Marketing Kicks In

As long as I’ve been reading newspapers, I recall local rags selling Christmas space each year alongside special advertising features on local town shopping, articles that sometimes tend to exaggerate or promise more than a town can deliver. This year’s no exception, though the Free Press seemingly has it about right.

The Free Press devotes two pages to “Christmas in Ruthin”, one more page than for Dinbych/Denbigh. The editorial supports the ANRHEG Nadolig Rhuthun/Ruthin Christmas PRESENT marketing campaign, re-launched this week, following last year’s effort. There’s a reassuringly sumptuous half-page Christmas PRESENT advert. The Free Press so accurately states, “Few small towns can boast as wide a range of independent retailers as Ruthin”. It continues, “While some fascias have changed above the historic shop fronts, the longevity of many names is a testament to the dedication of owners…”

The editorial almost seems to apologise when it states, perhaps reassuringly after a dreaded Christmas past, “With no road closures, you’ll find it easier than ever to enjoy the festive atmosphere”. Hmmm, traffic & busy shopping don’t mix though parking & shopping does. Dilemma.

Curiously—no doubt as a filler—the pages also have a repeat of the Rotary float timetable, also seven pages earlier. By the way, have you noticed how the float blares out more Christmas songs these days and fewer carols? Shame.

The Denbighshire Visitor devotes a page each to Christmas in Y Rhyl, Prestatyn, Dinbych, Rhuddlan… and Rhuthun. References to the independent, unusual and stress free shopping are as you’d expect. Christmas may take on a “traditional seasonal air” but we’re not sure about “sleigh bells and laughter seemingly round every corner”.

Here, it would’ve been useful to advertise ANRHEG Nadolig in all its regal purple, for there must be an untapped market in the north of Denbighshire looking to try a destination shopping centre of distinction, such as Rhuthun.

Only two local advertisers felt the Visitor was worth the effort. Oddly, one was the White Bear Garage, whereas the other is a more likely candidate, Trefor Jones menswear. Compare this with the Free Press, where there are six (including the White Bear and even more unusually Dragon Drilling).

Top Dre Two

A letter in today’s Free Press names and shames al but two of Rhuthun’s landlords, by implication, for their perceived lack of interest in the longer term future of & funding for Top Dre and the Gŵyl Rhuthun Festival.

Pubs do well out of Top Dre. Given the number of comments on Tuesday’s post on this subject, I thought it worthwhile mentioning that the Festival’s chairman had gone to print to point out that only two of Rhuthun’s publicans had attended a critical meeting. The two hostelries were the Wine Vaults—who’ve so far pledged funding—and the Manor House/Manorhaus. And no one else.

Free Parking Offer

Crumbs! As of 8 a.m. today till 17 January 2010, Denbighshire county council is offering free parking in Rhuthun’s Park Road car park. Not just that, it will provide free parking elsewhere in Rhuthun after 3 p.m. This is quite an offer and we should applaud the council for it.

In all, that’s a total of 41 days free of charge (when excluding eight Sundays, where charges apply but shops are closed; two town council-nominated free days; and three bank holidays, when no one is in town anyway).

Park Road long stay is the least busy of Rhuthun’s car parks and the most remote. Nevertheless, once word gets out, we can see it being well over-subscribed. Here, there are 50 lined spaces for cars, three for coaches (one taken permanently by a mobile home) and an unlined area that could no doubt also be used (unless you can get booked for not occupying a lined space). Saturday lunch time, the Rhuthun/Ruthin Blog Car Park Watch Team noted an occupancy of 38 per cent, which means there would’ve been just 31 empty spaces available. Book early to avoid disappointment!

What are the consequences and effects of this decision?

• There will be a loss of revenue to the council, as people transfer from other car parks to Park Road. Those of you who say “so what?” might care to remember that others of us pay council tax.


• People having paid for a season ticket may feel somewhat aggrieved.


• Workers and Park Road residents will be tempted to block Park Road with all day parking, saving £3.50 per day.


• It will be interesting to see if trade picks up in town after 3 p.m. or whether people simply switch their morning arrival to the afternoon.


• We will find out whether car parking charges are such an issue. Will people continue to use existing paid for car parks rather than use a free, more remote one? Will free parking generate more trade & visits, or will broadly the same people come in but for free?


• This might free up on-street free parking with its limited waiting, though no doubt people will wish to park as near as they can to where they want to go.


