About candy shops: you've just made me realise why some shops I've been in recently, have no price tags! I think I will draw my own conclusions and avoid such shops in future!
I've always wondered how some shops manage to stay open with no customers and we have this phenomenon in Kenya as well. An expensive clothes shop in a super expensive mall with no customers a day. It's a reflection of an impoverished middle class that previously kept the high street alive. There's a structural problem.
The High Street would NOT be empty without these types of shops. Vacancy rates would quickly force rents to drop, allowing legitimate business back in at a price they can afford.
not that simple. if a landlord drops his price he reduces the value of the property. some would rather leave the property empty but at an artificially high value on his books than reduce the rent and reduce it's value.
As a previous shop owner, I would not contemplate opening another shop. You are better off setting up an online shop selling to the world rather than selling your item to a very small local set of people. You can either work from home or rent a building at a fraction of the cost of a highstreet shop. You work your own time and do not have to be there 9am till 5pm even on a day when no one is expected in due to snow etc. The high street as we know it is dead.
I think where I live there is more than 25 nail salons, at least 20 turkish type barbers, 2 American sweet shops very close together. Most of them seem to be empty nearly all the time day in day out. I have no idea what is going on there because these are not services I use. I think it's a chronic and rapid deterioration of the high street and not fair on genuine businesses and shoppers.
Just for one of my businesses it would cost me about 10k per year to have electronic payment, thats fees and rent of the card reader. So I do understand when some places say cash only. Some people have no idea where we are heading if we go to a cashless society. Its frightening 😧
Wjat are you on about? Even the market stall traders all have those white LCD card payment machines which are linked in via bluetooth to thier mobile phone!
What are you on about 😅 Those white card payment machines can be a cheaper deal but limited to a few transactions per day, there is still a commission fee to pay. Have a guess who is making the commission. The whole thing is being set up to make money from everything that we spend with day to day living. Making money from mortgages and loans wasn't enough, we want everything. Some people see it, some don't.
@@mariemccann5895 I don't mean side streets, I mean main roads. I don't live in a city but I can count at LEAST three for each 1 mile of main road I drive down. And there's always one of them sat outside on the steps smoking.
In mi high street there are at least 8 barber shops. It is a very small high street in a small town. There is no way there are that many people needing haircuts in this town.
..even back in the sixties and seventies (and beyond,) men were having their hair styling done by females at unisex salons. i'm amazed that so many all male 'barber shops' are still around!
HMRC have a lot of smart people and information systems very capable of cracking down on this type of thing but they're not politically motivated for whatever reason.
They don’t care becuase these criminals still pay their rent and business taxes. Your average business owner can’t keep up with payments in this current economy. Thats why I suspect nothing is being done- in a strange and horrible way, this is probably keep our economy slightly afloat…
Many candy shops are also suspected of avoiding paying relevant taxes (E.g. Business rates). The owners will just shut down the company and start a new company.
I wondered into an American Candy sweet shop in Santa Monica last week and the candies are all the same price $17.99/ib . No full time staff and a massive $12000.00 monthly rent.
I would have zero idea of the level extortion (protection racket) that your average high-street shop or restaurant has to suffer these days, but I would imagine that these barber shops and the like would be juicy targets. And then said extortion proceeds can be laundered through other "shops". Mindboggling!
My Chartered Accountancy professional exam back in 1990 contained the following very surprising question: "Estimate how many barbers shops there are in London. Show your workings". Nobody expected a question like that, it was a real test of common sense. How I tackled it was to estimate the population of London, knowing only the population of the UK to be about 55 million. Then to halve that number to knock out females, then knock out a further 20% representing male infants. Then work out the average frequency of a haircut for the average man. Then work out how many minutes a haircut takes, and work out how many customers one barber can do in one 8 hour day, etc, etc. This is exactly what HMRC and the police should be doing to determine whether a high street full of barbers shops is really needed for a town with a population of just 5,000. I doubt that HMRC cares much, they are receiving tax on dirty money which they would otherwise not receive at all. Personally I think money-laundering should be disregarded, who cares where the money comes from? It helps our economy, for example Russian oligarchs. Better to crack down on the crime that generates it, if committed in the UK. If committed abroad, it's none of our business, we should welcome the money without asking questions, as we used to do in past centuries. The current rules affect the innocent citizen who now cannot deposit £200 in cash to his own bank, without being treated like a criminal.
