Rogered, Wilko, and out.

[Steamport Southport]

9 minutes ago, J. S. Bach said:

I remember that show, it was rather funny; sort of an early version of Stalag 13 (I know nothink!). There were e few military-based comedies over the years; McHales's Navy pops into mind for one.

 

I believe it was the only one that was really big in the UK, it was still being shown regularly until the 2000s. Phil Silvers was even in one of the Carry On movies!

 

None of the others even got a look in over here. Not even Hogan's Heroes. I'm unsure whether McHale's Navy was even shown in the UK even though Ernest Borgnine was a massive star.

 

Obviously MASH was huge.

 

 

Jason

[J. S. Bach]

I never cared much for M*A*S*H, no reason that I can remember now.

 

Edited September 18, 2023 by J. S. Bach
To correct a typo.

[didcot]

Our Wilko closes Tuesday I think. Always like the pick n mix screws, washers, bolts etc. But I had notice they and B & M don't do pva glue anymore. Our B & M is always under staffed on the tills. I've usually grown a beard by the time I get out!

[John M Upton]

Bognor's one closes on Sunday afternoon. It was always one of the poorer branches (in the old Woolworths building ironically), often out of stock of items, disinterested staff and massive queues for the tills.

 

Worthing and Horsham were far better branches, but a visit before the administration announcement to the latter showed lots of empty shelves, so I saw it coming, surprised how many didn't. 

 

Their range of tools and paint were good, I will miss those but the reality is high street retail is as good as dead.

[jjb1970]

20 hours ago, J. S. Bach said:

I never cared much for M*A*S*H*, no reason that I can remember now.

 

I thought the original movie was brilliant,  it was a lot darker and edgier than the TV series. I enjoyed the first seasons of the TV series but as tends to happen it became formulaic and more about in-jokes and providing comfort viewing to fans than the original satire and observational comedy.

[Bernard Lamb]

I was involved with setting up the distribuion centre in the erly 1990s.

It was a state of the art warehouse with a very efficient stock control system linked to some progressive ideas on marketing. It worked well, with a range of own brand products mixed with well known brand names. They seemed to be well aware of which lines to push and to watch the margins on different products.

As a customer I did find that some products were better than others, with garden stuff being cheap and cheerful when compared to other brands, but  paint being quite a bargain. Picture frames were also very reasonably priced with a versatile range of sizes. Although I found they cut down on these in recent years. 

My feeling is they got too greedy after the family split and sealed their own fate. One example of getting it very wrong was with the Christmas stuff. Always far too much left over. I bought several packs of lights when they were reduced to £5.

Sad to see them go as it will probably be the end for our local shopping centre. It will almost certainly take out a few of the other local shops.

Bernard

[Mallard60022]

2 hours ago, Bernard Lamb said:

I was involved with setting up the distribuion centre in the erly 1990s.

It was a state of the art warehouse with a very efficient stock control system linked to some progressive ideas on marketing. It worked well, with a range of own brand products mixed with well known brand names. They seemed to be well aware of which lines to push and to watch the margins on different products.

As a customer I did find that some products were better than others, with garden stuff being cheap and cheerful when compared to other brands, but  paint being quite a bargain. Picture frames were also very reasonably priced with a versatile range of sizes. Although I found they cut down on these in recent years. 

My feeling is they got too greedy after the family split and sealed their own fate. One example of getting it very wrong was with the Christmas stuff. Always far too much left over. I bought several packs of lights when they were reduced to £5.

Sad to see them go as it will probably be the end for our local shopping centre. It will almost certainly take out a few of the other local shops.

Bernard

Was that the Worksop one Bernard? I had the misfortune to work there in 2007 a few months before Christmas. 25 hours 5 days 8 till 1up in the Roof; splitting boxes and loading Cartons to go on the distribution roller things. Nice Colleagues, vile Supervisors; little Fascists in the main! Hopeless people skills and inflexible practices. Told them to stick their job just before Christmas as I didn't need it, being retired anyway!

