This Is How You Kill A City.
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- Опубліковано 17 лют 2024
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Made in Britain - • The Last of the Great ...
Episode 13 - Death of the High Street / Leeds
This video has brought me to Leeds. A city which once was super famous for its shopping. It had a huge number of shopping arcades so I was intrigued to see what shape they were in.
I also made a visit to the White Rose centre, a giant out of town shopping mall. It was actually in a lot better shape than I thought. There was one strip of boarded up shops but that was it really.
I talk about rents in this video. How the reluctance to lower rent on property is such a factor in the decline of town centres. Even though we know the buildings don't hold that value any more, they still don't budge.
Driving into Leeds was a night mare and the parking was tricky too, all factors which make places like the White Rose more appealing.
New culprits falling as well, with Matalan going the end of the month. Another empty shop ready to take its place on the high street.
Until next time,
W.T
#Leeds #high #street #urban #decay #shopping #retail #abadoned #shopping #city #explore #explorepage
You should check out my Made in Britain episode here 😀 The Last of the Great Furniture Makers
ua-cam.com/video/YPsHpxIZBqU/v-deo.html
Great video. Keep up the great work.
Politicians have had plenty of time to (1) address online businesses, like
Amazon under cutting shops and (2) address landlords raising rents.!
Made in Britain episode is magic! 🙏
Btw the reason the core is empty and people and closing is cus it’s being knocked down
All the shut green bit in kirkgate market is also brand new I don’t even think you can let them yet
"The buildings aren't worth what they say they are"
Never a truer word.
Landlords love to be millionaires on PAPER.
Wad s shoiit whole
Same with houses.
@andrewjames9996
People are millionaires ON PAPER. That's pretty much the definition. As he says, if they lower the rent to fill the premises, they are acknowledging that the building isn't worth as much as they hope. The government does nothing to help fill the shops because of the concomitant drop in commercial property value. A large chunk of the "size" of the UK economy is the "value" of property. Therefore they keep up the illusion of being a "wealthy" country by inflated property prices and all its knock on effects, i.e. high rents and therefore empty high streets.
No building is currently worth anywhere near what they think it is. Average house prices are £120k over market value
Don't think you're being negative. This is top class journalism.
I agree. It's honest reporting on a very negative situation. There are no 'journalists' in the mainstream, just lying propandists.
Exactly. Its not negative or positive when you're just showing reality.
Spot on mate.
The longer we remain in denial we long it’s stays ugly.
@@abdaljabbarhusayn610But it isn't reality, Leeds as a city is booming, it's doing better then ever. Shops are closing because people don't go shopping anymore, a lot of the buildings are changing use, that entire empty shopping centre for example is being knocked down and some very nice appartments are being built.
@@Benji567891leeds very busy still, but a lot of places that are unique independant shops, market stalls and shops poorer people went are closing closed, they stuggle with sky high rent..,
A lot new places are just fancy high price eateries pushing unhealthy junk food and student accomodation plus booze. Also more public spaces getting fenced of for private places. But they put up lots fancy tat stalls and run many expensive events and fancy lights bubble tea and stuff for those that have a few quid.
In Amsterdam they allow people to set up pop-up shops in the unused retail space. A lot of the time that brings in creative people who bring a lot of culture and novelty to a town. Whatever happens we need to do something to bring back the sense of community and excitement in our towns. Really appreciate you highlighting these problems.
The higher ups don’t want that.
@@ProfileP246you’re both correct 👍🏻
US/UK are too greedy & stupid for that.
Netherlands is a functional democracy whereas the UK is rapidly becoming a kleptocracy
easy enough destroy the internet
2:58 A painted on "Come in, we're open" is quite dystopian 😵💫
Might as well cover the buildings in flat screens showing people inside. In the future down town will be a ghost town with holograms of people and a big rotating wheel.
Foreign investment firms own most of these buildings and that's the problem. They can sit on these properties for decades because to them they are just collateral.
Yep. That is the unspoken truth about real estate in Europe and the U.S.
They should not allow anyone foreign to own freehold property in the UK.
A lot of retail properties are owned by Hedge funds.
@@Thats_him_with_the_daft_hat As REITs.
@@LawrenceTimmeIt's free development money. Higher land values means a wealthier society.
Same thing happening in Munich. A small community restaurant that organized events for seniors (like dancing classes, chess, small concerts etc) could not pay their rent due to Corona closures and instead of reducing the rent, they forced them to close and 4 years later the space is still empty. Who profits from this???
Well the owner of the building still claims to have something worth 20 million and takes loans out using it as collateral.
The spreadsheet jockeys
Blackrock.
A problem that I don't see anyone discussing is that many of the local councils in the UK have the pensions invested in indexes that are mostly hedged into commercial property. Long term prospects required are for higher rents and council taxes; if the price of the property goes down, everything goes down with it, the pensions, therefore the social support, the tax revenues from the businesses, all of it. One or two years rent is nothing compared to all of that; people hold their moves and boards go up while they wait for the market adjustments.
naaaaa it's all immigrants fault 😂
I dated a girl from Leeds in 2016/2017. We were both college at the time and were fairly skint, so we spent a lot of time dossing around Leeds City centre. This was like a sad game of spot the difference. The Halifax branch closing surpirsed me, I knew I recognised the location and shape of the building, but it's not until you showed the Google street view that the memories came back.