Congrats Josh on explaining how they work. I thought it was dealing drugs. 12:29 and bingo you hit the nail on the head, UK tax payer gains by this. Just a few minutes into the video, and I am laughing to myself, thinking so His Majesty's Revenue and Customs reaps a tax take on the World's Dirty Money, and other Nations lose out. One can almost guarantee, these outfits will pay 'Some Tax' just so H.M. Revenue and Taxes stay off their backs, so the UK over Taxed Citizen is profiting from nefarious activities from around the World. You can lay odds on, that it was some Employee/Employees working for H.M Revenue and Taxes, thought through this wheeze, not some numpty Politician of any Political Colour. The British tax payer gains, every other State/Nation in the World loses these Taxes, albeit a small proportion, better 5%/10% of £150 Billion than No Tax on £0.
This has been going on way longer than 2004 the UK heroin trade grew from the streets of NE London in the late 70's. Put the problem of addiction back in the hands of doctors then the money goes away. As for the decline of the high street, Bezos is most likely to take the blame but dont forget the greed of Phillip Greene and his ilk raiding pension funds and asset stripping many of our favourite high street brands then leaving them to rot. Not been to Oxford st in a while but there was a sharp decline in sweet shops with local councils telling billionaire commercial properly owners that they can no longer duck paying business taxes by having their space occupied by blatant money laundering opperations.
When we lived near Reading there were loads of barbers run by people from the East who frankly werent very proficiant at hair cutting unless you wanted a buzz-cut with a trimmer. There are also loads of takeaways with - cash-only signs. It is pretty suspicious that a business will not even take a debit card !
This problem could be very easily dealt with if the tax regulations were changed. Payments by card/direct debit/credit card/app/cheque only. No cash. Alternatively, then massively up the tax on cash payment revenue.
If normal shops oppened later then it would be so much better, right now so many shops close at 5 or even 4:30 on weekdays. How are people supposed to go shopping after their 9-5
Shopping where and for what? Brick & mortar has been dead for 15 years, there's nothing to shop at. Also nobody wants to work a shitty retail job past the evening for minimum wage. The only retail stores that aren't hellholes to work at are charity shops. There's a reason staff turnover for these kinds of places is insane.
@@Splozy charity shops, shops like cex or head shops all close at 5:30-6 and are all shops i have gone to amazon instead of because i would get stuff faster
I've got one near me, never seen more than one customer in there at any one time, more often none, yet the three guys that run it drive new 100k+ vehicles. Tried to take a photo and one of them threatened me.
I cannot start disputing how many irregularities is here. If they cash in 15k GBP a month into an account first question from HMRC would be do you keep any book keeping to back this up? Or you want to you tell me HMRC just tax what went onto the account period? Furthermore you cannot just offer service and "no papertrail" you have to keep some bookkeeping same for receipts. I would believe council/HMRC would fine you to oblivion if you would not have...
Given that most people do their shopping online for delivery, I thought only services which have to happen in person would survive; try getting your nails done or a shave without being there.
Mate, you can say the same about tatoo shops and pretty much anything in the sevice industry including youtube sponsorships. Let's say someone with 10k subs receives 10k/month for mentions and such(absurd? yes. possible? also yes).
People are more vain today back in day people would get a haircut once every two months now it’s not uncommon for Joe bloggs to get a cut every week likewise for ladies and nail salons
its an interesting theory, and if it does go on its probably gone on forever in one form or another. but i'd like to see you come up with some actual evidence. otherwise you are purely speculating.
Many businesses may not profit for a bit of time until a bit more established, so stop worrying about them having no customers unless you want to support there business, div mentality
Four Turkish barbers in my town, their catchphrase is ‘card machine broken’ 😂
No appointments, walk ins only and cash only. A bit silly because none of them have any customers but are booking takings of £4k a week.
yeh "min charge three pound"
"because we lose money"
bullshit
@@arcadealchemist That is true though.
@@arcadealchemistthe minimum charge thing isn't bullshit they acc get charged for petty amounts of change on a card
Give them all card machines for free and do not allow cash. Of not, would be easy with AI and a £20 camera.
Money laundering on an industrial basis, but the inland revenue/DWP will come harassing any UK citizen selling on ebay as a side hustle.
