What’s happened to Scotland

[Overlay]

Maybe the vast majority of folks in Scotland are staying away from those places because they don't want to spread Covid. So it's not financially viable to stay open.

Yep it’s the same everywhere, people are very shy about mixing ( and rightly so) combine that with the fast food drive through companies over to deliveries, reducing their normal expanse of food due to covid staff shortages and deliveries including management of said companies working it to reduce stock types, staff and only work short hours to now that suit their revised staff levels and put more money in the coffers for the shareholders all the country is pretty well up the creek with no paddles and a leaky canoe

 

[opticron1]

No easy answers to whole "what's happened with Scotland" question....
Simple answer is that we're (hopefully) coming to the end of a pandemic which has crippled a significant part of the economy. There are lots of folk in all towns and cities that are either furloughed or working from home. This means anyone who wants make money from passing traffic/footfall are going to struggle, therefore the comment about Edinburgh holds true - why would you continue to open all hours if you aren't going to cover your costs (and the rates in Edinburgh are scary at the best of times). The fact that the Holyrood playground has been closed much of the time and their hard working civil servants have been given time of by Jimmy Krankie means lots of other people will follow the divine leader and not be rushing back to "normal" business.
There a significant number of businesses across the country that do rely on Eastern European workers (and Spanish, Australian, South African etc.....), the travel restrictions due to Covid 19 have not helped with this and neither has Brexit, but as the whole economy is scuppered by the pandemic in various forms it's not going to be clear how the staffing issue will be in 2022.
Hospitality in the wilder parts has always been a problem for employers - often impossible to find staff for a short (six or seven month season) and aggravated by the open/shut/partially open/only open for certain hours "guidance" emanating from the playground at Holyrood. Many businesses who are struggling will find it harder to justify opening for their usual seven day a week service and have found ways of running short shifts or takeaway service. Sadly this means that regular guests and tourists are not getting the service they have been used to. Added to that, there are fewer young folk living in the wilder parts and so the age demographic starts to kick in - it used to be easy to get some youngsters to do a few hours here and there, but less youngsters mean more gaps in rosters.
Finally (sorry to waffle on a bit!), the clowns in the SNP/Green poodles dictatorship have managesd to create even more problems with their incessant whine of blaming Westminster/England for everything, so sadly I fear that lots of previously loyal visitors will simply say "to hell with you" and go elsewhere.
Hopefully once/when/if the pandemic settles we'll be able to get a clearer picture as to what the economy is going to be like......

 

[Hod]

This thread is mental. Particular highlights being that most hospitality staff in Scotland were Scottish and anti English rhetoric has gone up.

There’s a lack of staff to open these places because a huge number returned home to Europe and took other employment when the industry closed down through covid. And, like the lorry drivers (you may have seen this in the news) they can’t return because we left the EU. Leave means leave. Yay.

Edinburgh city centre is also home to lots of offices - all of which will have reverted to home working during the pandemic. The businesses realised the benefits, mostly financial, and are likely to continue home working significantly. This has resulted in a smaller footfall of locals in the city centre which would contribute to the economy.

 

[Acm]

I have to say I certainly didn’t come across any anti English rhetoric, in fact we found most Scottish cabbys, restaurant staff and other members of the public in the chippy etc really chatty and friendly.
islanders were very welcoming, and after a morning of mucking in and helping them wean lambs we felt very much like one of them.
it was a real joy to see one old crofter as I walked home one morning rod in one hand and pollock in the other who was just so chuffed for me, and very heartwarming to see him out on his boat near where I’d had some fish that evening. His daughter said he hadn’t been out in ages but on seeing my fish went and got amongst it.
special place, hopefully it finds a way through it all.

 

[Apthorpe]

This thread is mental. Particular highlights being that most hospitality staff in Scotland were Scottish and anti English rhetoric has gone up.

There’s a lack of staff to open these places because a huge number returned home to Europe and took other employment when the industry closed down through covid. And, like the lorry drivers (you may have seen this in the news) they can’t return because we left the EU. Leave means leave. Yay.

That doesn't explain the contrast with England which had a much, much higher level of Eastern European - and non-EU - migrant workers. If what you're saying is correct, then either the situation should be reversed, or there is some factor about Scotland which made Eastern European workers and drivers much more likely to have emigrated than their peers in England.

Edinburgh city centre is also home to lots of offices - all of which will have reverted to home working during the pandemic. The businesses realised the benefits, mostly financial, and are likely to continue home working significantly. This has resulted in a smaller footfall of locals in the city centre which would contribute to the economy.

Again, I don't understand why you think this applies to Scotland more than to England. The OP's observation is that life in Scotland seemed unusually much more subdued than in England and far more than one would expect. I don't think we can reasonably attribute the difference to factors that applied as much or more so to England.

 

[McKenzie]

I’m splitting my time between Edinburgh & Newcastle just now & I can’t see much difference between them as far as shops/cafes etc being open or the availability of food. I do notice a very slightly more relaxed attitude to masks in England but not as much as I expected.

 

[mr smith]

The toilets are closed for refurbishment hence the porta cabin style ones currently, and there was never anything open around the time of the sleeper departure.

 

[NullMac]

Edinburgh city centre is also home to lots of offices

and tourists

ever since the cooncil decided it was ok to be a Theme Park the city centre has been home to tourists. They can't come generally so...

 

[Klenchblaize]

Not entirely related to the Op’s disappointment but as he mentioned the railway here goes.

There was a Rail representative (Seb Gordan of The Rail Delivery Group) on Radio 4 some 30-minutes ago attempting to encourage those who have returned to the office to also return to using the railways rather than their car for the journey. His argument is that if Commuters don’t this will cause a “perfect storm” for City centres and the traders therein. Basically shuttered shops and all that doom & gloom. While I accept Mr. Gordan has a point in this regard and no less so in the assertion road traffic congestion and pollution within our cities will significantly increase if this trend continues, at no point was there mention of the most important consideration that is the COST of rail travel and in particular how those who are compelled to travel during peak hours continue to subsidise off-peak travel!