Same but earlier and in a city up north. 2010 ish. We would hang around the city centre and it was packed. The mall was packed. Shops all over and selling all sorts. Vintage shops, camera shops, independent fashion shops, game shops, comic shops etc etc.
Now, it’s either an empty lot or a food outlet. Even the Disney shop closed…
Intu has a lot to answer for because they bought most of the city centre malls in the country during the recession, did them all out and used the renovation to hike up rents. And we can see how that worked out.
Ignore the haters. Your videos are great and quite genuine. Keep up the great work
Interesting to note that the faux stick-on shops are all in the style of the kind of shop you’d hope to find in your local high street, rather than the glass-fronted mall shops that would be opened in the mall.
It’s as if they know they aren’t offering what people really want.
Mind thoughts too.
It's probably the local Business Improvement District that does up the shops. That's what the Harrogate BID does.
Dead malls look nicer than the real ones 😅
Yes that is just crazy, it's like a kick in the face...and for what?
Exactly - they paint a picture (literally) of how England used to be when it was a beautiful and wonderful country, yet it's fake, and inside a multi-cultural, multi-unit retail space Hell-hole. It's like some sick psychological torture technique, designed to crush the spirit.
American malls died because it was an oversaturated market and when Amazon came along malls that were only just scraping by because of the competition from other malls suddenly could not scrape by any more.
I think we're just discovering this in UK , the more shopping malls you walk round, once vibrant cathedrals of consumerism, you now see at least one third of the outlets vacated or boarded up. Maybe we were thinking too big when we built them. There's only so much money in circulation at any given time. Only so much people have to actually spend. Less so now than ever.
It's the people also, so many seeming downcast unhappy people. Keep it up, you're covering an important aspect of urban decay that has greed and landlords and online shopping as major problems.
I personally love your channel. You are creating a legacy library of videos that in future years will be a wonderful resource. You are creating a snapshot of what life is like socially and culturally in real time in the 2020s. I wish more people could see the bigger picture and the value that you bring to social history. Never stop. You are a wonderful presenter and you are authentic and balanced in your viewpoint.
He should literally have his own show on TV
YES!!
@@RegiyThornton
this looks like a good title for an Indiana Jones movie or children's mystery storybook: "Wondering Turnip and the Lost Shops of Leeds"
V.
Well what do you expect. USA spend 600 billions on war in Iraq and that had to come from somewhere , then spent another 400 billions in Afghanistan and that had to come from somewhere then spend another 200 billions in Ukaine and againg that had to come from somewhere and UK played along like a little USA miniture toy. All that money that was spent on wars abroad including the 40 billion Mrs May gave to greece in one year because the EU said so, this is the effect of it.
or perhaps instead of star wars return of the jedi, it could be shop wars. return of the shopper 😅
lol
Harry Potter as well.
HEY !!--I'D GO AND SEE THAT !!-& IN "3D"-TOO !!
This issue of empty shops on high streets is a problem in many parts of the world
Correct. Let's not pretend that this is UK-only.
Yes, this also happens in French towns besides Paris, Lyon & Marseille for example.
Its quite simple the solution. The city centres are too big where I live we have the city centre, two side markets and a shopping centre. Why we aren't a big city so the centre is struggling lots of boarded up areas. Bless the city council though they tried to rent it out to small popups but nothing ever stuck.
Too many people just buy from online shops. Real shops cant and wont ever be able to compete. Its the free market baby ! the online shops don't need to pay high rents and floor room staff.
Take the advantage of city centres reduce it, beef up security and make it a wholesome small area rather than trekking all over town to each little small sections.
We have so few of what you call high streets even when the economy is bad they stay generally full but EVERY American city has atleast 1 dead mall. Structurally these are usually as cheap as it gets so they tend to disintegrate as soon as the maintenance stops leaving behind a costly liability for a municipality with fewer resources than it once had
Locally (Barbados - Ex Brittish Colony) I remember as a young lad going up the escalator in diamond mall and experiencing a small array of shops, but at some point the escalator broke down and it's been quardened off ever since. An entire portion of the upper levels, just completely abandoned. It's been well over 7-10 years since then
Just before warhammer the closed up restaurant was actually a really important building historically for retail. That was the original Montague Burtons of Burtons Menswear. Queen even visited! Great video, some of the shops like Patesserie Valerie and Clinton’s only shut in last few weeks. The indoor market also had to have a refurb due to leaking roof and a lot of traders relocated for new fit outs so hopefully those units will soon be filled.
Problem with Leeds City centre is that they keep on opening new shopping centres and the others die. Now Trinity is *the* shopping centre of Leeds - Merriorn Centre, The Core, The Light, St John's Centre and Victoria Gate - meanwhile there's no green space in the city at all and the riverside is underitilised.