• This will benefit the lower reaches of Clwyd Street most and the opposite end at Well Street least.
  

And, who knows, this may actually reduce lazy in-town yellow line parking, which is now approaching epidemic proportions… though don’t hold your breath.

The town council is offering free parking all day on Saturdays 5th (produce market day) and 12th December 2009. What better opportunity do you need to shop for Christmas at Rhuthun rather than face the crowds at Chester or wherever?

Top Dre

The front page of Thursday’s Free Press didn’t make good reading for Rhuthun PLC. Raked up were the problems associated with the summer’s Top Dre, the Saturday afternoon and early evening conclusion to the Gŵyl Rhuthun Festival. For a good many in Rhuthun, the 2 p.m. to 8 p.m. Top of Town spectacular is a family affair with acts on stage in a relaxed, traffic free environment. Last time, though, it was seemingly spoilt after 8 p.m. by alleged break-ins and criminal damage, these apparently linked to the drinking that is associated with and following Top Dre.

There was a comment in the recent Free Press that a meeting called to see what might be done was attended by just two publicans. These are the very businesses that benefit most from Top Dre.

For the rest of the town during and before Top Dre, business is dead. I mean dead. If the landlords can’t get together to solve some of these recent and disturbing issues, you have to ask whether Top Dre has a future. And that would be such a shame, because talk of moving the festival out of town would mean it loosing its heart. Yet, without the support of the pub trade in tackling matters it would seem to indicate its continuation would do the whole town a disservice in terms of vandalism, behavioural issues, bad press—and loss of trade, other than for the pubs on and around the Square.

Tesco Rhuthun Expands

Nearly two years after a planning inspector overturned Denbighshire county council’s refusal to let Tesco Rhuthun expand, last week saw the start of an extension at Rhuthun’s store.

Well, an extension would be an exaggeration. Tesco is, in fact, installing a so-called “environmental lobby” at the entrance to its store. Behind the white boards, workers began digging up the brick pavings.

This may not be the expansion that Tesco originally asked for (and regular readers will recall requested before the store was even completed). And, strictly speaking, the lobby is within rather than without.

If the term “environmental lobby” suggests that Tesco has joined Greenpeace in militantly pressuring the government to do more for our surroundings, things are actually more prosaic. Tesco got their environmental dictionary out to tell us that the lobby would improve the store’s “thermal efficiency” (translated, using less energy to heat the store) and to reduce its “carbon footprint” (translated, by belting out less carbon dioxide waste gases in the process).

In this case, perhaps every little actually *does* help.

Smoking Barrels

Appeared this week on the roundabout near Glasdir, by Dyffryn Services, is sponsorship signage for local-ish firm self-storage4u. This is a prominent and busy roundabout at the junction of Borthyn/Denbigh Rd & the northern relief road. Good revenue-raising idea that’s popular in other parts of Britain. Better and more appropriate to see a roundabout sponsored than, say, county hall, the police station or the library. And, of course, strategically placed roundabouts see significant traffic flows.

The competition Lock Stock of Dinbych/Denbigh has for some time sponsored the Station Yard roundabout (aka Tesco’s or the Craft Centre roundabout). This is perhaps the best location of all. Ignoring the mini-roundabout at Llanfwrog, that leaves two standard roundabouts that could become sponsored. One is along the northern relief road itself.

The other roundabout is highly visible in the town centre, on St Peter’s Square. Perhaps that’s just *too* prominent for advertising, given that it’s in a conservation area, although signage might complement the more futuristic new-style 'keep let' bollards that appeared over the summer. The produce market commandeers the roundabout every month, with its promotional “flags”. May be modest permanent advertising could point people towards a local shop, the Old Gaol, Natclwyd y Dre, the Craft Centre or even, dare we say, towards Tesco.

“St Peter’s Square, sponsored by Tesco” may just have a certain commercial ring about it. Or would that be lock, stock and two smoking barrels for the town?

Udecided

Update: congratulations to the winner & runner up, both of which loosely qualify for the £25,000: 1. Children's adventure Ship (£17,000); 2. Zip Wire (£9,000).

Another pressing commitment prevented my attending last night’s Udecide meeting. There are, however, two reports of proceedings and if anyone has anything to offer as to what happened and the result, please use the comments facility.