Locally to Worksop they blame the Daughter of the family who took over recently and has driven the Group to the brink and now over the edge, whilst taking huge bonuses etc.

Shocking affair and Worksop loses hundreds of Jobs yet again.

Phil  

[Bernard Lamb]

1 hour ago, Mallard60022 said:

Was that the Worksop one Bernard? I had the misfortune to work there in 2007 a few months before Christmas. 25 hours 5 days 8 till 1up in the Roof; splitting boxes and loading Cartons to go on the distribution roller things. Nice Colleagues, vile Supervisors; little Fascists in the main! Hopeless people skills and inflexible practices. Told them to stick their job just before Christmas as I didn't need it, being retired anyway!

Locally to Worksop they blame the Daughter of the family who took over recently and has driven the Group to the brink and now over the edge, whilst taking huge bonuses etc.

Shocking affair and Worksop loses hundreds of Jobs yet again.

Phil  

That sound like the place Phil.

I was being diplomatic in saying the family split.  She does seem to be the one who was very much involved in the change of direction. She however had a parachute and a safety net, while several thousand others do not.

Bernard

[Pete the Elaner]

6 hours ago, John M Upton said:

Bognor's one closes on Sunday afternoon. It was always one of the poorer branches (in the old Woolworths building ironically), often out of stock of items, disinterested staff and massive queues for the tills.

 

Worthing and Horsham were far better branches, but a visit before the administration announcement to the latter showed lots of empty shelves, so I saw it coming, surprised how many didn't. 

 

Their range of tools and paint were good, I will miss those but the reality is high street retail is as good as dead.

 

You are the first I can see who has mentioned the real problem. Too much high street trading has been lost to internet sales.

There may be some things which are better to get right away but shops cannot always survive on these alone.

[melmerby]

Have a look at exactly how many Wilko & other companies Lisa Joanne Wilkinson, has her fingers in:

https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/officers/PAOoASEnCEt89zcOVoeuuHTnfFY/appointments

 

And the role she plays

Edited September 15, 2023 by melmerby

[melmerby]

9 minutes ago, Pete the Elaner said:

You are the first I can see who has mentioned the real problem. Too much high street trading has been lost to internet sales.

It would be better if they were their own internet sales but apparently even they were underperforming.

Edited September 15, 2023 by melmerby

[melmerby]

11 minutes ago, Pete the Elaner said:

 

You are the first I can see who has mentioned the real problem. Too much high street trading has been lost to internet sales.

There may be some things which are better to get right away but shops cannot always survive on these alone.

Except I mentioned it on Wednesday🙂

[The Johnster]

They seem to be regarded as a high street successor to Woolworth's, which is a culture shock to me, as my local Wilko (Cardiff Colchester Avenue) is very much away from what I think of as high street shopping, tucked away behind a Sainsbury's on a retail park/trading estate off Newport Road a long way from the city centre or even any of the local shopping streets.  I could see the rot starting to set in about five months ago when the floor area of this shop was halved by placing a temporary wall across it.  I always found the staff very helpful and friendly, and feel sorry for them, but this shop was never crowded and of the dozen or so tills I don't think I ever saw more than four in use even at xmas!  I was unaware of there executive managment issues and family politics! 

 

There's a B&M just up the road at Rhymney Bridge, which is next to a Home Bargains that I frequently visit despite there being a smaller HB nearer to me, so I will use that for my DIY shopping.  The reason I use the larger further away HB is complex, but rooted in the Aldi next door to the smaller one.  I was previously in the habit of doing most of my shop in small HB and Aldi, but since last xmas, Aldi has become a 'mare.  I think they got a new manager in, and he's going places, the sooner the better; empty shelves, boxes strewn across the floor, items mis-priced, a general mess; the staff are visibly stressed and on edge.  The 'trug-on-wheels' horrors that replaced the baskets were the last straw, why shoud someone my age who has to look after his back have to bend down to floor level to load the checkout belt or lift a heavy trug and have to reach over the top of it.  I hate these things, they show complete contempt for the paying customers!  The final final straw about a month ago was finding no manned tills open and having to use the self-service checkouts, which always require help from staff when I use them.  The staff helping was clearly most put out by my needing help; enough; to quote Grytpype-Thynne from the Goons, I shall take my trade and malnutrition elsewhere! 