Apparently, Leeds Council wants to knock down the Core to make student flats. Just mental. I’m near University of Leeds and I can’t see all the students who now walk to campus, moving to the Centre and using the bus.
I'm so glad that Leeds Council, property developers and directors at Leeds Council spent millions on building apartments and upgrades in prep for HS2..
Which now isn't coming to Leeds. It's a nice little F you that warms my heart..
Been waiting for this one, so thank you!
As a Leeds girl born and bred who has lived here all my life, I could write an essay on your 'findings' as I know so much about the history of my city but no one wants to be bored 😂
The Core (the one that was virtually empty) is proposed to become student flats with retail at ground level so they will not be doing anything with it now either way (hence the gym closing); but they destroyed what was the Schofields/Headrow Centre by booting nearly all the retailers out years ago to reconfigure it into the weird, clinical, soulless space it is now, instead of just freshening it up and modernising it a bit. Still miss that food court at the top (Johnny Wong's Chinese outlet was the bomb; iykyk 😜).
That row at the side of the market is proposed to become a new Premier Inn, hence partly the reason it remains empty.
Shame you didn't get a proper look at the Merrion Centre; think you caught them at a bad time as those alarms were because there was a small fire in the Morrisons store and they had to evacuate the whole centre so were stressed!
And finally, yes driving in Leeds has always been a pain in the backside, but the last couple of years it has got especially terrible, particularly in the direction you had to travel in from the White Rose due to ongoing roadworks, pedestrianisation, cycle lanes etc; I was stuck on a bus back from there nearly an hour a couple of months ago, usually takes around 20 minutes. And they wonder why people, if they choose physical retail, go to out of town places 🙄
And there completes the essay I said I wouldn't write. Thanks to anyone who read it all! 🤣
I read it all! I’m a Leeds lass too and thank you for mentioning the Schofield Centre because I couldn’t for the life of me remember what it used to be called! I spent so much time in the HMV there.
Thanks, that was interesting to read even though I live in the South. It's the same story down here, so many towns and cities have lost their character and charm. Just the same generic, homogenised shops everywhere you go - Dullsville.
Am a leeds lad and am sick of student flats there are lots of homeless but no lets house people who come from middle class homes and can live almost anywhere
@@MrKingkz foreign investment.
Johnny Wongs, how many years ago did that shut? A decade? Jesus i feel old. Loved it in there back in the day!
I’m from further up the road and whenever I visit Leeds, it feels like a modern world class city. They always repurpose old buildings in Yorkshire, and it has some of the best architecture in the UK.
Just found you. I am an instant subscriber. As a person who has worked in retail all my life ,i have a big interest in the subject. Online shopping will be the death of your city. The first thing to say , everyone wants the best price. If you are selling a box ,online wins nearly everytime. The city centre shopping is not designed for modern retailing. The companies that have a real chance to survive are specialist stores,somebody who can offer knowledge and range .if you have range you need storage. If you have a product that requires installation you need access to park a vehicle .not just for a customer but for the installer collecting the customers appliance. The problem for the city centre now,however, it had now become unfit for purpose . You cant park in front of the shop and the companies dont have large stock rooms . The businesses that could use the city centre (me by the way) cant get in there to use them). Councils have massively inflated rates systems for the city centres that are now 40 to 50 years out of date. Beautiful old buildings are now crumbling before our eyes. What can we do about it? . There is plenty that can be done . Not to rescue it all .most properties WILL have to change to residential. Councils need to be made to rethink on design . Parking has to be free and available and artisan companies should be given space for free or even paid to put their shops there. Vibrancy and a level of excitement needs to replace apathy on so many levels. Councils are 100% the last people who are needed to save their own towns . We need different thinkers involved. Major retailers M&S Hammonds Debenhams woolworths HMV C&A have all gone or going so the question is ,what could go there and more importantly who will facilitate its happening. I have hundreds of ideas that would work,i just fear that council reluctance would stop most of it. By the way please come to Hull . This is a view of all your futures in another 10 years time. !!
As someone who lives in Leeds, White Rose has been declining for a while now, didn't know they had the strip of boarded up shops though. But yeah, the vast majority of the White Rose is clothes shops, maybe a few other things on top. Driving to Leeds City Centre is a nightmare with almost nowhere to park without paying an arm and a leg. It's madness. What's worse is a lot of spaces that contain retail are being turned into student flats. Multiple buildings have either been set up or are in the process of being converted into student flats, in fact what was recently the House of Fraser is now becoming student flats. The Core is being proposed as a new space for student flats. What's worse is The Core used to be really nice when it used to be known as the Headrow Centre. You can still find pictures of it online when it existed as that. But when it became the Core, it took away all the lovely charm and decor of it and it became a soulless space. The Core also used to have our HMV which was huge, 2 floors with one for music, and another for DVD's, blu-rays and games. Now, that space is half empty, half One Below and the HMV is in a tiny space in the St. Johns Centre.
outer ring road garden centres with craft and farmers markets would suit me.
i've lived here five years and never been into town once. it was easier when i lived in the calder valley to get the train into leeds than it is to drive those few miles now.