About candy shops: you've just made me realise why some shops I've been in recently, have no price tags! I think I will draw my own conclusions and avoid such shops in future!
Once you see it, you can’t unsee it!
so thats why my window cleaner is driving a Lambo, lol
You’ve forgotten all these vape shops that have opened and openly selling vapes to children.
Good point
There are over ten Turkish barber shops in my town and they're almost always empty.
I've always wondered how some shops manage to stay open with no customers and we have this phenomenon in Kenya as well. An expensive clothes shop in a super expensive mall with no customers a day. It's a reflection of an impoverished middle class that previously kept the high street alive. There's a structural problem.
There are SEVEN barbers in my town with less than 2000 people. The owners drive 100k plus cars. It’s all so obvious 😂
The High Street would NOT be empty without these types of shops.
Vacancy rates would quickly force rents to drop, allowing legitimate business back in at a price they can afford.
Fair, thanks for pointing out
not that simple. if a landlord drops his price he reduces the value of the property. some would rather leave the property empty but at an artificially high value on his books than reduce the rent and reduce it's value.
@JoshuaPerryParker cash is cash dnt care where it comes from anymre
@@TalesFromTheBlahSide. Standard is to give a free rent period. Then the rent is not reduced. That way the rentable value does not drop
As a previous shop owner, I would not contemplate opening another shop. You are better off setting up an online shop selling to the world rather than selling your item to a very small local set of people. You can either work from home or rent a building at a fraction of the cost of a highstreet shop. You work your own time and do not have to be there 9am till 5pm even on a day when no one is expected in due to snow etc. The high street as we know it is dead.
Why would the police go after money launderers when they could be arresting those airing offensive opinions instead?
I think where I live there is more than 25 nail salons, at least 20 turkish type barbers, 2 American sweet shops very close together. Most of them seem to be empty nearly all the time day in day out. I have no idea what is going on there because these are not services I use. I think it's a chronic and rapid deterioration of the high street and not fair on genuine businesses and shoppers.
Plus mobile phone places.
Just for one of my businesses it would cost me about 10k per year to
have electronic payment, thats fees and rent of the card reader. So I do understand when
some places say cash only.
Some people have no idea where we are heading if we go to a cashless society.
Its frightening 😧
I read somewhere years ago that the black market was worth 5-10% GDP so prob won't happen.
Agreed, a cash only business is totally understandable
Wjat are you on about? Even the market stall traders all have those white LCD card payment machines which are linked in via bluetooth to thier mobile phone!
What are you on about 😅 Those white card payment machines can be a cheaper deal but limited to a few transactions per day, there is still a commission fee to pay.
Have a guess who is making the commission.
The whole thing is being set up to make money from everything that we spend with
day to day living. Making money from mortgages and loans wasn't enough, we want
everything.
Some people see it, some don't.
@@TRPGpilot presumably you are not self employed?
It’s always been obvious, Turkish/Albania barbers, seven in each town! Hiding in plain sight
Albanian 🇦🇱
In each town?
Don't you mean in each STREET?
@@ramalama9650 I don't think so, there are not that many of them, maybe more than seven though in a town.
@@mariemccann5895 I don't mean side streets, I mean main roads. I don't live in a city but I can count at LEAST three for each 1 mile of main road I drive down.
And there's always one of them sat outside on the steps smoking.
Government just lets them do it.
In mi high street there are at least 8 barber shops. It is a very small high street in a small town. There is no way there are that many people needing haircuts in this town.
Same where I live in rural Wales and other surrounding small towns.
Landlord gets their rent, council gets their business rates, HMRC get corporation tax from the laundered money. Why would they stop it?
Add mobile phone repair shops to this
Had one tell me he only deals in cash as his supplier only deals cash, knew this was BS
Car washes as well
Come to Aylesbury. There's at least 15+ different barbers here 😂😂
..even back in the sixties and seventies (and beyond,) men were having their hair styling done by females at unisex salons. i'm amazed that so many all male 'barber shops' are still around!
Shops with very little stock on the shelves selling under counter cigarettes, they get closed down, then open up further down the road
I’m convinced this is how the modern art market works but I don’t quite understand how 🤔
HMRC have a lot of smart people and information systems very capable of cracking down on this type of thing but they're not politically motivated for whatever reason.
