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One of the reasons I loved Leicester was because it still had a vibrant city centre. Even while I lived there however, more and more retail was focussed on out of town shopping parks. Including - and especially - the Big Four supermarkets, one of which is Asda (a division of Walmart).
One of the reasons I now love Greenwich is because there isn't an awful ot of land available for this sort of thing. It's London, space is at a premium and even though I have a big Sainsbury's and a big Asda within walking distance, they are nowhere near the category-killer size of those in Leicester.
And there are so many small independent places still thriving in the urban centre. Given that this is a tourist destination there are a few more places selling ships and telescopes rather than speciality cheeses and freshly ground coffee. But the market makes up for that. And I am ?15? minutes from the London markets anyway.
I understand that Government control might be unpalateable when it comes to success and achievement. But in this country at least, most of those in the corridors of power haven't been to a big supermarket in years. Some safeguarding of the specialist and independent retailer is surely reasonable. Otherwise we end up with a situation where the hoi polloi queue for their sliced white bread, while the ruling classes get their hand baked ciabatta delivered along with the brown envolope of money that ensure the next supermarket is built on greenbelt land.
Following on the IoTD castle image debate - I believe some safeguarding is necessary to make life better across the board. I know there's a fine line, but might is right and dog eat dog will surely end up in unpleasantness somewhere in the near future.
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