[Archived] Never Again !

[thenodrog]

Take a visit to the butchers in the market, cheaper, better quality and a nicer, friendly experience than t'ASDA or Tesco.

Stay loyal. Buy local, from local companies.

Spot on. Rem it was supermarket irresponsibility which was responsible for the horsemeat scandal.

[Ewood Spark]

Spot on. Rem it was supermarket irresponsibility which was responsible for the horsemeat scandal.

We did our bit today ... spent £61 on a rib of beef on Blackburn market this morning for a big family get together tomorrow!

[thenodrog]

We did our bit today ... spent £61 on a rib of beef on Blackburn market this morning for a big family get together tomorrow!

Wow! Thats some rib. Well done ES.

Last week I shelled out over 30 quid on a butterflyed leg of lamb which I marinated and bbq'd. It (+ a pound or three of piri piri and moroccan marinaded chicken thighs) fed 6 and made sandwiches and salads till Wed for me n er indoors. Butterfly leg of lamb is my favourite and I'm not a fan of burgers and sausages on the barby as most supermarket products are chock full of fat and spit and smoke fit to bust. 'Proper' meat cooked well on the other hand can be fantastic.

[Stuart]

We did our bit today ... spent £61 on a rib of beef on Blackburn market this morning for a big family get together tomorrow!

Hope the weather holds!

I'm not a fan of burgers and sausages on the barby as most supermarket products are chock full of fat and spit

Sod the horse meat scandal, that's disgusting!

[Sparky Marky]

Wow! Thats some rib. Well done ES.

Last week I shelled out over 30 quid on a butterflyed leg of lamb which I marinated and bbq'd. It (+ a pound or three of piri piri and moroccan marinaded chicken thighs) fed 6 and made sandwiches and salads till Wed for me n er indoors. Butterfly leg of lamb is my favourite and I'm not a fan of burgers and sausages on the barby as most supermarket products are chock full of fat and spit and smoke fit to bust. 'Proper' meat cooked well on the other hand can be fantastic.

I would have thought someone with your undoubted experience would have perfected the homemade burger by now......

[Rover_Shaun]

It's really not like a restaurant. Unless it's your own family restaurant. And even then it's still not like a restaurant.

It is like a football club. It's OUR one and only home town. It's where you're from. Why shouldn't there be some sort of loyalty. If we can't help make it work, no-one's going to make it work for us. However, make the place heaving every weekend and shops and chains will be desperate to get a floor space.

Sadly too many people just want things done for them. By clearing off to Dumpdale (let's face it - it ain't much to shout about), Piddlebrook (slightly better) or the Trafford Centre (clothes anyone?) it just means less footfall in Blackburn, less shoppers, less shops. It's self-fulfilling.

To be fair, a lot has been done in recent years to improve the town but it's going to take time. Especially in the middle of a recession.

I partly blame the Internet for a lot of shop closures but there is still a market for browsing and reserve and collect. People want the ability to buy quickly from plenty of choice without a hard sell and guaranteed stock in your size but would gladly go and collect from the shop or try outfits on.

Take a visit to the butchers in the market, cheaper, better quality and a nicer, friendly experience than t'ASDA or Tesco.

Stay loyal. Buy local, from local companies.

Hmmm. Like Ewood, why spend your money if what's on offer is inadequate?

Blackburn needs to do it's bit. It can't rely on some misplaced sense of loyalty. It has to make it worthwhile first and sadly even the journey in from as near as Brig is a ballache best avoided.

As for Butchers I use the one in Mellor as it's local to work

[Paul]

I partly blame the Internet for a lot of shop closures but there is still a market for browsing and reserve and collect. People want the ability to buy quickly from plenty of choice without a hard sell and guaranteed stock in your size but would gladly go and collect from the shop or try outfits on.

Take a visit to the butchers in the market, cheaper, better quality and a nicer, friendly experience than t'ASDA or Tesco.

Stay loyal. Buy local, from local companies.

The impact of the Internet is huge and not only in relation to town centre diversity etc. Web shopping sucks money away from the local economy with an enormous knock on effect. I hold my hands up to being guilty along with millions of others.

Take a simple example. Own a Kindle? The device was probably bought on line and the books definitely are. Now the local bookshop looses your business, fewer staff are employed, those staff don't spend money in other local shops, the bookseller buys less from his wholesaler, the wholesaler employs fewer people etc. All the income and the cascade effect of the income is lost to the local community.

The existence of this website has the same effect. Before the web we had the LT delivered by the evening paperboy. The newsagent no longer delivers, the paperboy has no round, I don't buy the LT or visit the newsagent and so on.

There is no need to visit a town centre when Internet retailers will deliver everything you want, let one try it on at home and then return it FOC!

We buy all our food locally, and have for years, as the quality and service is far superior. We travel to get this and it's excellent to see these businesses expanding on the back of their uniqueness.

Uniqueness is the issue giving people a reason to visit. These days I only go to any town centre for shoes as its almost impossible to gauge fit without doing so.

