Rogered, Wilko, and out.

[Dava]

Worksop will be a ghost town without the Wilko HQ & DC jobs. It was bad enough before. I hope someone buys the centre. Wilko’s slow or non payment of suppliers was a major reason for its failure as you can’t expect continued supply if you don’t pay. The end of the home wine & brew lines was an early warning of this.

 

There is no place for incompetent management in UK retail as the market & cost leaders are ruthlessly efficient & competitive. Bunnings has been mentioned and their failed takeover of Homebase was the most catastrophic misjudgment and cluster for a long time in UK home retail. They didn’t understand women as decision-makers and customers. It showed and the rest is history. 
 

Meanwhile, Dunelms is still doing rather well.

 

Dava

[The Johnster]

3 hours ago, Steamport Southport said:

 

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....

 

Furthermore, the standard fare of burgers and sossies is highly unsuitable for charcoal grilling unless you know what you're doing (which, as you rightly point out, many don't).  They are rammed with fat which drips onto the hot coals and caused flare-ups, so the outer shell of the sossie or burger is burned black and solid while the inside is still half frozen.  The best way to avoid this is to use proper meat, as lean and high quality as you can manage.  Chicken is always a good bet, duck not so much... 

 

Trick with these flare-up foods is to starve them of oxygen.  The old kettle 'cue was good for this as the lid fitted fairly tightly; it's still fairly effective with the firepit!  Keep 'em turning and shunt them around continually so that the flames are not concentrated on the same spot for too long.  A bit of charring is good to seal the meat's juices, but must not be overdone!

 

Avoid anything that the supermarket tells you is 'ideal for barbecues', because it absolutely never is, but this sort of labelling is a great way to shift low-quality high-fat rubbish!  And some of it comes from the freezer; I despair!

[The Johnster]

2 hours ago, Dava said:

Meanwhile, Dunelms is still doing rather well.

 

 

They know their target audience.  Not as cheap as B&M, or as Wilko was, but big shops well stocked with items aimed at those with a modicum of disposable income, and no messing about with groceries.  Quality plants and garden items, and a nice coffee sit-down.

[The Johnster]

3 hours ago, pete_mcfarlane said:

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

 

 

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. 

 

Yes, it's the neuveau riche who are the worst offenders.

[jjb1970]

The problem with BBQ food in Britain is it is a summer garden novelty rather than just another cooking tool as it is in many other places. One of my favourite eat out options is Korean BBQ, normal practice is for the grill to be in the middle of the table with a smoke extractor above.  You either cook yourself  or a host from the restaurant attends the table. Wonderful stuff.

[BachelorBoy]

On 13/09/2023 at 23:23, tomparryharry said:

Down here in Newport, we're seeing both Homebase, and Wilko, closing down. 

 

I think you win the prize for the best title for a thread, this year.

[monkeysarefun]

1 hour ago, jjb1970 said:

The problem with BBQ food in Britain is it is a summer garden novelty rather than just another cooking tool as it is in many other places.  You either cook yourself  or a host from the restaurant attends the table. Wonderful stuff.

 

 

Almost all parks, beaches or reserves etc around the country have several free gas or electric BBQ's that you can use, they all look like this - use them, wipe them down for the next guys.  The councils etc  clean them once a day.

 

 

No need to buy your own!

 

 

Edited September 18, 2023 by monkeysarefun

[Bernard Lamb]

10 hours ago, Dava said:

Worksop will be a ghost town without the Wilko HQ & DC jobs. It was bad enough before. I hope someone buys the centre. Wilko’s slow or non payment of suppliers was a major reason for its failure as you can’t expect continued supply if you don’t pay. The end of the home wine & brew lines was an early warning of this.

 

There is no place for incompetent management in UK retail as the market & cost leaders are ruthlessly efficient & competitive. Bunnings has been mentioned and their failed takeover of Homebase was the most catastrophic misjudgment and cluster for a long time in UK home retail. They didn’t understand women as decision-makers and customers. It showed and the rest is history. 
 