It was once supposed to be the motorway capital of England.
@@daroniussubdeviant3869 That doesn't surprise me. That's probably true for even some of the outer suburbs of Leeds like Morley, Cottingley etc. as they have train stations. You could literally get a train in and out, but it is a barrier for some to go into the city centre.
yeah
Wait till they start building flats for illegals..
You do a brilliant job……not at all depressing, just truthful and informative. Inspiring scenery, when not in cities! Plus excellent dry stone walls, when the arcades have been left behind! Keep going please!
How dare you show me how depressing the high street is!
@@markcollinson5665 who’s the clown letting his properties sit empty? Why do they do this? Surely they’re losing money?
The whole world is like this
The white rose centre of years ago was brilliant, now it’s absolutely dire!
I used to live in Middlesbrough and when Binns (I think) closed down they opened the huge space up to small independent traders, letting them have a space for a reduced rent to build up their business and see if it was viable. It turned a huge empty space into a buzzing environment.
Dude I don't think these vids are depressing at all, it's shining a light on what's going on in reality. Keep it up!
honestly whoever said that probably lives a rich and sheltered life. Reality is anything but friendly.
Have you heard of Louis Rossmann here on youtube? He noted that many landlords in New York are doing the same. They will keep it vacant rather than lower the rent. There is an entire series here on youtube as he goes through the Commercial Real Estate in New York. Mostly during the pandemic - 2020-2021.
He also showed how they would out and out lie about the size of the unit
So what's the long-term point of this strategy? It doesn't seem to make financial sense for the owners unless they know something we don't.
imagine you are an owner of building and the retail space is worth on the market, let's say 20 million. You can go back to bank, and get a mortgage against that retail space worth of 20 million. Now that's all good and dandy if the market is stable. If it is not, and your valuation drops from 20 million down to 5 million. Now the bank is losing money on your mortgage. So nobody wants to come to terms that the properties were overvalued and everybody tries to weather the storm and live in denial as long as they can. @@alihenderson5910
@@alihenderson5910 Seems to me they are just putting off the inevitable as is human nature
@@D_B_Cooper That doesn't make any sense.
Hi Davey 😊 My towns the same and it seems so sad to see its all-over .Heartbreaking !❤😢
Driving into Leeds is an experience in its own right. The nightmare started August 2019 with various roadworks and it got progressively worse even as the roads got completed.
Leeds is the largest city in Europe without any form of mass transit, not surprising there's so many cars on the road
@joshmarsh2532
Sheffields a hilly city and had a great bus service. It didn't need a tram system. It took 5 years to build and disrupted retail businesses everywhere. What Meadowhall started the Supertram finished. Sheffield City Council hitched their bets on vanity projects that never paid off.
@tumslucks9781 No city over 300k should ever rely on buses alone, buses just don't have the capacity that modern Tramways do. Sheffield's tram is minimal and desperately needs extending, a city of equivalent size in France like Toulouse has both 4 tram lines and two underground Metro lines. Having the bare minimum level of public transport is not a 'vanity project'
Wow, leeds was the place be 10/15 years ago 😳 if an amazing city like leeds can't survive, then there really is no hope for the rest of the uk ! Keep up the good lad 👦 great job .❤
Leeds is still thriving pal! 👍
According to the data, Leeds is still growing and doing much better than the rest of the UK.
@@Brynson87 true fact 💯 leeds is now the shop lifting 🫴 capital of England 🏴
In all fairness. He gave trinity like 10 seconds of footage and it’s one of the biggest shopping centres in Europe
Leeds isn't just surviving, it's booming, the video is pretty misleading.
I love this channel, and watch avidly. It seems to be both depressing and hugely entertaining in equal measure.😀👍
I remember when the white rose centre opened. It killed Morley and the surrounding area. Exactly same as when Merry hill ( aka Merry hell locally) in Dudley West Midlands opened Dudley , Brierley hill and other high streets that were thriving and busy all dead. Brierley hill doesn’t have a bank anymore
Where l live the Coop had a huge complex built in 1903, a department store. It closed in 2002 permanently. It's derelict, and now Debenhams has gone too.
"You Shall Own Nothing And Be Happy"😢 UK🇬🇧
Edit: Thank you all for the Likes💜
Owning is the problem. Large scale property portfolios owned by merchant banks that are massively over priced. Fair rents are the best option, not state subsidised 'property ladders' that only serve billionaire investors and buy to let multi millionaires.
no private homes or private farms 2030
@@buy.to.let.britain you have a Value point
@@tentringer4065 owning isn't a problem at all. In fact it is the best option when you plan on staying anywhere for a long time. The problem is when you get people owning who aren't in that area or have not interest in it other than making money.
@@LawrenceTimme investors in the market prefer a shortage of affordable properties. The market, that is ownership investment, incentivises a lack of affordable rented properties and puts mortgages beyond the reach of most working people. This all started when huge quantities of public owned rented homes were sold off.