They are not as smart as they think they are 😉
They don’t care becuase these criminals still pay their rent and business taxes. Your average business owner can’t keep up with payments in this current economy. Thats why I suspect nothing is being done- in a strange and horrible way, this is probably keep our economy slightly afloat…
That explains why the Turkish Barber told me I needed to go to the local ATM to pay them. Even morning cafes I've come across operate like that.
Many candy shops are also suspected of avoiding paying relevant taxes (E.g. Business rates). The owners will just shut down the company and start a new company.
I always suspected underworld involvement in these Turkish barber shops! Like you say, there are often two or more on the same street?
wouldnt take much police surveillance to watch a barbers and how many customers in a week.
The police are probably in on the deal. That's the way it works.
That would mean making an effort to police 👮♀️
Wouldn't be police investigating..would be customs and excuse/Tax offices responsibility.
Easier for the police to sit back & turn a blind eye in return for their cut.
I wondered into an American Candy sweet shop in Santa Monica last week and the candies are all the same price $17.99/ib . No full time staff and a massive $12000.00 monthly rent.
Car washes - kebab shops - many more doing it on a huge scale
Oh yes, can't believe I forgot the to mention the dodgy car washes!
A lot of Chinese take aways too.
I would have zero idea of the level extortion (protection racket) that your average high-street shop or restaurant has to suffer these days, but I would imagine that these barber shops and the like would be juicy targets. And then said extortion proceeds can be laundered through other "shops". Mindboggling!
Thanks that was very interesting !
thanks! Appreciate the kind comment
My Chartered Accountancy professional exam back in 1990 contained the following very surprising question: "Estimate how many barbers shops there are in London. Show your workings". Nobody expected a question like that, it was a real test of common sense.
How I tackled it was to estimate the population of London, knowing only the population of the UK to be about 55 million. Then to halve that number to knock out females, then knock out a further 20% representing male infants. Then work out the average frequency of a haircut for the average man. Then work out how many minutes a haircut takes, and work out how many customers one barber can do in one 8 hour day, etc, etc.
This is exactly what HMRC and the police should be doing to determine whether a high street full of barbers shops is really needed for a town with a population of just 5,000. I doubt that HMRC cares much, they are receiving tax on dirty money which they would otherwise not receive at all.
Personally I think money-laundering should be disregarded, who cares where the money comes from? It helps our economy, for example Russian oligarchs. Better to crack down on the crime that generates it, if committed in the UK. If committed abroad, it's none of our business, we should welcome the money without asking questions, as we used to do in past centuries. The current rules affect the innocent citizen who now cannot deposit £200 in cash to his own bank, without being treated like a criminal.
Losses will be offset by owners against tax bill.
Congrats Josh on explaining how they work. I thought it was dealing drugs. 12:29 and bingo you hit the nail on the head, UK tax payer gains by this.
Just a few minutes into the video, and I am laughing to myself, thinking so His Majesty's Revenue and Customs reaps a tax take on the World's Dirty Money, and other Nations lose out.
One can almost guarantee, these outfits will pay 'Some Tax' just so H.M. Revenue and Taxes stay off their backs, so the UK over Taxed Citizen is profiting from nefarious activities from around the World.
You can lay odds on, that it was some Employee/Employees working for H.M Revenue and Taxes, thought through this wheeze, not some numpty Politician of any Political Colour.
The British tax payer gains, every other State/Nation in the World loses these Taxes, albeit a small proportion, better 5%/10% of £150 Billion than No Tax on £0.
Thanks! and 100% agree with this
I bought some tyres for my car that would not take card. Cash only for £200 worth of tyres.
Tread carefully!
It is and has been common knowledge for ages , but bizarrely enough , it still seems to be an expanding industry.... funny that. ?
Fk it let the criminals pay taxes on their money
Most MP's are criminals anyway.
10 chairs per (Empty) shop, open at least 12 hours per day, a tenner cut clocked through for each chair every 20 minutes. Seven days a week.
This has been going on way longer than 2004 the UK heroin trade grew from the streets of NE London in the late 70's. Put the problem of addiction back in the hands of doctors then the money goes away. As for the decline of the high street, Bezos is most likely to take the blame but dont forget the greed of Phillip Greene and his ilk raiding pension funds and asset stripping many of our favourite high street brands then leaving them to rot.