Meanwhile, Dunelms is still doing rather well.

 

Dava

Someone has.

It is owned by Brookfield, who are Canadian.

But it is a rather complicated story.

Basically somebody trousered a lot of money.

Bernard

[Michael Hodgson]

11 hours ago, pete_mcfarlane said:

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

 

 

You've completely missed the point.  The trick is to position it where the neighbours can smell it.

[Michael Hodgson]

6 hours ago, monkeysarefun said:

 

 

Almost all parks, beaches or reserves etc around the country have several free gas or electric BBQ's that you can use, they all look like this - use them, wipe them down for the next guys.  The councils etc  clean them once a day.

 

 

No need to buy your own!

 

 

We can't even afford to keep public toilets open in the parks in this country

[Steamport Southport]

8 minutes ago, Michael Hodgson said:

We can't even afford to keep public toilets open in the parks in this country

 

They can. But most local councils would rather waste money elsewhere.

 

But that would be going down the politics route....

[Free At Last]

11 minutes ago, Michael Hodgson said:

We can't even afford to keep public toilets open in the parks in this country

In Liverpool city centre they use the telephone kiosks.

[kevinlms]

7 hours ago, monkeysarefun said:

 

 

Almost all parks, beaches or reserves etc all around the country have several free gas or electric BBQ's that you can use, they all look like this - use them, wipe them down for the next guys.  The councils etc  clean them once a day.

 

 

No need to buy your own!

 

 

They are free because it used to cost the councils a fortune to repair them, after the coin safe was destroyed for $5 worth of coins and a few washers.

[ejstubbs]

7 hours ago, monkeysarefun said:

Almost all parks, beaches or reserves etc around the country have several free gas or electric BBQ's that you can use, they all look like this - use them, wipe them down for the next guys.  The councils etc  clean them once a day.

 

No need to buy your own!

 

And in similar locations around the UK people bring their own "disposable" barbecues which leave scorch marks on turf, set fire to heatwave-desiccated vegetation when they're chucked away into undergrowth while still hot, and ditto waste bins when they're disposed of [not very] 'responsibly'.

[kevinlms]

49 minutes ago, ejstubbs said:

 

And in similar locations around the UK people bring their own "disposable" barbecues which leave scorch marks on turf, set fire to heatwave-desiccated vegetation when they're chucked away into undergrowth while still hot, and ditto waste bins when they're disposed of [not very] 'responsibly'.

The vast majority of people in Australia know much better than that. Just as well because our bush fires are notorious. We even have Total Fire Ban days, where one cannot light or to allow an existing fire to remain alight. Also bans on welders, grinders etc outside.

[Steamport Southport]

1 hour ago, Free At Last said:

In Liverpool city centre they use the telephone kiosks.

 

I thought that was what McDonalds and similar places was for?

 

I don't even think there are telephone kiosks anymore!

[kevinlms]

13 hours ago, Dava said:

Worksop will be a ghost town without the Wilko HQ & DC jobs. It was bad enough before. I hope someone buys the centre. Wilko’s slow or non payment of suppliers was a major reason for its failure as you can’t expect continued supply if you don’t pay. The end of the home wine & brew lines was an early warning of this.

 

There is no place for incompetent management in UK retail as the market & cost leaders are ruthlessly efficient & competitive. Bunnings has been mentioned and their failed takeover of Homebase was the most catastrophic misjudgment and cluster for a long time in UK home retail. They didn’t understand women as decision-makers and customers. It showed and the rest is history. 
 

Meanwhile, Dunelms is still doing rather well.

 

Dava

Your comments and others regarding the expensive BBQ's more than hint at what Bunnings did wrong in the UK. While they have those in Australian stores, they aren't taking up the centre - that's where all the mens toys are (Power Tools obviously)!

