Swindon Town Centre

[Legends-Lounge]

What are the going rates like for the staples like beer, food etc?

Really? 50% less on everything. The SA Rand is is currently Just shy of ZAR 22 v £1 a beer in a bar is £2.50
£3.50 which is an imported beer a local beer £2.00- £2.50. In supermarket much less, say £1.00 per pint. Food is in general 50% less than the U.K. A bottle of vino in a lower end restaurant could cost £7.50 a mid range restaurant a bottle of vino £8.50 all prices are plus or minus depending on a location. locally produced ‘Champagrne’ is approximately £15-20 in a restaurant.

[Legends-Lounge]

@43% proof a bottle of Smirnoff 750ml is £7.50

[Bob's Orange]

Really? 50% less on everything. The SA Rand is is currently Just shy of ZAR 22 v £1 a beer in a bar is £2.50
£3.50 which is an imported beer a local beer £2.00- £2.50. In supermarket much less, say £1.00 per pint. Food is in general 50% less than the U.K. A bottle of vino in a lower end restaurant could cost £7.50 a mid range restaurant a bottle of vino £8.50 all prices are plus or minus depending on a location. locally produced ‘Champagrne’ is approximately £15-20 in a restaurant.

Graham Beck is a very good SA fizz. We often pick up a bottle when it's on offer (between 10 and 15 notes)

[Batch]

the $ zone:

looking at Vegas for prices. fuck that's got expensive. $45-90 for the top buffets. Last time I went they were $20-30... oh yeah 10 years ago.

then there the mandatory tip culture at most places. Pay your staff a proper wage assholes.  I'm British.  it takes a while to get used to 15-20% tip ffs

[Legends-Lounge]

Our friends emigrated 15 years ago. I’m not in their financial league but in all fairness to them you wouldn’t know that if you knew them. Which is why we have this year after some cajoling booked flights and joined them for some late winter sunshine. If you’re into stunning scenery, Cape Town offers that in spades.

[molepar]

Our friends emigrated 15 years ago. I’m not in their financial league but in all fairness to them you wouldn’t know that if you knew them. Which is why we have this year after some cajoling booked flights and joined them for some late winter sunshine. If you’re into stunning scenery, Cape Town offers that in spades.

My parents love SA and have been for 2-3 weeks on 2 or 3 occasions. It’s definitely on the list for when I have the time and money to visit.

[RobertT]

the $ zone:

looking at Vegas for prices. fuck that's got expensive. $45-90 for the top buffets. Last time I went they were $20-30... oh yeah 10 years ago.

then there the mandatory tip culture at most places. Pay your staff a proper wage assholes.  I'm British.  it takes a while to get used to 15-20% tip ffs

I was reading this one with interest and wondering what the fuck it had to do with the Town Centre?  That thread derailment happened quickly!

Not only do they earn their money via Tips, they have to ensure they declare it all correctly when filing their taxes every year.  You do quickly get used to it once you live here though, especially as most food options are not a huge price leap on buying from the supermarket.

The City I live in,, bringing this back to topic via restaurants, puts on lots of events in the Downtown area and brings all the local businesses out onto the central square area and nearly always involves the restaurants providing festival style food offerings or being part of some sort of trail - because people eat!  Something Old Town is much better at it seems.  

The Town Centre in Swindon clearly has an issue with the zoning that has occurred in past years now being outdated vs. retail habits.  The real trick is not going to be converting the perimeter offices, but more convincing the Pension firms that own most of the Retail core that they need to revert to Residential in many cases.  It's still going to be a cultural ring doughnut unless they get people living right in amongst it all.

[horlock07]

Regents circus has the potential to be a good social hub. A few of the restaurants have shut and I think it’s now just Nando’s, cinema and boom battle bar. Anyone know if there are plans for any new restaurants in there?

If restaurants have shut  previously it possibly suggests that there is just not the market for so many outlets within the town, if they are chains rather than bespoke ones the sentiments are not there and its purely a bottom line decision, whereas some privately owned ones will muddle on making jack shit. What with the cost of living issues + energy costs the hospitality market is taking an absolute shoeing at the moment, especially so soon after the Covid kicking.

If people want businesses to survive they will have to pay the increased costs, as everything is going up the businesses have to pass it on to the consumers, we don't eat out that much at the moment, but I notice that Fish and Chips in the chippy in the village has gone through the roof and on discussing with the guy in there its a combination of the raw materials going up + the cost of cooking it. 

[Pookemon]

If restaurants have shut  previously it possibly suggests that there is just not the market for so many outlets within the town, if they are chains rather than bespoke ones the sentiments are not there and its purely a bottom line decision, whereas some privately owned ones will muddle on making jack shit. What with the cost of living issues + energy costs the hospitality market is taking an absolute shoeing at the moment, especially so soon after the Covid kicking.

If people want businesses to survive they will have to pay the increased costs, as everything is going up the businesses have to pass it on to the consumers, we don't eat out that much at the moment, but I notice that Fish and Chips in the chippy in the village has gone through the roof and on discussing with the guy in there its a combination of the raw materials going up + the cost of cooking it. 

One of the issues with Regents Circus is the deals they did at the start with long rent free periods and/or short breaks.   Essentially Morissons was the footfall but broke at the first opportunity when rent incentive ended, at least that is what I heard.
Once it pulled out the other chains quickly followed.  More resi in town is the only real long term solution to footfall.

[Dr Pierre Chang]

Morrisons are still paying a million a year lease for that unit which runs for at least another decade…no wonder it remains empty and no one else has taken it on. A shame because that is essentially the ‘focal point’ of the development and drove much of the footfall.

[Batch]

Morrisons are still paying a million a year lease for that unit which runs for at least another decade…no wonder it remains empty and no one else has taken it on. A shame because that is essentially the ‘focal point’ of the development and drove much of the footfall.

How much were they losing when it was open!

[ChalkyWhiteIsGod]

Morrisons are still paying a million a year lease for that unit which runs for at least another decade…no wonder it remains empty and no one else has taken it on. A shame because that is essentially the ‘focal point’ of the development and drove much of the footfall.

Something that could do there that would have the restaurants around it busy, is a music venue. The Oasis was always a bit shit as just a sports hall but at least we had something that could hold 2,500 to 3,000 people. Now we have nothing.

Look at the footprint of that Morrisons. 49,739 sq ft! That is not insignificant at all. You'd have to estimate you could turn that in to a good 4 to 5k venue.

£24m or whatever they were asking though, just silly......just never going to happen, is it?

[Ginginho]

You have The MECA 100 yards away, so doubt they would put another music venue in such close proximity.

[ChalkyWhiteIsGod]

May have undercooked that actually. For comparison 'Marshall Arena' which is on the side of MK Dongs ground, is 36,800 sq ft and holds 5k, so may even get 6k in there.

Looking at it, it isn't that much smaller than Cardiff International Arena.

Its not just music either. Swindon has a fair boxing tradition for a town of our size, but we only ever get white collar boxing of very low down pro-cards. A venue that size would have even the Eddie Hearns and Frank Warrens of the world considering putting shows in there.

[ChalkyWhiteIsGod]

You have the Meca 100 yards away, so doubt they would put another music venue in such close proximity.

Way too small to attract anyone of note. 600 capacity vs somewhere between 3k and 7k. They'd be in a totally different market.

Its not uncommon to have two rooms even in the same venue with different capacities for different markets. A lot of the o2 academies have two rooms for different capacities, even the o2 arena has the Indigo inside the same venue.