is it safe or will it be due for collapse with the next storm?