An anonymous comment late last night read:

“Sadly the majority of the attendees were the same OLD same OLD! Although the actual outcome was a great result for young children in Ruthin the majority of voters that turned up were the usual suspects (Rhuthun town council, older residents and set in their ways folk). This meant that projects like the youth shelter didn't stand a chance due to the typical stereotypical views that are labelled to teenagers. On saying that though the turnout of young people was disappointing and if they had come out in force then the result could of been different.”

Early this morning, Kathleen Agnew said:

“My son and his friend submitted an idea for the project at the very last minute, 4:59pm! I had no idea that it would lead me to be standing on the stage at Brynhyfryd dressed as a sailor. What fun we had and what an opportunity for our children see democracy in progress. Although we came sixth in the end, the children are still delighted with the choices made by a large audience. Denbighshire County Council wake up to this. This is the way forward to a greater enfranchised public and energised communities.”

Two opposing views as to how participatory budgeting worked in Rhuthun. Remember, that this has never been tried before, either here or on such a large scale in Sir Ddinbych/Denbighshire. Perhaps this sort of thing has a future… provided everyone is engaged.

One issue is that little notice was given as to the date. Some households received their leaflets late. I understand leaflets were circulating at Ysgol Brynhyfryd on Monday, the day beforehand. Experience would suggest that this would not have resulted in a greater turnout but it might, for example, have given me opportunity to switch my own priorities...

Udecide

Rhuthun residents are invited to decide upon how up to £25,000 of public money can be spent on improving the play facilities in Cae Ddol. This is the so-called “participatory budgeting” exercise, where organisations and individuals in the town will put forward at least 10 ideas at a public meeting tomorrow at 7 p.m. at Ysgol Brynhyfryd; and the rest of us can vote on them. You’ve all had a leaflet (right) so let’s see a good turn out.

This follows the swift infilling of that health & safety nightmare, the Cae Ddol paddling pool. The pool’s disappearance caused something of a furore and its replacement, with something tangible under the “Udecide” voting system, will no doubt offer a safer and year-round facility. Though my leaflet doesn't translate Udecide, I guess this might best and informally be “dewisT”.

Suggestions range from model sailing boats to a (presumably dry) adventure ship to a youth shelter. One is “talking tubes & flowers” and we’re not sure whether the flowers do the talking as well as the tubes. Is that therefore “flowers & talking tubes” or “talking tubes & talking flowers”? I guess all will be made clear tomorrow evening.

To be deemed a success there will need to be as many people listening to the hustings & voting as possible. There should be an announcement of the winner on the night. If successful, can we expect the principle of participatory budgeting to extend to more important areas?

One worry is that, like everything else in public life, those who attend will be the usual regular attendees, if you see what I mean. Since young people may also vote, what’s to stop a mass action of young people voting through, for example, the youth & community shelter? Since the project is deliberately aimed at *play equipment* for *children*, we need plenty of children present, too, though 7 p.m. may be a little late for toddlers. To guard against any hijacking eventuality, the organisers need a really good turn out of ordinary folk—like you. Otherwise, it’s hardly “participatory”. As we said before, “the actual selected project matters less than..., partaking in the decision-making process”.

Whatever happens, at least we are unlikely to see anyone proposing a fishery.

In 13 Years’ Time?

Is this the shape of Rhuthun beyond 2022?

The county council is consulting on the local development plan towards the year 2021. As part of that process, landowners are afforded the opportunity to suggest parcels they could release for development. The draft map above shows the extent of such land. Apart from the Lôn Parcwr triangle to the north east, the newly marked land is not coterminous with the proposed new development boundary. This, I assume, means landowners are unlikely to be able to sell for development. Not now, at any rate.

What it *might* be is an early warning beyond the life of the current LDP. All towns grow and it is safe to assume that housing & industrial development pressures at Rhuthun will continue beyond Glasdir and Lôn Parcwr and beyond the 2021 LDP. This map may therefore offer a glimpse at Rhuthun 2022 and beyond.

Or it might not. Notice the speculative slice of land offered up that enters Rhuthun from the south, towards Dog Lane. When last this was considered, it caused something of a furore in the town among those who felt that this would sweep aside an ancient boundary that should be respected. The current peninsular strip of land therefore remains green barrier.

Autumnal Statement

We recently promised a post on the state of Rhuthun and I’m pleased to say that in spite of the recession matters looking positive.

