To think parking charges kill city centres?

[shakingstevensfan]

We had a nice day out today and on the way home decided to stop in the city centre and get a cheap meal. We parked the car and went to pay, but the price of parking was £2.40 an hour - this applied up till 10 pm. This meant the minimum we would spend on parking was £4.80, but could easily be £7.20.
If I had been going for an expensive meal that would be fine. But the city centre is full of fairly cheap chain restaurants that are nothing special. So we got back in the car and drove instead to a retail park where we went to the exact same place we had planned to go, but with free parking.
It just amazes me that councils know city centres are dying but they still put people off actually using them.
We have not been in the city centre for a year and won't go back again unless it is for something special.

We had a little shopping centre not far away with a multi storey that was free to park.
It had the usual range of charity shops but also had clothes shops a new look, boots, wilkos loads of useful places. It had a lovely indoor market hall which was always busy. The council decided to start charging for parking. Not cheap either. they charged city centre rates.
The market has closed now, half the shops are gone.
It was handy to pop in get a few bits have a nosey around and grab a coffee and cake in the small cafes. but no one does that anymore when you have to add a fiver parking on top.
If you are going shopping then you might as well go into town and pay the same parking rates there but with vastly more shopping choices.

@reesewithoutaspoon that is sad to hear. Everywhere has a maximum parking charge they will bear. The cheaper the shops and the more alternatives, the less likely people will pay to go there.

I actually don’t mind paying for parking in city centres if it’s half decent to visit. Still works out cheaper than getting the train, parking at your local station, catching coronavirus onboard the train and just saves the overall hassle. In Birmingham - I can park somewhere very central for only £4 all day which I think is extremely reasonable for such a good location! To get the train from my local station and pay to park would be £10! It does not cost me £6 in petrol to drive to Birmingham and back. I’d rather be sat in my car in traffic listening to my podcast than standing up on a busy train service shoulder-to-shoulder with some smelly stranger next to me . That’s just me personally but I understand everyone is different however there is a town near me and it has such a depressing shopping centre. I would never pay to park there as I don’t think it’s worth whatever it is they charge as the shops there are bog-standard high street shops.

Retail parks are excellent! I love the way I can park right next to the shops and can browse leisurely without worrying about parking. My local retail park has some pretty good shops so I don’t really need to pop into Birmingham as much as I used to.

Cities will have to revolutionize themselves once this pandemic is over and commuters won’t be going back in numbers pre-March 2020. Maybe they’ll allow concessions for electric cars?

@Zorinindustries

This is also one of the reasons why so many department stores are closing. They are based in High streets. If I want to buy something bulky, (eg some saucepans, or a 30 piece dinner service, or school shoes and trainers for 3 DC) I'd rather drive than drag it on a bus, especially if I had toddlers, pushchairs etc to deal with. If I can't drive or park in town, I'll go to a retail park.

This! 100% agree! I firmly believe John Lewis didn’t work out in Birmingham as it was above the station and I imagine most of their footfall was from railway passengers. John Lewis in Cribbs Causeway is an excellent example of where a department store can thrive - free parking & car park is very close to the store.

I agree- I hate paying parking so will drive to retail parks to avoid paying it. It would take me nearly an hour to get to the town centre by public transport (30 minute walk to train station, 10 minute train then 10 minute walk at the other side) which if it’s raining or if I want to buy loads of stuff isn’t feasible- it’s a 20 minute drive.

They’ve started doing free parking on a Sunday though which is great! We went this Sunday for a walk round the shops and got some lunch out which we wouldn’t have done if we’d have had to pay parking.