Nairn High Street - Match the shop to the image

RG IV12 has a flickr page full of pictures of Nairn shops. Can you match pictures with shop names?


Nice work RG! Gurnites can see the pictures individually here. And if you have a flickr account you can leave comments there.

This little bit of make-believe inspired by Tradespark George

Wouldn't it be cool to have a third supermarket in Nairn? This observer for one wouldn't mind seeing even a wee Tesco in town. Who knows maybe they would be up for it some time.

Nairn's healthy High Street

In comparison with other places anyway. Here's a tale of woe from Fort William where there are over a dozen empty shops on the High Street.

This week this observer watched a programme on television that was also highlighting the demise of the traditional High Street. It's pretty hard to fight against the out of town shopping centres and the lure of digital shopping from the comfort of the consumer's armchair but Nairn seems to be holding up against the strain. Things will look even better soon as the Sainsbury's shopfront improvement scheme cash will be released. Louise Clark told the Ward Forum on Wednesday night that she had the "magic forms".

One problem that was highlighted on television was how shoppers would travel out of town to avoid parking charges - another reason for Highland Council not to put the central car park in the sale documents?

Concept (top-shop) no more

They're still going strong down on the brae however

Nairn shopkeepers should adjust?

Here's some thoughts in from a regular Gurnite, would anyone else be inclined to agree?

"I think, Nairn’s Business Association should
a) strongly protest and run berserk against the new signs along the B9090 keeping away potential (paying) visitors from Nairn, but
b) the shopkeepers would be well-advised to reconsider their opening times:

People who make the effort to drive into Nairn for shopping at Sainsbury after their working day and who want to “explore” Nairn’s High Street, will be bitterly disappointed to find out there is only the Coop open.

A shopkeeper I spoke to said he might try longer opening times perhaps next year and in summer only.....
From my point of view this is a completely lost opportunity – a disappointed customer will not make a second approach.

When working last week in our front garden, a couple – tourists – stopped and asked where they could find Nairn’s shops – it was 5.15 p.m. .......my husband and I could only recommend the Coop.....
Opening times until 6.30 or even better 7 p.m. would be very helpful to present Nairn as a vital place and not as the sleepy village.

If Nairn’s shopkeepers will not adjust their habits to the new situation they will miss a one-off. They cannot blame Sainsbury if they are not prepared and willing to offer fresh ideas in reply."

Spin-off for the High Street if Forres folk visit Sainsbury's?

One of our regular readers sent this image of a full-page Sainsbury's ad in the Forres Gazette. Could businesses elsewhere in the town see a bit of a spin-off if Forrresians come through in great numbers?

Nairn Model Centre

The Nairn Property Centre has closed but coming soon is the Nairn Model Centre. More details here.

RNLI stall

Preparations for the RNLI stall outside the Courthouse earlier this morning. Why not pop down and have a look? As usual there was a large selection of healthy looking herbaecous plants ready to go straight into the garden.

A rare opportunity - retail space available soon on the brae

Although nationally there are lots of empty shops in town centres (just take one look at Inverness), Nairn shops are fully occupied at present. An opportunity is coming up soon however, for potential retailers in Nairn. More details over on the Association of Nairn Businesses site.

Just a little too narrow now?

For many years the night-time economy of the High Street has been just as busy, if not more so, as that of the 9-5 scene. Traditionally those seeking meals from many of the take-away establishments have parked on both sides of the road with little or no problem. The customers get their food, the owners of the premises their profit and quite a few others some employment.
As the Streetscape progresses however it appears that many drivers are having to park half on the pavement and half on the road to safely allow traffic past. The best laid plans of mice and planners?
Will those problems we've seen on the brae just be repeated further up the street? For the sake of a couple of feet and inches here and there couldn't things just have been allowed to carry on as normal?

High Street to close for at least two weeks from 11th October

A circular delivered to residents in the town centre states:

'The formal road closure will commence on Monday 11th October 2010 and will be in force for a period of 4 weeks, to 6th November 2010, or until the works are complete, whichever comes first.

The circular notice is three pages long and does state '..., it is not intended that the High Street will actually be closed for any longer than TWO WEEKS, and every effort will be made to ensure completion by Friday 22nd October 2010.'

If nothing else this will give the authorities the chance to see where all the hundreds of cars that head up the High Street every day are going because the impact of closing the High Street will be immediate. One wonders if Waverly Road, for example will be able to take increased traffic as drivers look for new routes to their usual destinations. More from the circular later gurnites.

UPDATE: Read the closure notification - Page 1, Page 2, Page 3.

High Street Scene

Will Streetscape 2 solve this problem - Part 2

A lorry parks just up from the brae, perhaps the loading bay on the brae itself was full? The bus driver coming along Gordon Street does his best with the remaining road surface available but still mounts the pavement as he enters the High Street. Will anything be shaved off the wide pavement here to allow buses and other large vehicles to get round the bend safely when this situation occurs? Picture will enlarge.