I love being taken out and about on these interesting tours with Wandering Turnip! Thank you! 🙏
Thanks for this thought-provoking video! I moved to Leeds over a year ago & a lot of local people complain about the nightmare of driving into the centre (there are constant diversions, road works and new cycle lanes etc). I don’t drive myself but the public transport is extremely unreliable and it’s not unusual to wait for 40 mins or even over an hour to get the bus. It’s the largest city in Europe without a metro or tram system (it used to have a tram network decades ago apparently). I think transport plays a role in the decline of footfall to the city centre in the case of Leeds. I’m definitely interested to watch your other videos too. Keep up the good work!
Absolutely, it's riddiculous how much damage is done by underinvestment in functional transit and the fantasy that every person can bring a 9-20 cubic meters of wasted space in a 1-2 tonne machinery with them everywhere they want to travel.
I live fairly close to White Rose and it is usually quite busy, both at weekends and during the week. I think it is helped by having a large Sainsbury's at one end which pulls the shoppers in. It's also outside of Leeds city centre, has lots of parking and is very close to the M62, which gives it a large catchment area. Not been into Leeds city centre for years. Nothing there that I need.
Your videos are outstanding! You get it so totally right - perfect balance of first hand investigation, light hearted comments, genuine outrage, balance, smooth delivery, research, imagination when it comes to editing, and a love for our country. Worth repeating - outstanding!
Definitely! 👍
Totally agree, I can't get "Hot milkshakes, what a load of twaddle" out of my head. Though 🤔😅
It's great someone cares about the future of the UK, and it is time to talk about this...
Well done, thank you for your work
Surprised Leeds has not followed many cities, like mine Coventry, it's become a university campus, students everywhere.
15 years ago Leeds city centre was the jewel of Yorkshire in my opinion , I'm originally from Sheffield but always prefered Leeds for shopping and drinking not been for about 6 years as I now live in Kent but as this video shows its on the slide such a shame ☹ Great video Dave thanks for the upload👍
Leeds still is, this video absolutely doesn't do it justice.
@@Benji567891 Glad to hear it , like i said not been for a long time just going on this video ❤Leeds 👍
@@Benji567891
A lot of vape shops in city centre
Mate ignore the naysayers you are class, and you are raising awareness to these issues while also taking us on tours around these interesting areas. Our household loves your vids. Keep up the good work mate
That long row of empty units inside Kirkgate Market has only just been completely remodelled, which is why they're empty. A huge amount of money is currently being spent on the markets.
Great observation about the scandal of building housing on greenbelt and open land when there are so many fine but empty buildings in city centres that could be converted into housing.
from Leeds, that Halifax closed recently just moved like 3 streets down towards Trinity :D Nice to see others point of view of the city
Your videos are honest and truthful. I look forward to your videos. I think that greed is not far away from the death of the high street! People are afraid of change? Excellent video!
Great Video Wandering Turnip, you are not depressing, the TRUTH is depressing, love the way you go back in time and show what a building once was, watching from Alberta.
Big fan of the channel, thanks for visiting Leeds! There im is a huge population increase in the city centre and the core shopping centre is soon to be converted in to residential! The market is getting a hotel and the Kirk gate district is all getting regeneration! The merrion area has been transformed since the student resi towers have been built so I think a return visit in a couple of years will be a real positive one!
Used to visit Leeds all the time around 2000 when I was with my ex. It’s changed so much! The corn exchange was a dark and dingy place and now. Wow!
Great video. Subbed!
Love this channel!your only showing the disgusting reality of what the corporates and government have done...councils have a lot to answer for too they do not care,push people online so they can track us!keep speaking the truth and showing what's really happening😢
I do wish people would stop saying the Government want to control us.
Don t give them ideas
Brexit means brexit. All the Best Frombork Poland.
@@mimi64231this all began long before we left the EU. We haven't even properly left it were still going along with the globalist bullshit. As usual they've sold out the people who voted for it.
You are the first British person I understand. I am learning English, and I enjoy watching your videos even without subtitles. Thanks a lot! 🥰
I'm actually gobsmacked. I went to uni in Leeds and did a full time job after for a year between 2014-2018. I absolutely loved my time there and pretty much all the stores that have been shown on this video were in business still. Used to love just walking around the shops and around the city with my earbuds on. Glad the market is still going I used to get the equivalent of about 40 chicken breasts for 20 quid. BARGIN! I recently found out that Wire nightclub had finally closed which is sad. Was an awesome little venue.
It's really sad to see just the utter state our country has become. Videos like this really put into perspective of where our country is heading. Thank you for taking your time to make these videos. It really makes the people who have worked hard for these businesses seen and heard.
Bradford is much worse. I live roughly in-between Bradford and Leeds and I usually go into Leeds centre every weekend.
Leeds is a ok. Isn’t massively dilapidated whatsoever. I love a bit of Leeds. Moved back to Manchester but Leeds a solid city
I go Manc more, but Leeds has something about it. Underrated city imo.
