Worst I’ve known in 40 years
THIS time last year I talked about retail’s perfect storm of a weaker pound against the dollar, an archaic business rates system from the 1500s and the apprenticeship levy.
The government has done nothing in that time to help retailers weather that storm. It’s tougher than I have known it in 40 years in retail and we are fighting a magic porridge pot of challenges.
Physical retailers are getting it in the neck as the government fails to address the business rates problem, and the growth of online retail.
There was no “Ye Olde Online Bakery” 500 years ago – a bit different to our world now.
The Government is not listening or adapting. We can’t keep taxing the same shrinking pot and ignoring the pot that’s getting bigger. It has to be fair for all.
If we lose our high street, we lose our communities and we all suffer.
Do we want to live a purely virtual life? Because that’s where we’re heading if the government doesn’t create the correct environment for retailers and level the playing field, not just in business rates tax but through tax as a whole.
More research must be done on the environmental impact of extra fleets of delivery vans delivering small items.
Make it easier for people to shop on the high street, not harder.
What I’m saying is blindingly obvious. But however obvious it is, if someone is not prepared to listen, nothing will be done.