Jubilee spirit - hmmm

[Nigello]

Poor show by most of the proprietors of business - chain and private - on LL. Mrs Robinson, The Palmerston and a few others (the dentist at the G Green end and the florist also did great jobs) - but the others simply CNBA. Even if they're not even remotely royalists or not from a UK or Commonwealth heritage, don't they understand that practically any gimmick is good for business, especially as retail is recovering from massive body blows from lockdowns and their knock on effects.

Like attracts like, so if the frontages look welcoming and festive the businesses they belong to may very well get more footfall. (Eg. Xmas lights and decos or footy bunting during the Euros, etc. are par for the course.) Not impressed and don't rate their community spirit or their commitment to helping all retailers out after a torrid time. (Did the council or any local business organisation not have any thoughts on this?)

[heartblock]

I suppose if we lived in Russia or North Korea, then we could all be forced to wave flags and bow to the state...maybe all the shop owners should be publicly shamed and possibly some enforced punishment. I quite like the queen...but have avoided celebrating a family that owns far too much land so they can shoot things and have a history of imprisoning their own family members with mental health issues, avoiding tax and laws enforcing employment equality.

[Dogkennelhillbilly]

Nigello Wrote:

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> , don't they understand that

> practically any gimmick is good for business,

Did you go in for a scale and polish at the dentist specially because they had bunting out? Maybe shopkeepers understand how to run shops better than people who don't. 💡

[KidKruger]

Looks like shopkeepers are doing what they want, while they?ve still got the choice.

[Castleton]

I guess I was quite surprised at the lack of a coordinated bunting display, but not bothered at all.

In fact, I'd avoid a shop going completely over the top and know many others that would do the same!

[Nigello]

Typical hyperbolic and virtue signalling (because virtue, of course, equals bashing anything that has to do with tradition or, shock horror, a flag) responses to a measured and balanced position. Nobody talked about forcing anyone to do anything; I think those who are nettled are secretly embarrassed at their lack of community spirit. Bottom line, if you are able to stick up some flags for the footy or some sparkling lights for Xmas, knowing that you are likely to chime in with a fair few customers or potential customers, why not do it for another national celebration and see whether it does make for a few extra quid in the till. Money talks and Lordship Lane needs as much help as it can get - or haven't you seen the threads on closed stores and the over-abundance of expensive coffee shops?

[Nigello]

Show me a businessman or woman who is not interested in making more money, and therefore not interested in ways to try to do that, and I'll show you a unicorn. That is the nub of the matter - this place is full of posts lamenting the way in whcih the main drag has changed and others that tell of great woes in retail so not capitalising on a chance to make things better for themselves and their employees - even if it is just a chance - is strange indeed. But if you want to make it about how with it you are for showing your republican (and therefore desirable and to be lauded) tendencies, go ahead - add it to the list of misconceptions this place is so famous for...

[heartblock]

My community spirit centres around volunteering at a food bank and giving a percentage of my salary to a homeless charity, sorry for believing being a patriot is what you do for others rather then celebrating huge amounts of money wasted on flag-hugging.

[EDguy89]

I mean you don't have anything to prove that bunting = more sales. All you have is your assumptions and at best an anecdote or two.

Unless you'd like to present your data i'll just go along assuming that you're just whining about trivial nonsense.

[apbremer]

On Dear. Lots of little republicans poised with their guillotines. How would they like President Corbyn?

[Dan-the-man]

I think it's been handled well by local businesses, with some just putting a few flags up but nothing more. Watching jubilee stuff on TV can be good but I don't like it when it is over the top as it can be in some places.

Been to Herne Tavern, Cafe G and Clock House and atmosphere has been great.

Liked the street party on Hindsman Road this afternoon - my partner and I walked past it after lunch.

[Jenijenjen]

Now it?s done, can there be a moratorium on the word ?iconic??

[RoundTable]

Let?s play a game to see if it puts the bunting argument into perspective.

The game is called ?how does the sentence ends?? The rules are simple; you have to complete the sentence below. The most accurate wins. Only one ending per participant.

?The jubilee celebrates the Royal family, one of the wealthiest in the world, and over the centuries it has acquired and accumulated its inherited wealth through??