Make the cost of commuting to work by rail far more affordable and people will use it as no one enjoys sitting behind a wheel for 2+ hours to travel less than 30 miles!

Here is an example of where I’m coming from:

If I travel from home to London before 09:30hrs it will cost me £50.00 for a daily return, whereas if I wait until after 10:30hrs I can get the same for £14.00!

K

 

[Freeforester]

Not entirely related to the Op’s disappointment but as he mentioned the railway here goes.

There was a Rail representative (Seb Gordan of The Rail Delivery Group) on Radio 4 some 30-minutes ago attempting to encourage those who have returned to the office to also return to using the railways rather than their car for the journey. His argument is that if Commuters don’t this will cause a “perfect storm” for City centres and the traders therein. Basically shuttered shops and all that doom & gloom. While I accept Mr. Gordan has a point in this regard and no less so in the assertion road traffic congestion and pollution within our cities will significantly increase if this trend continues, at no point was there mention of the most important consideration that is the COST of rail travel and in particular how those who are compelled to travel during peak hours continue to subsidise off-peak travel!

Make the cost of commuting to work by rail far more affordable and people will use it as no one enjoys sitting behind a wheel for 2+ hours to travel less than 30 miles!

Here is an example of where I’m coming from:

If I travel from home to London before 09:30hrs it will cost me £50.00 for a daily return, whereas if I wait until after 10:30hrs I can get the same for £14.00!

K

’tain’t only Scotland, been a-comin’ a while:

 

[308tikka]

Wee Jimmy Krankie ha’ the folk afeart.

dependence on government, stoking xenophobic pish, blame games, handouts, stoking fear, all allayed by the all-knowing benevolent messiah. How far it has fallen. I wont be in a hurry to live there again.

 

[User00053]

Used to live in Scotland working in the highlands, great place and people, but now it has for me become a very silly place, sad.

 

[Dunwaters]

Oh and the NI Protocol, the Taoiseach / Tanaiste, the pug faced weasel Junker and flip flop flipping Barnier: Michel Barnier demands French ‘sovereignty’ from European courts
All in the frame.

And the Green gender benders and rainbow politics and the Social Democrats and the far right and the far left, the centrists, ISIS, Al Quaida the whole damn lot of them, all wrong.
Just you and me left bro..
I suspect that the real problem isn’t just COVID or cheap labour, its the older generation that have been running small mammy and dad businesses just throwing in the towel because they’re old and tired and they can live on the pension and the kids dont want to tie themselves to the business.
For 15 years we holidayed in a small village on the west coast of Clare, nice place but nothing going on locally except a bit of summer tourism and farming, first few years there was 3 shops plus 3 pubs, when we stopped going there was just one small shop and 2 pubs that only opened 2 or three nights a week. The local kids were well educated and had no interest in staying isolated and poorly paid down in the sticks.
I suspect it might be the same in Scotland, you can’t make a living on 2 or 3 months worth of tourists and hibernate for the rest of the year, the kids wont do it and their parents are getting on.

 

[Freeforester]

Wee Jimmy Krankie ha’ the folk afeart.

dependence on government, stoking xenophobic pish, blame games, handouts, stoking fear, all allayed by the all-knowing benevolent messiah. How far it has fallen. I wont be in a hurry to live there again.

She's nae sae important amo' them that mak the siller...

 

[BSAvale]

I was in the highlands last month and the thing that struck me most about north of the wall is how good the roads are, much much better than most roads in England with plenty being worked on…got to spend all the English money flowing north I suppose.

 

[steve sxs]

I was in the highlands last month and the thing that struck me most about north of the wall is how good the roads are, much much better than most roads in England with plenty being worked on…got to spend all the English money flowing north I suppose.

That's because we dig up the roads for fun, some with yellow barriers then orange then red then purple I've seen green ones and then it starts again, the people who supply traffic lights must be Minted

 

[Essex stalker]

I was in the highlands last month and the thing that struck me most about north of the wall is how good the roads are, much much better than most roads in England with plenty being worked on…got to spend all the English money flowing north I suppose.

You obviously haven't driven along the A75 lately then!, it's in a terrible state. Perhaps they are waiting for Boris to upgrade it when he builds the bridge to NI

 

[Fadcode]

I think you will see urban decay now anywhere you go, and if you think about it, it isn't Brexit, Stupid Govt's, its that people have changed their habits, Online shopping, cheap booze in supermarkets, take away food and delivered meals, people are now in the habit of staying in, and they have in some cases seen how much money they can save, down here in Cornwall where i live, I see 10 -12 ASDA, Tesco, et al, vans delivering the groceries to the houses around me every day. I can buy a pint of lager in a can from Asda for about £1.20, or i can go to a Pub and pay upwards of £4, luckily I don't drink, but I can understand people drinking at home. Also the smoking ban has had an effect, especially on pub traffic.
It is a shame really to see the local high streets die, but they are mainly Charity shops, Phone shops, pound shops, coffee shops, and I think they have now seen their days, out of town shopping another nail in the coffin, high car parking charges in the town centres, etc, it's a new way of living, and some of the things we relied on are now gone, even attitudes to shoppers have changed, very few litter bins in our Town Centres now, probably cheaper to employ a cleaner now, because of the low footfall.

 

[User00053]

How true, sad but true.

 

[bluesako]

Nippy really stoked the covid paranoia, opening up is taking longer, masks more prevalent etc. But it's probably all the fault of Brexit, Westminster and the English

yeah anything happens in jockland blame the english