SE23 Forum

Please say its closing down..not just having a refurb!?

Yeah, let's have another empty unit!

Chill out... i meant to reopen as something other than a bookies

I think it will either reopen as a bookies or wont open at all.....

I knew exactly what you meant!

There are no shortage of empty units in Forest Hill. I highly doubt people are waiting in the wings for William Hills to close so they can snap up the prime location.

By the way, what's wrong with a bookies?

Won't even justify that question with an answer..

One of a thousand articles about the blight of bookies on town centres

http://www.newstatesman.com/blogs/the-st...s-industry

I'd say it's 50/50 either way - anyone fancy a bet??

That article is just awful. Bookmakers are often situated near post offices or whatever. Utter drivel. Not a great fan of bookies but at least support your case with something other than nonsense.

There are hundreds articles about Bookies and their effect on local communities.. if you want more Andy review these at your leisure. Why do you think Deptford High Street has what, 9 Bookies now... social deprivation + bookies go hand in hand..

Guardian: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/...es-casinos

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/meand...t-bet.html

A report by Harriet Harman: http://www.harrietharman.org/uploads/95e...043b9f.pdf

and this from Labour:

http://www.labour.org.uk/betting-shops-a...ommunities

Effect on town centres: http://governingtemptation.wordpress.com...09/10/353/

Anyway this is ridiculously off topic of asking whether William Hill is closing down, or whether its having a refurb which was the original question..trust people on here to blow it out of proportion..standard behaviour!

Show me a statistic that says anyone other than the owner profits from a bookies and I'll change my mind about them. If they reopen, they should change the sign to 'Losers', just to make things a bit clearer.

Well the government gets tax revenue on their profits and I believe the horse racing industry benefits from betting.
Not that I'm saying I want more betting shops in Forest Hill, we have quite enough.

So really if refurbs or opens as another bookies then no harm done is there?

What issues are you seeing in Forest Hill with the current number of bookies?

Can you name a town with no bookies?

Interesting you should mention Deptford High Street and the terrible effect bookies are having... (?)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/4289237.stm

This survey is SO flawed its ridiculous! So a high street as bad as Deptford scores higher as a better place to shop than the likes of Cambridge, Kingston and the like. Its based on the No. of independant stores, which could mean newsagents, pound shops, budget stores, fried chicken shops etc etc..

I saw a presentation by the company who came up with these findings as part of my work - and I was not sold on the 'mathematics' at all..

...and that was 7 years ago!

You don't feel the need to justify why you don't want a bookies on the site? You'd prefer just to quote other reports and people. Why post a discussion forum then?

Your original question didn't just ask if it was a refurb or had closed? you stated that you hoped it had closed.

For what it's worth, i'd much rather have a William Hill on the site than an empty unit. I'd probably rather have a Fish Mongers, Butchers or Fresh Produce shop, but these seem in the past to have not been sustainable.

I use William Hill every few weeks, which is more than I can say for many of the shops in the centre of Forest Hill. As what's probably deemed a "young professional" who's only bought in the area a few years ago, I find the attitudes of some posters a little strange.

I wasn't disagreeing with your point, I just thought that article was irritating and did very little to support it. It is probably the first contentious comment I have made in all the time I have been using this site. So no, not standard behaviour, well, not for me at least.