[Stuart]

How unique is the Trafford Centre though? It's much like any other large "mall" in the country but that's always busy whenever I've been.

We've not had a proper book shop in town since Seed & Gabbutt - unless you count the WH Smiths shop and even they are pushing Kobos.

You can get things delivered yes and return them but I'm sure people would much rather get their purchase today, e.g. Argos reserve and collect, rather than wait a week. The Royal Mail is about to be privatised, watch posting prices rocket too - maybe an end to that FOC (unless you return it to the shop - e.g. Next). I'm sure others could use the Argos model. A smaller front shop and larger store room - a hybrid between Internet and high street shopping.

An example of the Internet effect is also evident with the loss of all of the town's record shops. Unless you count Tesco's chart cd rack. 4Play, Andy's Records, even Our Price (although their price was part of the problem) have come and gone. Reidy's had to drop music and focus on instruments to survive - oh and move to Darwen Street (I presume the rates are lower).

We have clothes and mobile phone shops at the moment. What we need is more variety, particularly locally produced wares. But that will need the council to drop its rates. An Oswaldtwistle Mills outlet or Huntleys shop? Maybe even the Ossy Mills format with small companies renting a small floor space?

[onlyonejackwalker]

Retail in Preston town centre has been decimated during the global economic crisis. No different than Blackburn. In fact, it may be in worse condition than Blackburn as it mushroomed in size pre recession with the award of City status and inward investment and was not sustainable. Many big players gone from the centre and outlying parks.

For me, Blackburn town centre has improved dramatically this last year or two in many ways and I was pleasantly suprised on a recent visit. Stil miss the old market though!

On the outskirts of Preston it is even worse. There are 9 businesses for sale on Ribbleton Lane alone and all pubs have gone to the wall. Tough trading times for many and even those businesses targetting students close to the University have huge competition and all compete on price.

Once owned a business in Accrington, without fully understanding the area. Like the land that time forgot in many ways and hard to be profitable with so many having so little.

[thenodrog]

I would have thought someone with your undoubted experience would have perfected the homemade burger by now......

Difficult... good minced prime beef doesn't stick together very well. It needs to be old knackered worked out cow beef from the dairy industry and the supermarkets buy all that. Anyway stop trying to take the p1ss.

[Stuart]

Difficult... good minced prime beef doesn't stick together very well. It needs to be old knackered worked out cow beef from the dairy industry and the supermarkets buy all that. Anyway stop trying to take the p1ss.

Try one of these...

[thenodrog]

Correct but it's still better if you can use 'cow' beef. As I say better to buy meat rather than meat products for bbq purposes..... and it doesn't insult your guests. I might be wrong but I don't believe ES is planning to bbq his rib but whether he is or not he didn't buy burgers for his family day did he?

[yoda]

Try one of these...

beat me too it

[thenodrog]

'beat'.... Ha! Thats not bad yoda.

reminds me of an old joke too!

[yoda]

'beat'.... Ha! Thats not bad yoda.

reminds me of an old joke too!

your cracking me up

[Stuart]

your cracking me up

Nice one, yoka.

[yoda]

Nice one, yoka.

I have my moments

back to burgers a mo, they can be made very good with natural ingredients, no need for all the crap that you get in commercial ones which consists mainly of mechanically reclaimed meat product and cereal

[J*B]

Talk about derailing a thread, how has a thread about our fans turned into 'How to make the perfect home made Burger: thenodrog answers your questions.'

[Ewood Spark]

...... I might be wrong but I don't believe ES is planning to bbq his rib but whether he is or not he didn't buy burgers for his family day did he?

Spot on Gordon. The oven awaits ....

[T.J.Newton]

I think you'll need a bigger knife!

[Stuart]

[Tom]

Call that a knife? THIS is a knife

[Amo]

Ooh, down I go...

[Guest Norbert]

[Al]

The impact of the Internet is huge and not only in relation to town centre diversity etc. Web shopping sucks money away from the local economy with an enormous knock on effect. I hold my hands up to being guilty along with millions of others. Take a simple example. Own a Kindle? The device was probably bought on line and the books definitely are. Now the local bookshop looses your business, fewer staff are employed, those staff don't spend money in other local shops, the bookseller buys less from his wholesaler, the wholesaler employs fewer people etc. All the income and the cascade effect of the income is lost to the local community. The existence of this website has the same effect. Before the web we had the LT delivered by the evening paperboy. The newsagent no longer delivers, the paperboy has no round, I don't buy the LT or visit the newsagent and so on. There is no need to visit a town centre when Internet retailers will deliver everything you want, let one try it on at home and then return it FOC! We buy all our food locally, and have for years, as the quality and service is far superior. We travel to get this and it's excellent to see these businesses expanding on the back of their uniqueness. Uniqueness is the issue giving people a reason to visit. These days I only go to any town centre for shoes as its almost impossible to gauge fit without doing so.

Problem is Paul that the Kindle is a far superior product and the books are cheaper to buy. The LET is a useless rag these days. Read the back page in Asda and you've read it.