 

So I have switched allegience to Lidl on Colchester Avenue, twice the distance from home, over the road from Sainsbury's, round the corner from Pets For Homes when I want to buy tropical fish food or the occasional fish, and I now use the bus to get to the HB at Rhymney Bridge, three times the distance from home, stone's throw from NHY581's place, and walk back to Lidl from there.  Takes longer, but the bigger HB has more stuff with an M&S next door if I want the good stuff, and the Lidl is a much more relaxed and pleasant environment than the aforementioned Aldi at similar prices, and, again, bigger with a better variety of stock.  It has the dreaded trugs, but also some very convenient small trollies, and I can get a bus home if I'm getting tired (yay Welsh Assembly Government and free bus passes) or it's raining.  None of it is very pleasant in bad weather, as this is edge of town retail park/trading estate territory, bleak, ugly, open, traffic-noisy, fumes-ridden, and set up for people with cars, not me, but that's part of the roller coaster ride that makes being poor such fun, thank you so much ex-wife and best mate she f*cked (literally) off with, and costly divorce that wrecked my life...  Mind, I don't half miss him!

[Michael Hodgson]

10 minutes ago, The Johnster said:

They seem to be regarded as a high street successor to Woolworth's, which is a culture shock to me, as my local Wilko (Cardiff Colchester Avenue) is very much away from what I think of as high street shopping, tucked away behind a Sainsbury's on a retail park/trading estate off Newport Road a long way from the city centre or even any of the local shopping streets.

 

That's unusual for them.  One of the reasons being given for their failure to maintain sales is that most of their shops were still in old fashioned High Streets with excessive business rates and nowhere to park - which doesn't help if you're trying to sell bulky/heavy stuff like sacks of compost.  Their competitors for that sort of product are on retail parks with plenty of space to park and usually more reasonable rent & rates

[melmerby]

1 hour ago, Michael Hodgson said:

One of the reasons being given for their failure to maintain sales is that most of their shops were still in old fashioned High Streets with excessive business rates and nowhere to park - which doesn't help if you're trying to sell bulky/heavy stuff like sacks of compost

Except the high street shops are often small and only sell such things as household goods. Maybe also extension leads, seeds and other small items..

There used to be a single unit shop at the Maypole Birmingham,(next door to a Halfords).

There's no way you would get a bag of compost there.

https://maps.app.goo.gl/NL4BtsBSCFDFAVox8

Both went years ago

It is now a Bargain Buys and the former Halfords is still vacant:

https://maps.app.goo.gl/HTvhMSHRjZTLBuZ96

 

Meanwhile a couple of miles away on the same road is/was this equally small store (A former MEB branch):

https://maps.app.goo.gl/hLDb7XFL9A9RktLq9

 

Meanwhile opposite is a large Poundland in a former Woolies and another about 200m away in a former Co-op department store.

And in the other direction was a Poundstretcher, although I think that has recently closed.

 

 

Edited September 15, 2023 by melmerby

[37114]

12 hours ago, Bernard Lamb said:

That sound like the place Phil.

I was being diplomatic in saying the family split.  She does seem to be the one who was very much involved in the change of direction. She however had a parachute and a safety net, while several thousand others do not.

Bernard

There was also a long standing relationship with a Transport provider who I recall was related by marriage. When the company I worked for tendered for the Transport I was asked to do the analysis to support our bid. I couldn't get anywhere near the amount of trailers they had, my work coming in with 400 trailers less. A quick look through the document from Wilkinson showed why... They were paying a cost per trailer per week so the answer to any problem re stock or cage storage was "We will give you another trailer". Both Worksop and Magor DCs were easily identified on Google maps as there were trailers everywhere.

[kevinlms]

It sounds like Bunnings did the right thing in abandoning the British market. 