Hard put finger on it. Leeds is rustic and small big city feel all in one. It's friendly. Or friendlier than other northern cities @@GarethSewell1982
@@zzhughesd deffo as good as anywhere in the north mate, good city! 👍
Greetings from a rapidly declining Southend.
Thank you for the great vids.
I am watching from Colchester and it's the same here.
So sad how it has deteriorated.@@solsticepilgrim
Colchester is starting to look the same as Leeds, a number of closed shops and out-of-town shopping@@mr.13zn83
Same in Hull.
I travel around the UK with work, mainly fishing towns and ports, they are all struggling
this news gives me a rapidly declining erection
These videos aren’t depressing they’re good bro, I like how you’ve an interest for outdoors and your knowledgeable and becoming more knowledgeable it’s all for good purpose if your enjoying yourself as well as teaching people about these places, love your videos keep em coming!!🤘
That Matalan has been there 2 minutes, it was a sports direct 😅...I live in Leeds but never go to the city centre and I'm shocked at how much has changed!
For those who have not been to Leeds, don’t let this out you off. Leeds is as good as any city in England and feels really clean.
Leeds still have a football club 😒???
You need to get to Specsavers pal. Leeds city centre is filthy.
@@madwatermelon1316 it seems cleaner than Manchester, Liverpool, Newcastle and Glasgow, which I regularly visit! 👍
I like Leeds for the space and the architecture and the amount of stuff there is to do, but 'clean' is not a word I would use to describe it.
@@DMWBN3Haha. Obviously we do.
You're doing an amazing job exposing the truth of the high street, hopefully at some point some MPs take notice and actually try and change something, we can but hope...
You not realised yet . They hate you.
😂
Its quite simple the solution. The city centres are too big where I live we have the city centre, two side markets and a shopping centre. Why we aren't a big city so the centre is struggling lots of boarded up areas. Bless the city council though they tried to rent it out to small popups but nothing ever stuck.
Too many people just buy from online shops. Real shops cant and wont ever be able to compete. Its the free market baby ! the online shops don't need to pay high rents and floor room staff.
Take the advantage of city centres reduce it, beef up security and make it a wholesome small area rather than trekking all over town to each little small sections.
I started my working life in Leeds city centre (late 80s early 90s). At the time there were loads of offices in the city centre area.
However, since the big insurance companies and their associated businesses closed the captive workforce in the centre has shrunk so the city can't really support all the supporting businesses it once could.
Many of the ornate older buildings were banks/building societies. After they went online many chose to take away (close) the counter services. Shame.
36 The Headrow (Halifax Bldg Soc.) was once a Burger King.
The shuttered building at 12:14 was the Direct Line Insurance Co. They employed hundreds of young people & made Dortmund Square come alive at lunchtimes and evenings.
The Core was previously The Headrow Centre. It started out strong, but has struggled for decades (high rates/rents?). I preferred it when it was the big department store, Schofields.
The Boar Lane/Duncan Street area has always struggled, even going back 30+ years.
I think if you look at the total number of shops in Leeds city centre, the empty units still only amount to a small %.
The Headrow pub was my local for lunchtime "meetings" and the starting point for the regular office pub crawl on a Friday. Shocked me to see it closed when i visited Leeds last year.
Thanks for documenting the current state of Leeds city centre. Wish i had done the same all those years ago.
This one stopped me in my tracks. I moved to Leeds in 1988 until 2014. There was a massive boost to the city in the 90s and everywhere was thriving. It was a fantastic time in my life as well. I’ve not been back since so this one was a real shock. In my mind it had not changed, it was still like the google earth version.
Your work reporting on the state of towns in Britain is amazing journalism
Your content is absolutely top notch, well informed and well balanced, not just with this video but with every video of yours that I have watched. Your vibrant personality and genuine enthusiasm for what you are doing shines through in every video. Please don't let the occasional whinger in the comments section change your outlook. Do you realise that you are actually documenting the current state of our high streets, with reference to their individual history in such an accurate way that it will be a valuable resource for folk to enjoy learning from for decades to come. You should be proud of yourself. I wish you & your channel every success. Keep on keepin on pal.
I used to live in Leeds till 2021, and coming back after a couple of years is really depressing. They're building so many soulless buildings, everything's shut down. They've pedestrianised the centre, but didn't think of adding any greenery? and made it really hard to get to the city centre - closed down roads for cars and taxis and no improvement in public transport. Really depressing. The housing point that was made at the end really hit home. Coming from continental Europe where people come to the city center to hang out and shopping is just something you might do as well, strikes me as an issue with the mentality of the UK. If city centres were made into culture hubs, not just hubs for massive retail corps maybe some of the issues faced would be easier to tackle. But the question is - is it too far gone? Leeds was always a great diverse city, but with Brexit and other migration laws, focus on profiting from international uni students without really giving them a chance to stay and contribute to the city after graduation - it's all gonna be downhill from there. And I've seen it go downhill from what it was before brexit and before covid. And before whatever is going on now. Not even to mention the South Bank of Leeds, with Sheaf Street and THE TETLEY??? being closed down.