	July 2008	November 2009
No. of vacant units	22	12

Rhuthun was at its lowest ebb at the end of July 2008. In little over one year later, the number of vacant units has reduced by ten.

There are still a number of vacant units, some of which are longstanding.

• Two of these (and one in particular) are on the narrows in Clwyd Street. It’s possible that people are put off letting these units owing to their size and parking issues.


• A third longstanding vacant unit is the former butcher (then bric-a-brac) on Well Street (next to the Manor House/Manorhaus).


• Slater's car sales, Lucinda, Que Paso and the smaller part of the former Majestic Travel has been vacant now for between 12 and 18 months.


• Sweetie Heaven, Rhuthun Carpets, Pass it On and Grosvenor Florists shut during the summer. The former Rhuthun Carpets next to the former bric-a-brac mentioned above are now a particularly unhappy sight.


• Over the summer, Nanercherow has moved along one unit to occupy the vacant-for-12-months A Time for Me but creating another vacancy in the process, at the former Beehive.


• The former Coffee Mill, which closed in July 2008 and opened briefly over the summer 2009 as Espresso Espresso, closed soon after.

Balancing this, there are some positive changes, some of which we have already noted.

• Upon the departure of Baroque, Clwyd Street, Reebee's Florist has moved next door and the resultant vacant premises are now under preparation for Blackcurrant children's clothes.


• Edenbloom florist opened in the longstanding vacancy, unoccupied for over two years, where Vale Insurance once was, Well Street.


• The departure of Uptown Fashions, Well Street, will bring an antique dealer by the name of Cornerpost.


• Molyneux's estate agent arrived in July 2008, had departed in January 2009 and the building from last month—including the Halifax back office that closed earlier—is now occupied by Caledfryn credit union.


• The Watergate tearooms, opened briefly in September 2008, opened again over the summer, after at least an eight month period of closure.


• Ruthin Traders now occupies the majority of the former Majestic Travel premises on St Peter's Square, vacant for 15 months.


• Almost immediately that MDUK closed, along came Vanity Fayre beauty, on the Square.


• Over the summer, Izzy Wizzy moved into what was the recently shut Traed Bach; Elysium sustainable fashions occupied a previously long term vacant unit; and upon the closure of Studio 21 barber, a health & safety/work ware shop opened, all on Clwyd Street.


• Simmi, Clwyd Street, changed hands, with few even noticing it (and they also stock men's fashions, now).


• Capricorn charity shop has opened where once there was Ragazzi, largely shut (save for a brief period as a pop-up discount clothier, since February 2007.


• Ink Inc tattooist opened in Clwyd Street over the summer, again in premises that were hard to let, standing empty for about 12 months.

The prognosis looks promising though no doubt on a knife edge...

More on Flags

Ah, proven wrong! Poppy sellers out in force yesterday, Saturday, including the most impressive display yet on the Square. They were also in B & M, Co-op and Tesco.

Friday’s post made mention of the trend towards flag sellers in general moving out of the town centre. That is still the case, if you examine the numbers once selling flags and then stickers in Rhuthun, and compare the situation in the last handful of years where they have moved from the town to supermarket entrances. So I think I can at least salvage something from Friday’s post on charity collections.

Small Indication

I wonder whether there will be a Poppy Appeal seller on St Peter’s Square in the forecast rain, tomorrow, the day before Remembrance Sunday.

Have you noticed anything that has subtly changed recently, regarding flag sellers? It’s a little indication of the changes we see in Rhuthun. They are no longer in the town centre.

There was a time when you could bank on a flag seller on appropriate Saturdays, on the Square by the Memorial. With the opening of Lo-Cost, later Co-op Pioneer, they and sundry raffle ticket sellers gradually migrated to the Co-op entrance. Still some retained a town centre presence.

Now, you find few if any even at the Co-op. Instead, they are stationed outside Tesco. Last Saturday, there was one such poppy seller proudly wearing his campaign medal, while commandeering a Tesco trolley for his Poppy Appeal paraphernalia.

You can easily argue that with the Poppy Appeal now taking a very short lease on a former lock-up shop in Well Street there’s no need for a town centre collector with box of poppies and tin. The truth is that charities no longer feel that it’s worthwhile their standing in the town centre (and I include Co-op in this). Tesco is the place to be. Flag sellers are simply responding to the market, choosing their pitch wisely, where people tend to congregate. Rather sad, innit.