A mate of mine down south been running his own little shop selling household goods and ornaments etc. He opened the business back in 2016 and after a couple of years of making little or no profit it finally started to be profitable. Then along comes covid and pushes him back a lot financially. But he was determined to fight through which he did and yet again he came out on top. Last couple of years have really boomed and he was doing extremely well....until the landlord informed him the lease would not be renewed at the end of June and he needed to vacate the premises by end of the month. He asked why and was told its because "The Range " is moving onto the site and part of the agreement is all small businesses that sold similar goods must move away or close down. Now he is frantically looking for a similar size shop to move to, parking is a major issue not like his current location which is easy parking for customers. Funny thing is the shop was left empty for 8 years before he took it on and nobody wanted it. That's loyalty for you not!!! Like I said to him " We’re just the little people "

Loyalty, Been removed from the Dictionary.

Thats a horror story i hope he gets sorted somewhere.

So do I Blue Thing is he has been to hell n back to get his own business up and running and is rightly proud as punch. He was unemployed for 1yr and was determined to start his own business. He is a grafter who works 6 days a week and a proper decent man who simply wants to earn a living for his family. I reckon these big companies are doing this all over the UK.

Supermarkets have been doing this for years they have wiped out all the local High Street small businesses, butchers, bakers, greengrocers etc. nothing new unfortunately.

really what do we all want. small independant traders or the big outlets that look all the same no matter where you live. honestly give me the former even if i have to pay a copper or two more for the priveledge. used to get my car spares from a paki guy with a little motor traders outlet. by owning cars that are not run of the mill he had a far better idea than bloody halfords have. another shop though now gone with a little help from the council by more painting on there roads stopping you parking even close to his shop. now its buying on line as i,m not giving halfords a single penny. remember if we do not use the little guy we,ll lose him.

Reminds me years ago when I couldn’t afford a decent motor, any spare parts were sourced from the scrapyard albeit some times you had to remove them yourself. I don’t think H&S would allow you to do that anymore, do any of the younger generation ever go to the scrapyard for spare parts nowadays ?

Thought SY were a thing of the past, Mores the pity.

they are still about but not in the same numbers or the types we think of back in the old days. used to love getting my hands dirty, scratched and being nettled nipping down for some bargains especially from the rarer old cars they thought they,d be lumbered with. never knew why but even the ones that just came in were hard to undo any nuts and bolts on unlike your own car from a similar year.

Don’t you have to pay for your car to be scrapped nowadays due to all the new regulations etc ?

add to that you get more for your scrap car now than you paid for a roadworthy one with a 12 months ticket on it a few years back. got £300 for a mitsubishi galant estate last year, just £200 less than we paid for it 5 years before. Thats what you call real depreciation.

looking back at the title of this thread, being over 6ft tall i do not see myself as one of the little people.

I scrapped one in 2001 and made a profit, but regs seem to change all the time.

Well that makes you a Big Little or a Little Big.

Ah but all these little people aren’t little. These are different little people….who aren’t little….and can be big.
I’m confused…I’ll have to lay down.

this is sounding more like a political speech from the two main partys.

Or it could be a Big Party and a Little Party.