Amazon is a major reason for all these closed shops
Visiting the UK from Canada - my favourite thing to do is visiting the High Streets. So sad. Leeds is one of my fave cities!
I forgot to add, I am a new sub :)
i moved from tod to leeds a few years ago. the best parts of leeds are around the edges.
there are some grand old victorian builds in the centre. it would be great if the replacement to retail could do them justice. maybe leisure and education are the future of the inner city.
I used to spend most of my time at Schofield Shopping centre (The Core) when I was a kid, and now look at those empty shops. It was even buzzing with a food court, kids play area and a massive HMV. Lillywhites was where Matalan was. Now they’re turning this shopping centre into more student flats.
Same story in Sheffield. Despite efforts to revamp the centre, so many businesses can't afford the rates. Makes the city a ghost town.
The corn exchange used to be an alternative shopping centre. The below floor used to be full of alternative shops and rows of black hoodies. It was amazing. Changed so much now.
Used to have all the emos hanging outside back in 2007 ish
The bottom and top floors were empty. Only the main floor had ships on it.
Cyberdog!
Dark Angel, Hippy Potter Mouse, Grin, Cyber Dog, etc... it was a great place to shop.
Fantastic your videos, ignore the haters because you’re showing the realities of in town retail buildings that really should be converted into housing (studios or better) they don’t like it. It’s not illegal it’s a public space.
Thank you for making such an insightful video into the current state of retail. I’ve also watched some of your other videos on cheap houses for sale and it has really shone a light on how much under-use of existing buildings there currently is. So much could be done if our govt/local councils had the £££ to invest in revitalizing these spaces. Hopefully with more funding these spaces could be put to better use!
I grew in a small French city named Saint Brieuc. For a number of reasons like paying parking lots, the city is dying with shops closing one after another
The Millennium Wheels were a thing. They were only ever intended to be temporary (few years) structures, yet still going strong.
Yeah and they cost about £10 or more to go round slowly for a couple of minutes. Rip off.
You're right in general. However, being from Leeds, it feels like one of the very few cities on the up. Yes, some things have closed down, but many many new shops of all types have also opened up. But its a rare exception.
Thank you very much for saying it how it is.
No point renting something for say £1200 per month and you’re only making £1500, with £300 to pay your own mortgage/rent, utilities and fuel etc and you can’t remain afloat as the rents are too high.
We’re going to have create a brand new economy with money kept in locally so locals prosper. Out with the Ubers, Starbucks and others who dodge taxes and have HQ’s overseas.
35 years of Me, Me, Me and a sense of self entitlement and send centredness has left holes in our souls, holes in relationships and holes in our economies and communities. No sense that the local butcher or baker or fishmonger prospers and serves us as we help him live and survive. No boundary transgressions of souls but upmost respect and care. Not ripping each other off but prospering from each other as we see the value of a car puncture repair stop, barber, hairdresser, stationers, cafe’s, card shops, banks, libraries, gyms etc.
GREED eats away at the moral fabric of society and the results are before is. Rich have taken full advantage and they now have no where to visit locally because they eroded their own communities.
We are where we are because of ourselves.
We’ve done it to our selves. Greed and Incest equals a dead system.
Agreed💯 UK🇬🇧
Brilliant episode! Really enjoyed it! 👏 10:50 👏 The 'shouty' rude folk are a thorn in the side of hard working channels like this.. but even negative comments help the algorithm so we'll look on the positive side.. 🌹😄 Looking forward to the next _Made in Britain.._ This channel's going places!
Depressing.. no!Just truthful.. When Turnip's buzzin' it lifts my spirits! 😅
I have been watching your powerful videos. Just amazing!! Me being a retailer, cant feel less sadness for these fellows losing out to online menace and our selfish politicians. I personally know and spoke to some of those shopowners in Kirkgate , small butchers, fishmongers, bakery, they were almost forced out when they did the regeneration . Many closed ( like the butchers row, in your video) shamefully would have expected a labour run council to be more sympathetic to little people ,sadly no. But hats off to you mate ,doing a great job. Bring those bureaucrats, council bosses to the front. Let them answer whether a denerating city justifies their 3 figure salaries?
I was living in Leeds 10 years ago, it’s really shocking and quite sad to see how much has disappeared and still hasn’t been replaced. It used to be a busy city with absolutely loads to do but I feel like you could get round it within a couple of hours nowadays.
Mate and I years and years ago now were just spit-balling the idea of opening our own little nerd shop as our home town didn't have one at the time. The local shopping centre was like all these, mostly empty and had been for years and years. I looked into the rent for one of the smallest spaces which was smaller than most people's bathrooms. £40k a year and that was just rent... No wonder these places are perpetually closed other than massive chains.
Loving all your video walks, nice warm voice, friendly and interesting
Left Leeds a decade ago, the City Centre used to be packed, just a mass of people.
It is packed now, you can't move for people on a weekend
Its full of homless now@tomharris5169
Lots of people is bad , we are designed for small communities
@@luciobrazil007 it's all Muslims and homeless
Leeds are deliberately prioritising public transport (bus, rail) and sustainable personal transport (cycling, walking, wheeling) over the private car. There's pros and cons. There's quite a bit of city living that has grown up. There seems to have been a move from shopping to lifestyle (cafes etc.). The challenge of what to do with old retail units remains, particularly in those locations which are not attractive for anything.