[Dogkennelhillbilly]

Nigello Wrote:

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> Money talks

How much extra money did you spend in decorated shops because they were decorated? How many people do you think did the same?

[KalamityKel]

Why are so many of you being aggressive?

If you don't agree with the celebrations, good on you. If you love the spirit of the nation, good on you.

[KidKruger]

Yeah I hear you KalamityKel.

Just like when there was so much pro-Brexit sentiment, those who didn?t agree were being aggressive by pointing-out plain facts why, weren?t they ?

I mean, actually pointing out facts rather than just going along with the symbolism and slogans (and ignoring the lack of any real significance) is sooooo aggressive.

No one?s pissing on a party here.

It?s had it?s time, it?s being going on for too long, it reinforces the class system, it costs the Country millions, rich people contribute less to it in proportion to poor people, it?s just some other human being. Who doesn?t struggle to pay her gas.

UK international inbound tourism won?t suddenly stop because a nice old lady doesn?t have a dozen castles anymore.

But not supporting ?bunting? is aggressive, really ?

Right. Got it.

Nigello - if that makes me ?trying to be with it?, yeah - you got me !

?With the view that the class system is hard in place and needs dismantling?.

Propa ?virtue signalling?, that.

Righto 🙄

[JohnL]

I liked parts of the jubilee but didn't spend the weekend watching it - I went out, I played Just Cause 4 on PS4. I also completed watching the Boys first three episodes - poor Timmy.

[heartblock]

KalamityKel Wrote:

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> Why are so many of you being aggressive?

> If you don't agree with the celebrations, good on

> you. If you love the spirit of the nation, good

> on you.

Um...OP was the start of this thread...not being ?aggressive? just responding to their moan..

[Sephiroth]

Someone starts a new thread policing local business and judging them on flags

People point out that maybe businesses in question don't care about the whole thing (which is absolutely fair and up to them) and what does the OP come back with?

"Typical hyperbolic and virtue signalling ("

I mean there is one person engaging in those things and it' you dear Nigello

[hammerman]

Don't think the OP was 'policing' local businesses but just pointing something out.

These businesses are probably very vocal on social media e.g. facebook, instagram, whatever, but then don't put in any physical efforts for their shop frontages.

[Nigello]

Welcome to Britain, where a decently constructed criticism with factual evidence = policing. 🤷‍♂️

[Sephiroth]

you're the one who called people disagreeing ""Typical hyperbolic and virtue signalling" - so easy with the "welcome to Britain where..." nonsense

[heartblock]

Aaah the spirit of kindness and decently constructive criticism ?don't rate their community spirit or their commitment to helping all retailers out after a torrid time?

Putting a few plastic flags up? There are many other quieter ways of showing support for fellow retailers and giving back to the community and this judgemental and unpleasant comment is really not in the spirit of any words that have been expressed by the Queen.

[Siduhe]

I think the answer is in the range of responses on this thread. Not every shopper is more likely to spend (or spend more) at a local shop because they have a fancy Jubilee display and I can see why it might work well for Mrs Robinson and less well for say Moxons. I also know that at least some retailers were expecting a lot of people to be away from ED last weekend which may have affected their plans.

Nigello has a clear and particular view that it would be better for everyone if things looked "nice" in our local environment, which I completely get and applaud, but it's a way from asking shops to clean up graffiti on their shutters to expecting them to go full-bunting for an event which some but not all people respond to or are interested in.

[Nigello]

My point was that not everyone likes or celebrates football/Xmas/Halloween yet businesses know it is a way of trying to drum up business, at least a little, so business owners who did not make the effort (flag, bunting, poster, etc.) could well have earnt a bit more if they had. Who cares about the reason, just do your best to make money and keep people employed. Much has been written about the demise (sic) of LL and the influx of chains (whcih have big budgets and whole departments dedicated to sprucing up and decorating premises because it drives custom) yet it is ok, even laudable, for small businesses in a very tricky retail market to do nothing to attract spending ahead of and over a four-day holiday weekend. Sounds like cutting one's nose to spite one's face, but I don't have a business to think of or folk to employ or overheads to pay.