I found out yesterday that the Co-op on West street will be closing due to Fareham Borough Council increasing their rents and refusing to renegotiate with them (see http://tinyurl.com/cxy8dcz ). This seems convenient timing, given that the new Tesco superstore just down the road will be opening in about two weeks time.

In these times, councils should be invigorating the high streets, not putting shops out of business and paving the way for large supermarkets, who take significant business away from high street shops, money away from the local economy and also contribute to the steady decline of agriculture within the UK.

If this angers you, as it does me, please write to the council and let them know.

Nicola

As an employee of the Co-Operative Food on West Street, it has been difficult welcoming the new Tesco store to Fareham. I am in no way saying that the closure of the store is solely down to the opening of Tesco. However, I do find it extremely frustrating that the media have claimed that the new store has brought 'x' amount of jobs to the towns unemployed when that blatantly isn't the case and provides a false figure. The fact that nearly 30 jobs will be lost next month has conveniently been discarded and the general consensus from our loyal customers is that they will not be using the new store and will dearly miss the Co-Op, which although has been a multitude of food retailers, has been there for decades. On Monday, we anticipated that the opening of the new store would greatly reduce the amount of customers walking through the doors, when in fact it felt like the busiest Monday in weeks. It is a great shame that what was once a bustling town centre store is now clearing its stock and preparing to shut shop in the weeks running up to what is usually the busiest part of the year, and many of the staff will be starting the new year unemployed.

Second store to close in Fareham little piggy shoe shop to close in union street due to Tesco.

Tesco 2 Fareham -2

Since the new store opened the traffic in the high Street has reduced and very few people now walk up the high street end of Fareham.

Its only a matter of time before all shops go. (and what hope for Fareham market)

Fareham was once a market town but now its a Tesco town.

Very well done Fareham council you are now the same as any other town in england you have nothing different to offer so who will want to visit.

Farehamite. Sorry that you feel that way, but Tesco is raking in vast amounts of profits - their lower prices are partially due to the increases of scale, and partly because they treat their suppliers so badly. Buy one, get one free - who takes the hit financially? Not Tesco, that's for sure - it is the farmers that have to. You might think that in such a time of austerity that their profits would decrease, but unfortunately it is not so.

I find it really sad that so many people fail to understand how the supermarkets work. And those that do understand it often don't actually care about the people who are producing their food - they'd prefer to save themselves some money at the expense of farmers who often make little or no profit.

http://tinyurl.com/5ssb6ap

I shall stop ranting now, but I just would like people to think a bit more about the facts behind the pricing in supermarkets.

The answer is simple. .... don't shop there. Shop as you have always done before its arrival. Just ignore its pull and tempting offers. If you paid £3 for a chicken ten years ago... stands to reason to be fair to your local farmers, and food growers, we should be paying just that little bit more, and treating our food with more respect. By freedom food please. The meat wont fall to pieces or be full of water, nor will it have been washed in a washing machine with chemicals to remove the evidence of toiletting and urine burn stains By using that chicken over two days you will gain so much more for your family and be supporting your local community in the process. ... than the additional £1 or 50p you save "elsewhere" Co-op chickens... freedom food, 3 for £10..... Other supermarkets... a bit cheaper of course. But take out your time parking queuing / christmas rushes, lack of chat and atmosphere. Its a no brainer.
So come on local council.. free or low rate parking for two hours isnt too much to ask...You will spending the revenue on returning stray trolleys unemplyment, and loss of income anyway...
so why not be the first council to think out of the box.
ENCOURAGE the young, and the entrepeneurial.
Free the economy with a free but FAIR economy and stop allowing others to abuse their position of power within what is after all, OUR market place. OUR choices. Make the right one. SHOP LOCAL. Or if you cant get out, ring your local butcher, greengrocer. You never know... It could be worth a taxi company doing a special rate into the local town or shops closer to home to allow Senior members to take part too. We could learn alot from their shopping basket contents too.. but thats a rant for another day!.