Streetlife

It appears that during a recession betting shops, fast food outlets and hair and nail shops pop up all over the place in less affluent areas.

Why is that ?  I am not to sure as cannot see the point in chucking/flushing money down the drain in betting shops as the only one who wins there is the owner of the shop.

Fast food outlets - cant get my head around these as some of them look rank and yet they are really busy.  Surely its got to be cheaper to make yourself and freeze several meals.  Is it lazyness? it cannot be cost effective.
Could buying from these types of fast food outlets be one of the many reasons why there is an obesity epidemic?   (along with cheap supermarket homebrands that use more fat and less real meat, more additivies and more GM foods in their brands - GM foods are either injected or watered with some kind of concotion to make it grow bigger and faster hence you eat it and the same will happen to you - you cannot wash or cook out the additives)

Hair - can in away understand people getting their hair cut styled etc - but a trim you can do yourself and save ££££'s

Nail shops - a definate no no - you and your friends can do it better, cheaper and safer.

I think gambling has become too easy, I have always liked a little flutter on the horses, once a week normally on Saturdays', and there is nothing wrong with that if you can afford to lose the amount you are gambling and you control it.

But these days' it seems to be getting out of control, I do not go to betting shops anymore as you can bet online, but the last time I did frequent a betting shop they had those roulette machines installed, where people were putting £20 notes in at an alarming rate. You can lose your shirt in a matter of seconds.

There are so many easy ways to gamble these days, Betting Shops, Online using your computer, (every High Street Betting Shop has a Website), using your Phone, you can even gamble through your Digital Televisions interactive service, Scratch Cards, The Lottery, which I hear they are increasing the price from £1 to £2 and there are probably quite a few more I have missed.

But to answer the original question, yes there are too many betting shops in the High Streets, but that will not stop people using the other methods I have highlighted.

The government needs to clamp down, but I don't think they care because they are also making a lot of money from Ladbrokes, William Hill etc.

The Betting Companies have many politicians and Lords on their Boards as well paid advisors so any change is very unlikely.
However banning it will not stop it My Grandfather was a bookies runner when it was banned and money flowed to old Mark Lane.
Bookies shops at one time had to show need which meant they had to prove to a local judge that there were no other or not enough shops in an area where they were needed.
Now they are designated the same as Estate agents and can open in any shopping area.
They no longer rely on UK Horses or Greyhounds the Racing board tried to Blackmail the Bookies in the 90s into paying millions to support the poorly attended race tracks .So the Bookies Diversified into Machines their own lottery and Virtual reality racing plus racing from all over the world.
Now 90% of their money comes from the machines.I have seen people lose £10,000 in the machines in 15 minutes then go back for more.Its the crack cocaine of the industry.

In todays news Rochdale in Lancashire has run up gambling bills of £72 million. Seems the gambling shops are all over the poorest areas making a killing on desperate people. They tend to crop up in vulnerable areas it seems. Why would Havering council allow one to open in Hornchurch High Street?

>GM foods are either injected or watered with some kind of concotion to make it grow bigger and faster hence you eat it and the same will happen to you - you cannot wash or cook out the additives)
>>>>>>>>

Where did you get that from? :-)

If you go into South Street in Romford you we see countless betting shops.
By Subway you will see both Coral and Ladbrokes almost next door to each other.
I would have thought with the economy in the state it is in that they don't get too many customers.
There are however three casinos in South Street which obviously encourage young people to gamble which is not exactly a good thing.
casinos or betting shops both encourage people to spend money that they don't really have.
Hopefully people will stop going to these places as they can only make poor people poorer.
We could do with less in Romford and I am sure that goes for other places as well.

You could say the same about pubs they encourage alcoholics or fast food shops they encourage obesity or any shop selling cigarettes its all the same.Some people are vulnerable to addiction and these shops play on their addictions.Betting shops play on the adrenalin rush people get when they win or nearly win.
However its unlikely any government would bring in a law to ban any of them as we rely on the taxes they pay and as seen in films banning alcohol in America made things worse not better driving it underground and fuelling crime.
Feel sorry for the addicts help them if you can keep steadfast in your views they are evil but stop them you never will.

Hornchurch High Street and the surounding area is chocker with betting shops.  However, there would be so many if gambling machines were not allowed in them.  These machines are known as the crack cocaine of gambling and are an utter menace to society.

Donkey google GM foods and obesity, several sites explain it quite well.

I have completed several OU courses one of which was Obesity, last year I finally finished, it was my final year and i am now qualified in Health science.

But really it is just common sense, what you put into food to grow you cannot wash out nor can you cook it out.

Autumn19 clearly the OU's standards have slipped considerably if you have completed a qualification in "health science" but still have absolutely no understanding of what "GM" foods are.

GM (genetically modified) has nothing to do with the use of fertilisers, pesticides, chemical additives to grow food as you seem to think it does.

Autumn 19
shouldn't believe everything (s)he reads on a web site!  And I'd ask for the money back on that OU course.

Sadly, our High streets and small shopping parades are being infested with Gambling Shops,   The Betting shops do well as people turn to them in times when money is short in the hopes that they will win.....They project a bad image to our young folks who don;t realise that gambling can become an addiction. 
In Collier Row, we have a large Betting Shop and one is to open next door but one in what used to be a clothing shop.   We also have one on the opposite side of the road it's ridiculous, there are 7 within a mile radius.   When I raised this with a local Cllr and our MP he said that it is better than empty shops and that we have no say in what businesses open up in our streets.   I thought that there was to be more input from Communities, but maybe I heard that wrong. !   

 I know of a young man who racked up a bill of £20.000 on line on betting  and poker sites, so that is even worse I think.   Too many parents don;t bother to find out what their young ones are up to.   If they are too quiet and out of the way it usually means they are up to something!

  Fast food Outlets, Nail Bars, and now it seems that Sign shops are starting to creep in.   Our shopping parades look tawdry, cheap and nasty.   The quality of the shop signs is usually not good either.   I have been all over England and in places like Yorkshire and Dorset they have towns and small villages where the signage, even for fast food outlets  is much nicer and has a local identity    These cheap and nasty plastic signs do nothing to enhance our streets.

The Councillor/mp who said it it is better than being shut should be doing his best to keep these shops open.
The amount of people that would be in jobs if all the shops were open and doing well.
Betting shops and nail bars etc are not the answer.
Romford,like everywhere else needs a kick start with proper shops that sell things we need.
We have far too many betting shops in Romford and they should be replaced asap.
Councillors should be getting together to opening shops and bringing the market back ti life.