to ask if my town is typical.

[Upamountain43]

The town i live in has been a bit run down for decades and it definitely would never be classed as anything but a working class town.

A couple of years ago the almost unthinkable happened and our McDonalds closed down.

Driving through the centre yesterday i noticed our Costa has now shut down.

We do still have them at out of town shopping areas but no longer in our town centre.

Its not that I'm shedding any tears about these companies going - but it has made me wonder if this happening everywhere? I think it must show how dire things are for our town centres now or is our town just an anomaly?

I don’t think it’s unusual. Our McDonalds closed down a few years ago and the one in our closest city centre did too. We do have a Costa for now but we don’t have much in our town centre at all, no clothes chains apart from New Look which is also closing down.

Unfortunately this is normal for the vast majority of towns in the UK.
Town Centres and 'The High Street' are dying out.
From observations I have found that towns that focus on 'stuff to do' (places like soft play centres, art facilities etc) rather than retail in their town centres seem to be rising from the ashes a bit.

There's nothing much in our town (South West) apart from a Costa and McDonalds. Lost the M&S a few years back and the M&S in Broadmead central Bristol which has been there forever is closing now. I suppose it's on line shopping caused it but it's very sad.

McDonald's has been gradually closing down it's town centre branches for years. Unusual to see a Costa close though. They seem to be everywhere.

In our town there are still next, river island and primark. 1 McDonald’s closed but one remains open. So many boarded up shops. The market place gets worse each week. It’s depressing to visit so we don’t which adds to the problem! I don’t know what the answer is 🤷🏻‍♀️

When we moved here eight years ago, the nearby town was busy and vibrant. Most of the shops have gone now, except for restaurants, cafes and charity shops. Last week I saw that the bridal shop is closing. There was a massive Topshop and Topman, which is now a branch of The Ivy.

McDonalds, Starbucks, Pizza Hut are all in out of town locations.

I live in 'nice' town and while we still have the Costa and other chains, the independents and smaller chain shops like Monsoon have closed and others look as if they haven't got long to go. It used to be a lovely shopping centre but it looks quite run down, comparatively, now.

It's so sad to see what's happening to our town centres now.

We're in South London and have got two new chicken shops, a Starbucks, a Costa within the last sixth months. Independents have shut down and been replaced by chains basically.

Our town centre has 2 McDonald’s and 2 Costa’s. It has changed a lot since covid hit though. Prior to that it was a very busy (almost a destination) shopping centre. But a large employer -1000’s of staff, centred in the town has moved to wfh and the town centre is quite grim on weekdays. Lots of higher end shops have shut or moved out of town and there are loads of empty units now. However, go to the nearby garden centre shopping village and the place is heaving. Lots of older people with plenty of money having their needs met there. We also have a couple of huge malls with free parking within a reasonable distance whereas town centre parking is extortionate. Do wonder how it will end up.

It's possibly that those who still have these things are unusual now yes.

I live in a tourist destination so things are good cafe wise, some chains, all the independents etc and they all do good business. We have the 'posher' clothes shops as well. We are lucky in this day and age I think:

Sounds typical sadly. I live in the county town and it's dire. All the big names are leaving the town centre and setting up on the outskirts. The worst bit is that there is limited public transport, so if you don't drive, you can't get there.
Our town centre is mainly coffee shops, vape shops, nail bars, and those funny little mobile phone shops that also sell the popping toys.

2 local Costas have shut in different high streets near me. An independent shop has popped up in one but I think that the second space will be harder to fill, it's bigger and more expensive.

My town is quite run down but the pubs and restaurants thrive. It's the clothes shops that are disappearing. There's literally nowhere to buy clothes apart from the Asda and Tesco superstores.

We have a Costa, McDonalds, KFC, Subway, Greggs and independent restaurants, cafés, pubs, takeaways and bars. They all seem to do well! And a Whsmith that is still standing 😂

My hometown up north, which is a perennial on the most deprived lists, has had two new McDonalds opened in recent years so now there's three, plus a new BK and no end of coffee shops everywhere you turn, most of them busy whenever I go back. There is a big Costa there, and the one in my IL's smaller town in the south-west always has queues outside, but the Costa in my London suburb has closed (although the indie places seem to be doing fine so could just be Costa).