 

The BBQ's, I wonder if they were the left over items, from when Bunnings took over Masters (their next biggest rival here and were owned by the biggest supermarket chain, who somehow got it totally wrong), which would account for them.

[kevinlms]

2 minutes ago, Steamport Southport said:

 

I don't even think there are telephone kiosks anymore!

Australian public phones are now free to make calls within Australia. Telstra (think BT) the owner of them, made the decision that it was cheaper these days to make them free, than to run around the country collecting the coins. Also most damage was caused, by people vandalising them, if they lost their money.

[Free At Last]

2 hours ago, Steamport Southport said:

I don't even think there are telephone kiosks anymore!

As I was coming out of Central Station a couple of weeks ago and crossed over the road to go into Clayton Square there is a  kiosk with no door.

A street camper rose from his nearby sleeping bag, dropped his jogging bottoms, backed into the kiosk and deposited slurry on the floor, pulled his bottoms back up and got back into his bag.* This was at 10.00 am in full view of all who were passing and eating at the outdoor cafe.

 

*No toilet tissue was harmed during this act.

 

[TheQ]

I bought our 5 burner gas barbecue some years ago, no neighbours to impress, just much more convenient than charcoal.

It was however a bargain, it was at the closing down of Focus Do It All stores. Less than the normal cost of a cheap charcoal bowl.

 

Another DIY chain that disappeared was Texas, some became homebase.

The whole homebase saga was what lost its customers, it was never as practical as B&Q, always  more pretty stuff. Bunnings take over was a disaster, they were much more practical but didn't do their UK market research.

 

All the Wilko's I've been in have been city center big stores, the best thing they did was the cafe...

71 Wilko's are becoming Poundland, I must admit I find the Poundland offering very poor, and can't see that surviving either..

 

 

[Mallard60022]

Weird that this thread has gone from discussing the demise of Wilko and Worksop, to shi££ing in Phone Booths.

Should we put the thread out of its misery?

Phil

[melmerby]

26 minutes ago, TheQ said:

71 Wilko's are becoming Poundland, I must admit I find the Poundland offering very poor, and can't see that surviving either..

As Poundland aren't "everything's a £1" anymore, maybe those stores will be more Wilko like, with a bigger variety of goods?

[APOLLO]

Who needs a big posh BBQ ?

 

What you need is a Thai cook or two - Steak, Home made Pork Satay and Chiang Mai style spicy sausages. !!!!

 

And use good charcoal, not gas.

 

 

Son has been known to BBQ on Christmas Day !!!!

 

Brit15

[monkeysarefun]

9 hours ago, kevinlms said:

Your comments and others regarding the expensive BBQ's more than hint at what Bunnings did wrong in the UK. While they have those in Australian stores, they aren't taking up the centre - that's where all the mens toys are (Power Tools obviously)!

 

The BBQ's, I wonder if they were the left over items, from when Bunnings took over Masters (their next biggest rival here and were owned by the biggest supermarket chain, who somehow got it totally wrong), which would account for them.

 

I dont recall seeing too many overly impressive BBQ's in Bunnings here, that's what places lie "Barbeques Galore" etc are for.   Bunnings has a totally different retail environment here in Australia to what it faced in the UK because since the short-lived  Masters chain fell off the perch    it pretty much has  the home improvement/hardware sector to itself.

 

The only major competitor  here in NSW at least would be Mitre 10, and they are mainly older stores in outer suburbs or  regional towns. Other than  independent   family-business style individual hardware shops and speciality chains like "Total Tools!" that concentrate on just tools  I cant think of any other competition, certainly nothing that competes with them  for range and number of locations.

[monkeysarefun]

10 hours ago, kevinlms said:

We even have Total Fire Ban days, where one cannot light or to allow an existing fire to remain alight. Also bans on welders, grinders etc outside

Coincidently we have one today in Sydney due to forecast warm windy weather today and tomorrow. Schools in bushfire risk areas have been closed.