Not been to Oxford st in a while but there was a sharp decline in sweet shops with local councils telling billionaire commercial properly owners that they can no longer duck paying business taxes by having their space occupied by blatant money laundering opperations.
Quality of heroin has gone right down since UK and USA left Afghanistan...mostly synthetic now..
Well explained
Thanks 🙏
Loads of both round here and even an American sweetshop now.
I can't believe there would be crime going on in the UK.
Just ignore all your landlords and privately owned public utilities
You are a good, really good reporter. I subscribed after this one
Thank you! Appreciate that 🙏
When we lived near Reading there were loads of barbers run by people from the East who frankly werent very proficiant at hair cutting unless you wanted a buzz-cut with a trimmer. There are also loads of takeaways with - cash-only signs. It is pretty suspicious that a business will not even take a debit card !
They can't afford to run a cash machine you donkey, cash is king.
This problem could be very easily dealt with if the tax regulations were changed. Payments by card/direct debit/credit card/app/cheque only. No cash. Alternatively, then massively up the tax on cash payment revenue.
Sorry , no way...many legit small shops live off cash customers too
Would rather that over bookies, gambling arcades and pawn shops.
All over the country, often with a Tesla out front........
If normal shops oppened later then it would be so much better, right now so many shops close at 5 or even 4:30 on weekdays. How are people supposed to go shopping after their 9-5
Shopping where and for what? Brick & mortar has been dead for 15 years, there's nothing to shop at.
Also nobody wants to work a shitty retail job past the evening for minimum wage. The only retail stores that aren't hellholes to work at are charity shops. There's a reason staff turnover for these kinds of places is insane.
@@Splozy charity shops, shops like cex or head shops all close at 5:30-6 and are all shops i have gone to amazon instead of because i would get stuff faster
This all sounds like the banking system.
You can add car washes to the list too
Just having it makes you comfortable as long as you stay away from banks
They have driven out decent barbers.
Successive governments have encouraged this.
Oxford Street all the British brands gone, now fake tacky sweetshops
Don't forget Indian Asians, Arabs Oligarchs wealthy do the same thing with the government
I've got one near me, never seen more than one customer in there at any one time, more often none, yet the three guys that run it drive new 100k+ vehicles. Tried to take a photo and one of them threatened me.
No documented evidence - just speculated opinion. Lightweight ‘reporter’.
I cannot start disputing how many irregularities is here.
If they cash in 15k GBP a month into an account first question from HMRC would be do you keep any book keeping to back this up? Or you want to you tell me HMRC just tax what went onto the account period?
Furthermore you cannot just offer service and "no papertrail" you have to keep some bookkeeping same for receipts. I would believe council/HMRC would fine you to oblivion if you would not have...
😂 there’s 4 firework shops in one 3 mile road in Bradford… how many people are wanting fireworks?
Legalise drugs man and tax it. Like smoking... Wait!
Who cares , it keeps the price of commercial property artificially high...
Given that most people do their shopping online for delivery, I thought only services which have to happen in person would survive; try getting your nails done or a shave without being there.
farage was right
Don't forget betting shops proliferating.
Mate, you can say the same about tatoo shops and pretty much anything in the sevice industry including youtube sponsorships. Let's say someone with 10k subs receives 10k/month for mentions and such(absurd? yes. possible? also yes).
Man on internet states the blindingly obvious. Next.
Man with no life watches it. Next.
People are more vain today back in day people would get a haircut once every two months now it’s not uncommon for Joe bloggs to get a cut every week likewise for ladies and nail salons
..god....back in the sixties, seventies and eighties, we were VERY vain then... and preferred to have our hair 'styled' by gorgeous females!
Do one ya rocket
This is a perfect example of someone who hasn’t a clue. You’re just making purely baseless accusations and assumptions.
Utter garbage
its an interesting theory, and if it does go on its probably gone on forever in one form or another. but i'd like to see you come up with some actual evidence. otherwise you are purely speculating.
Its all part ofthe adjenda
or agenda ?
What agenda would that be? Oooh let me guess!!!! Is it something about replacement?
You say, let's look at the evidence and then present no evidence at all.
This is a pretty poorly evidenced case you present
lol, but it's true.
Many businesses may not profit for a bit of time until a bit more established, so stop worrying about them having no customers unless you want to support there business, div mentality