Love the videos. There is a massive surge in businesses collapsing locally in 2024 where I am. Many of them have existed for decades but the costs to operate just came excessive. Most are closing voluntarily and orderly because they feel responsibility to customers. Won’t appear on gov insolvency stats thus as they avoided that, but will distort the reality.
I think your videos are great mate. It’s sad to see large name shops having to share space as a means to afford an in person sales experience. As a Brit now living in the US your video’s help me when I miss home. I often have a picture painted in my mind of what the UK is, but that is of the UK in 2000 to 2011. I hope there is a way through this decline. Thanks for your great content.
Interestingly The Core (the mostly dead arcade with the closed down gym) is being demolished and converted into student flats. So some pretty positive news there
Same further up north, town center dead, no free parking killed it first... High rent /rates just destroyed it ♥️🇬🇧
Great video, as always.The reason why the Core was so empty as, in line with your thinking, the retail units and gym have all had to vacate as it is being re-developed as student accommodation.Hopefully the shops will move into some of the vacant units that you highlighted.
This channel is one of the best channels around. Interesting and informative 👍 👌
Largest single unit mall in the UK is in Newcastle called the MetroCentre at 193000m2. Westfield in London technically has more floorspace, but it is not a single unit in the same way, but rather divided.
The changed all the roads in Leeds centre recently and absolutely made it impossible to get where you want to go. Then, you have to take out a second mortgage to be able to afford Qpark.
I actively avoid going to Leeds at all now.
Thanks
Lived in Leeds all my life (34 years) driving into Leeds has been horrific since they bus gated it all. Wasn’t too bad a few years ago. I always get the bus now if I need to go into Leeds city centre. In regards to the White Rose centre I worked in River island for 7 years pre covid. Once that hit it wiped out a chunk of the centre. All of that boarded up section used to be all of the Arcadia shops, Top man etc.
They ruined your indoor and outdoor market. Best in the country. Or it used to be...
I know I am a resident of Leeds the LCC has messed up this city 😢 big time
If you look at other countries that still have a booming centre, you’d soon realise that it’s primarily powered by restaurants.
Restaurants is what motivates people to go to the centre. Being able to buy stuff there is an extra.
The problem is the UK has an awful culinary industry. Restaurants here offer fairly low quality food for high prices. There is so little value in it, that most people don’t bother eating out.
In those other countries, you are barely paying any premium for a meal to be freshly cooked to a more than adequate standard than trying to make it yourself at home.
Most British restaurants are "posh microwave meals" controlled by the Establishment and offering sh1te. They don;'t even ask you "how is your meal" nowadays. It's the same everywhere and makes people think "why bother|. All chains, no individual character.
The wheel infront of the library is actually only their for the christmas period, however we did have a much larger observation wheel next to the market for a few years and it stood where jhon lewis is now
I must admit, I thoroughly enjoy your videos, David. I certainly do not find them depressing, just interesting and factual. It is sad that our shopping habits are changing, but who knows? As you say, things might suddenly change again. In our town (Leamington Spa) we do pretty well and shops that do become vacant are generally soon rented out again. Keep up your marvellous trips and comments! All the best.
Mate I love the videos you do. The stuff you and Wendall do is some of my favourite stuff on UA-cam, highlighting the issues we all see in modern Britain. You are a credit to yourself and your nation ❤
I've worked in Leeds in 2012 and 2013 as a contracted specialist for a development studio which had an office at The Headrow and I lived at Saxton. I would walk to and from work each day and really enjoyed it. The city was amazing back then, so much activity, shops, pubs, clubs and stuff to do around it, and a relatively short bike trip to Yorkshire Dales with its amazing trails. I would spend a lot of time at Kirkgate Market, Trinity, The Core and other places, visited Royal Armouries several times and would walk, run or ride along the Aire or do bike trips along Leeds-Liverpool Canal. So many good memories. I told myself that I would return one day for vacation to visit my favourite places and ride at Dales once again. Brexit and then the pandemic forced me to postpone those plans and now watching this video and seeing what happened to most of those places breaks my heart.
I’m an American who fell in love with Yorkshire a decade ago after visiting and have been nearly yearly besides during the pandemic. I can see the decline just in that short amount of time. But I still love coming! Just wanted to say I love your channel and your energy! I feel like I’m walking with you having a convo. Keep up the great work
Top man! Your videos are great....never felt them depressing! Informative and honest, just how we like you mate....thanks for another great video ❤
First one I’ve seen. Bit depressing at all, he’s simple shoring what’s happening in realtime to the high street in uk.
I live in Hove, nr’ Brighton & same happening here.
Church road, the main drag in Hove has Co-op, big Tesco & now a triple shop to be Sainsbury’s.
Independent traders don’t stand a chance v’s these three shops.
I try to shop local where I can, but the locals are just disappearing.