Any visit to a centre in Oz has customers everywhere. 

 

Must the the sausage sizzle provided by community groups!

[jjb1970]

In the case of Bunnings I don't think their failure had anything to do with the British retail market, much more that their product wasn't adapted to the local market and people preferred alternatives which were tailored to what local customers expected. Especially when their offering completely ripped up the Homebase model, which seemed to have made its own niche with an emphasis on stuff like furnishings.

[37114]

1 hour ago, jjb1970 said:

In the case of Bunnings I don't think their failure had anything to do with the British retail market, much more that their product wasn't adapted to the local market and people preferred alternatives which were tailored to what local customers expected. Especially when their offering completely ripped up the Homebase model, which seemed to have made its own niche with an emphasis on stuff like furnishings.

2 of my current team are ex Argos/Homebase and said pretty much that. Massive outdoor kitchens/BBQ with high price points sell well in Australia but are distinctly more niche here...

[jjb1970]

I remember looking at some of the BBQ grills and outdoor products in Bunnings and wondering who in Britain would be in the market for such large and expensive stuff. 

[37114]

40 minutes ago, jjb1970 said:

I remember looking at some of the BBQ grills and outdoor products in Bunnings and wondering who in Britain would be in the market for such large and expensive stuff. 

Exactly. At the time Bunnings brought them, I worked for a Homebase competitor who were keeping close tabs on what they did, we had regular updates from mystery shopper visits on what their stores looked like, what they were stocking etc and basically was gob smacked to see an £8k outdoor kitchen plonked in the middle of the floor like the Lidl middle aisle. From what I have heard, there was a significant amount of excess stock that Bunnings just diverted to the UK who were told to sell it...

[The Johnster]

There seem to be two very disparate approaches to outdoor cooking among British customers, the 'working class' one, which I rather ascribe to, and the 'middle class' one, which I consider the death of reason.  Working class barbies use cheap kettle grills, converted oildrums, or incinerator bins, even disposables, burn 'briquettes', whatever they are when they're at home but they make loads of grey ash and smell of paraffin, and feature white rolls, burgers, chicken drumsticks and sausages, washed down with plenty of canned lager. 

 

Those who consider themselves our social betters, though, the class I was born into but which abandoned me when I objected to it's 'rules', consider the barbie an opportunity for displaying conspicuous consumption.  Out on the decking overlooking the designer patio, they sit on garden furniture that cost more than my indoor furniture, cooking on gas-powered ranges with bespoke mesquite or other stuff we've never heard of, steaks and cutlets from an organic butcher, marinaded in mixtures they've read about in the Grauniad or Homes & Gardens, accompanied by a range of wonder-salads and 'nibbles' (how delightful!).  We are not invited, but that's fair enough, we don't invite them to ours, either

 

Afterwards, we sit around drunk on folding chairs or, worse, those horrible plastic things that blow away in any sort of breeze, but never far enough.  If it's a proper barbie, somebody'll try it on with sombody else's missis and there'll be a scrap, just like a proper wedding or funeral...  They retire to a part of the decking in another time zone, invisible from the barbecue area because of the curvature of the Earth, with a good vintage and 'canopies & volleyvents', around a gleaming white ceramic firepit with white or multicoloured jewelled 'coals', cold as their dead hearts to the touch but always glowing perfectly.

 

You may detect an element of bitterness in this.  Don't get me started...

 

My current practice is to use a cast-iron bowl firepit about 18" diameter, which while not specifically designed for the purpose is quite happy to burn instant-light bagged charcoal (never 'briquettes') on a griddle rescued from an old kettle barbie that burned through, fresh meat or fish only, steaks, chops, chicken portions, whole fish, occasionally a 'cue-roast of a whole chook or joint covered in the lid of the old kettle 'cue, no burgers or sossies ever, bananas chucked on to follow, and logs thrown on after just before the coals start to cool to make an evening fire.  The meat, or whole oily fish, may be marinaded in whatever I have to hand, olive oil and Worcester Sauce, cream and mustard being common ingredients but there's no recipe and every one is different, and is served with wholemeal pittas or flatbread.  The Squeeze will have salad but I am firmly of the view that if it isn't meat, bread, or alchohol, it has no place at a barbie.  Drink is beer, often Newky Brown or Mackeson's. Guiness served chilled, never in glasses, 8-packs of John Smiths are not unknown.  Days of light, easterly/south-easterly/southerly winds are favoured as I respect my neighbours and want the smoke blown away from them.  Never more than two or three guests and we are quite happy to do it on our own.

