How does Rhuthun Survive?

Saturday afternoon in Rhuthun/Ruthin and it was dismal. Most people seem to have given up on Saturday afternoons. Certainly, traders have. But there's only 15 days to go before Christmas Day yet still there were few people around.

The lights are on but...

I got to Siop Nain at 4.52 p.m. today and I wanted some Christmas cards. It was closed. The lights were on and there were two members of staff within but the door was firmly locked shut. The poster in the doorway told me that Siop Nain's relatively new owners had closed least eight minutes earlier than advertised. 4 p.m. was inconvenient enough without an even earlier lockout. That really brassed me off. How can you expect to have trade in town when shops close so early and, in this case, even earlier than they said?

So much for "free after three". Wasn't the car parking initiative designed to bring people in? What's the point if you only get an hour.

I got to the post office at 4.03 p.m. and that, too, was closed. Since Huw Hilditch-Roberts had taken it over, it stayed open on Saturdays to the same time as Fridays. Or so I thought. At some point, it seems to have revised its Saturday opening times. I suppose we shouldn't grumble about the post office because, pre-Hilditch-Roberts, it closed at 12.30 p.m.

Siop Nain and the post office were not the only shops to have abandoned Saturday afternoon. Is it chicken and egg? What it's telling people is that Rhuthun isn't actually open for business or doesn't care or can't be bothered.

Fortunately, Jan's Cards was open, which is where I found my cards.