I think these are strange times, where different places/firms emerged from the lockdowns in different ways, so some are visibly spiralling as the rot has set in while others have become much busier as people have flocked back. It isn't a great sign if McDs are closing though. There was a piece in the press today about poorer families using them all evening to save on energy costs, buying their DC a Happy Meal and staying for hours to use the warmth, light, free wifi etc. So sad that McD has to be the haven because the gov has let them down.

I've not known a McDonald's to shut down near me ,they are always packed out especially at weekends and the drive throughs.
Our town has a space where Dorothy Perkins and Burton's used to be and one or two independent places and a travel branch that all went over lockdown. Mostly everything else seems to be ok.
The bigger town to me has a few more empty shops and is a bit more rundown , but it's many fast food restaurants and coffee shops are still there. It's the spaces for Debenhams etc that has left the biggest holes.

The other big town the other direction to me I used to go to for large m and s there , it had two floors and a large BHS.
Once they all shut down three years ago I haven't bothered at all with it even though there are other clothes stores there ( like primark) and next which have survived ( and w h smiths , which seem to survive everywhere)

The town where I live (SW) seems to be bucking the trend - we did lose Costa to an out-of-town site (next to the new McDonalds) but the town centre is mostly small independent shops - only chains we have are WHSmith (how I have no idea!), Greggs, Coop, Asda, Waitrose, Boots, Superdrug. The rest are independent including butchers, cafes, charity shops, green grocer, Zero Waste shop, hardware, sweet shop, gift shops, deli's, etc. The main thing we're missing is clothes shops. Oh & a PO & banks.

The couple of towns I am in between have been adding McDonalds! Refurbing the town centre ones and adding much larger ones on the outskirts of towns with drive thru's.

Our boots is always buzzing , yet you can get most of the things they sell elsewhere much cheaper ( savers , Superdrug )
It's like w h Smith, it just seems to just survive everything!

Stockport is our nearest town and despite being one of the more affluent Greater Manchester Boroughs, its like a ghost town. Poor town planning and design have contributed but there are huge empty gays where BHS, then Debenhams and now M and S have pulled out. Next has gone and the big Sainsburies. The two main shopping arcades are full of empty units.

I'm not sure there's an answer- there's loads of out of centre retail parks nearby with easy parking plus Manchester for a more glamorous experience. I think maybe repurposing ton centres to give a better mix of retail, leisure and housing is the answer.

Gaps- not Gays!!!!

I find that parking costs tend to dictate where I shop too ; the town parking has doubled over the years and you can't get a space easily as people who work there have to use them too. Plus one car park will start to be used for new flats that have gone up and we have more new places so more people fighting for spaces.
Out of town retail parks are usually 3hours max free ( or just free) and most supermarkets are the same too. So your not on the clock if you want to shop then eat or have a mooch.
Town parking can be stressful

Fourth industrial revolution. Move to digitalisation of life; digital identity, loss of personal property, renting via online, food packages via online, medical history online, reduce human interaction and population.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sacrifice_zone#:~:text=A%20sacrifice%20zone%20or%20sacrifice,unwanted%20land%20use%20(LULU).

my childhood town is a working class West Yorkshire town, and sounds similar to yours. McDonald’s shut down about 10 years ago, replaced by a bargain discount store. We have Costa and it’s quite popular but there are no independent coffee shops left. WH Smith’s and new look just shut down so we don’t have any high street shops left. Lots of charity shops, discount shops, e cigs, money lenders and various European supermarkets

My home town in West Yorkshire is literally nothing but charity shops, one workwear shop, a virtually empty market, a shopping centre with loads of closed units. A few coffee shops. That and a million takeaways - some of which never, ever have any customers but mysteriously stay in business and are open about 10 hours a day 🤔- and a massive and very visible drug problem.