THE VIEW FROM THE RETAIL TRENCHES

What is it that makes one town or city a bustling place and another into a relative backwater? It is, of course, trade, and it was ever thus. Truro may have lost its shipping and mining heritage, but this has been replaced by a thriving retail sector plus a very active business quarter. In addition, it still has all the major banks represented here: another reason why it is Cornwall’s major retail centre.

Notwithstanding this, the traders in the city are facing a perfect storm of adverse factors such as competition from online, crippling business rates, the recent changes in the Budget, expensive car parking and now a major reduction of parking places due to the problems at Moorfield, together with the loss of facilities at the Pydar development. It’s no wonder the average trader says, “Give us a break for goodness’ sake”.

As traders and a commercial property landlords, we have been in Truro since the early 80’s.  In that time, very few people have asked me (or my late father) for our thoughts on the decisions which affect Truro’s businesses, and I mean at Council level.   I know that Truro BID (Business Improvement District) does a fantastic job generally. and sends out occasional surveys, but that is only at BID’s level, and I feel that Cornwall Council and, to a lesser extent the City Council, don’t really know what is going on with grass-roots businesses in Truro

The idea of pedestrianising the centre of Truro has been thrashed around for a long time with arguments on both sides. but it is a pretty momentous decision, and I ask myself, would it really work?  So, perhaps, we can compromise and use some of the Towns Fund money to install rising bollards on the roads that lead to the centre of Truro, so on weekends and events such as Armistice Day and Xmas shopping events, the centre can be closed very quickly and easily without the need for Traffic Marshalls and fencing, etc. which is always cited by the Council as being expensive and time consuming to arrange.

My fear with the Towns Fund money is that in 10 years’ time, we’ll all be scratching our heads thinking, “Where did all that money go”?.  It needs to serve as a legacy for Truro for years and years to come.  

It’s quite understandable that the two Councils should seek to maximise income from special events in Lemon Quay and Boscawen Street. but not at the expense of existing traders. I have concerns about the number of markets/events that happen on the Quay, I feel it’s surpassed saturation point.  Even though they do drive footfall into Lemon Quay, the sales in the surrounding shops often decrease and some traders who have similar businesses, such as Greengrocers and Gift Shops, have found it so devastating that their businesses have collapsed.  The frequency of the outdoor markets has wiped out their profit margin.   Twice a week throughout the year is becoming exceedingly difficult for our traders.

Yes, an additional shopper drawn into the city by the various markets is always welcome, but a pound spent there by a regular visitor is a pound less spent in the normal shops,

It’s all a question of balance

As an example of this, a “late night shopping” event is always followed by a retail hangover the following morning. Of course, the former is welcomed by retailers but one should at least be aware of the latter.

When we have pop-ups in Tinners Court, as we sometimes do, we have a duty of care towards our tenants in the Pannier Market not to allow too much direct competition with them.  I do ask whether the same duty of care is being employed by the two councils.

They need to be more mindful of the damage to full time shops and businesses by having so many pop-up competitors on their doorstep.  I have brought this to the Town Clerk’s attention on a few occasions now and he has raised it in a council meeting.  We await confirmation if our opinion is heard or whether it falls on deaf ears.

Why should the craft market run throughout so much of the year? It has aggrieved so many traders to find out that there was a weekly Friday Craft Market for the majority of the year, which almost immediately took business away from many small shops in Truro.  With a proper consultation with local businesses, a more thoughtful event-type of monthly market would likely have been suggested and would be more welcome.  Instead of a weekly hit on all craft-type of businesses, a monthly varied event specialising in “pet products, or eastern foods, vegan events, or festival wear, etc.” would result in greater interest and be less damaging to one specific type of industry” 

The “Farmers’ Market” is not what it once was, the original idea being local businesses being invited to sell their locally produced items.  For example, the ‘Farmers’ market’ greengrocer imports a percentage of their stock, and is thus not even totally British, let alone Cornish!   Unfortunately, the Pannier Market greengrocer just couldn’t compete with Wednesday and Saturday shoppers filling their baskets twice a week outside, thinking they were buying local, and her sales just plummeted.  Do we really need Farmers’ Markets twice a week?

Regarding the events on Lemon Quay, some events warrant marquees – some don’t.  I feel that the Fat Stock show and the Food Festival (which was not a great success this year using the huts) are best in a traditional marquee setting because they create a better sense of community and traders and the public are protected from the elements, whilst others such as Xmas markets are better in the wooden sheds, as it creates better movement of shoppers over the Quay.   it might also be better to use smaller Marquees occasionally.

A simple idea, why not create a drivers’ room for coach drivers?  An area where they can meet, relax, have some refreshments and maybe watch TV and chat with other drivers, whilst their passengers are all shopping in Truro for the day.  The money could easily build a small room in the corner of the coach park, with toilet facilities.  If you make the drivers comfortable, they’ll want to come to Truro, and they’ll all be bringing 60+ people who are willing and able to spend money.  This is another example of where some of the Towns Fund could be spent.

Whilst on this subject – the idea of “Transport for Cornwall” buses taking up half of the valuable spaces within the coach park is wrong.  This was done by Cornwall Council, seemingly with no consultation with anybody in Truro. For example, the visit by American tourists this year from a cruise ship, organised by Visit Cornwall, was a fiasco as they were unable to offload their passengers in the Coach Park and were reduced to parking on the main road and causing traffic chaos.  It was ridiculous.

Truro is a unique and thriving city and it is so important we don’t lose focus on that.  It is the small shops that make Truro what it is, and many of them are currently struggling.  We need to protect our local independent businesses but a lot of the decisions which affect the city -planned events and Fund’s money ideas – are already made by the councils and are never really open to debate.

John Roach – Vitalbirch Ltd

With over 40 years of experience in the retail sector, the family business now focuses on property letting, including the Pannier Market and other commercial properties in Truro.