 

I rather suspect the US, Canadian, and Oz 'cue demographic breaks down in the same way, but clearly high price-point psuedo-barbies are better sellers in wealthier countries.

 

Man clever, Man brave.  Woman cleverer, not brave.  Man light big scary fire, nobody mess with Man fire, uggabugga; Rich Man clever Rich Man not very brave, Rich Man press switch light not scary fire does what it told, nobody mess with Rich Man switch fire, Rich Man scared of Rich Woman, everything clean & tidy no mess, uggabugga.  Filipina maid clean up*.

 

Think that's about right, isn't it?

 

 

*Ten to five on a rainy winter evening, Cathedral Road, Pontcanna, Cardiff, home to a particular nasty sort of Welsh-speaking when it makes them a profit pseudo-liberal dinner-party media type known in Wales as the Crachach, trust me, English people, you ain't missin' nuttin', BR2975 gon' back me up on this, 'pinas on the corners waiting for the minibus after their day's mop & bucket jobs.  'Conchita/Maria/Conseula/who cares they all look the same, don't they is just marvellous, nothing too much trouble for her, they're trained to servitude you know, and so grateful for the work; we pay her the going rate of course (about 40% of legal minimum, we wouldn't want to be explointing anybody...).  I was against it, of course (just how much were you against it, luv, really) but as Glyn said, now I've got the committee on my plate and the new guest room to set up I simply don't have the time for housework.  We simply love her, don't we Glyn (as if Glyn's going to argue with you in the pub, but he does love her, in his own particular way), she's almost like one of the family, (yeah, but never quite, is she?  I'm glad she's knocking off Glyn, love, the best he's ever had, you deserve it, you supercilious soulless shrivelled arrogant entitled cowsnob.  'Ope she's 'avin' it away with your best silverware as well)'.

 

That's about right as well, isn't it?

Edited September 18, 2023 by The Johnster

[melmerby]

Can't stand barbecues, it's just an excuse for half cooked food and smoke.............

 

[pete_mcfarlane]

The real trick is to position the gas powered barbeque against the kitchen wall, the other side of which is the gas powered cooker. 

 

3 hours ago, The Johnster said:

Those who consider themselves our social betters, though, the class I was born into but which abandoned me when I objected to it's 'rules', consider the barbie an opportunity for displaying conspicuous consumption.  Out on the decking overlooking the designer patio, they sit on garden furniture that cost more than my indoor furniture, cooking on gas-powered ranges with bespoke mesquite or other stuff we've never heard of, steaks and cutlets from an organic butcher, marinaded in mixtures they've read about in the Grauniad or Homes & Gardens, accompanied by a range of wonder-salads and 'nibbles' (how delightful!).  We are not invited, but that's fair enough, we don't invite them to ours, either

 

As a middle class person I feel the need to point out that conspicuous consumption is dreadful, and that most of that stuff was bought on credit with repayments which they can't quite afford as some kind of insecure 'keeping up with the Joneses' thing. And that the male host will be wearing an 'amusing' apron. 

Edited September 17, 2023 by pete_mcfarlane

[Steamport Southport]

31 minutes ago, melmerby said:

Can't stand barbecues, it's just an excuse for half cooked food and smoke.............

 

 

Usually because it's blokes that have hardly ever cooked in their lives apart from beans on toast who suddenly think they are a Cordon Bleu chef!   👨‍🍳

 

Half cooked and burnt?

 

Probably because he's just got the big bag of supermarket bought sausages and burgers out of the freezer five minutes ago and has the barbeque far too hot....