Will Streetscape 2 solve this Nairn High Street Hazard

Yesterday afternoon this lorry had a delivery to make but no where to park without blocking the traffic coming behind. The answer was to go on the pavement. It is not unusual to see vehicles mounting the pavement on the brae but it does happen on the High Street proper too, more generally just up from the brae as delivery drives seek somewhere to stop, but nowhere is really totally safe from this practice. Here's an example of just how dangerous this behaviour is. Hopefully Streetscape 2 will bring solutions?

Saturday street sign Nairn High Street

Do you think we need a Royal Burgh Council to speak out for Nairn? For more information on this subject and the issues surrounding it head over to this campaign blog. There's an opinion poll in the side bar once you get there.

116 High Street - more local retail history

The recent Gurn article about the forthcoming availability of the 116 High Street premises inspired a few memories on this thread. Now thanks to the MR Archive we can add some more information to the shop's history. The details are from 1969 and 1900 respectively. Pictures will enlarge.

/a

Was the bad weather good for the High Street?

It seems to have helped in Forres:

'WHILE Forres's blanket of snow brought misery to many, there is one group of people with cause to celebrate the weather, other than the winter-sports enthusiasts - the town's shopkeepers.
Retailers along the High Street and beyond have told the "Forres Gazette" that the town's citizens have been making regular trips through their doors and, in many cases, sales are up on last year.
Many shops have also reported that slightly more unusual items have been flying off the shelves during the Arctic weather.' More here.

Streetscape? Who needs it? Time for a 'back to the future' approach?

Thanks to 'MR Archive' a gurnite who sent in this picture from the early 70's showing how traffic managed to go up and down the High Street and still allow parking on both sides. Is it just all the wobbly bits and fancy street furniture that cause all the problems for lorry drivers and the rest of us? Is a fresh look at the plans needed before anything else goes ahead?

As Grow to sow would say, 'e-mailed in from a Granny Smith's'

Sandy says sorry for the state of the High Street on Saturday

Regulars will have read the Gurn article posted on Saturday highlighting the dangerous state of the pavements. Ian Ramage of the Press and Journal has been investigating the issue and he reports an apology from the Convenor of the Highland Council:

“The guys were caught out and I’ve been inquiring about this. There’s no excuse, especially during the Christmas shopping period. We’ve got to get the salt out quicker. I apologise.”

Liz thinks there may be more fundamental problems however:

'“The administration are reducing the funding for winter clearance by £464,000 over two years.
“If we have a bad winter there will not be the men on the ground and it will obviously take longer to get round. That will have a big impact, anywhere.”

More on this issue on the Press and Journal site.

UPDATE 21.12 Salt on roads - Liz gets quoted on Gaelic television channel BBC Alba. On the 20.00 news programe to be precise. What she said has also been published on-line.
'Dh'innis Pròbhost Inbhir Narrann, An Comh. Liz Dhòmhnallach, nach eil an uiread air a bhith air a dhèanamh gus rathaidean agus starain a dheasachadh san aimsir.
Thuirt i gur e lùghdachadh ann an uairean luchd-obrach, agus lùghdachadh san àireimh de làraidhean salainn as coireach.'

Gurn translation follows (no money back no guarantee): The provost of Nairn Cllr Liz MacDonald said that not enough had been done to salt roads and paths in the weather. She said that it was the reduction in the hours of working and the reduction in the number of salting lorries that was to blame.

High street to get loadsofmoney

As earlier reported on the Spin but perhaps they have the figures a little wrong. Anyway Gurnites here's some comment from David Brownless:

'Perhaps old news now................ but Nairn has been awarded £800,000 as part of the Scottish Executive town centre regeneration programme.

Given that parts of the Highland Council , quite deservingly at times , come in for a fair amount of flak, I would like to take the opportunity to applaud the efforts made by those responsible for the bid application.

So a period of upheaval awaits the High Street but, given that one of the criteria of this award is that the money needs to be spent quickly, hopefully things will progress at a pace.
Not everyone agrees about overhauling High Street but, with the alternative being that another town could as easily have been awarded this thick end of £1 million, I reckon , like ‘Cheddar cheese and pickle, the Vincent motorsickle’ it’s a ‘reason to be cheerful’.

David '

Well let's hope it's done in a sensitive fashion David, I recently heard one High Street resident saying, 'What can we do to stop them wrecking the High Street like they did the brae, it's far more dangerous down there now.'

UPDATE: (Saturday 11.21) Sandy Park is quoted in the Press and Journal today (makes a change, it is usually Liz who dominates the Saturday edition of the paper that puts Cawdor in Inverness-shire):

'This is just what the town needs. The first phase of the improvements have been well received and I am sure the people of Nairn will welcome the facelift that awaits part of the High Street.'

Sorry Sandy but from what the Gurn has heard most people seem to be upset with what was done on the brae and feel that it is now more dangerous than it was before.

UPDATE: (Saturday 13.41) Nairn wouldn't have got this money without the Tories?

'Mary Scanlon said:“I am delighted this money has been awarded to such worthy communities and I am pleased to say it was Scottish Conservative Pressure which secured this fund. Taken together with the £40m of funding allocated in August as part of Conservative success in the 2009/10 budget, communities in many areas of the Highlands, from Lerwick and Stromness in the Northern Isles to Fort William and Nairn in the East and West, have benefited.”'

More on the Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch, Strathspey Conservative Blog.