EVERY now and then I read articles in the local press from Lancaster City Council or council members mouthing their support for local business and how they are trying to help generate new business in town.

As a new business in town, it was quite evident early on that there is plenty of verbal support for local business but when it comes to actual help you can forget it. One of my first (and ongoing) experiences with our highly efficient council is the complicated practice of getting a street name up. After the opening of our shop on Mary Street I contacted the council as there was (is) no street sign at the top of the road where Mary Street meets Brock Street. I assumed that getting a street sign up would be a simple enough matter and asked the council in April if they could put up a street name... no problem... four months later and still no sign. I phoned to ask when the sign was going up, only to be informed that they have no record of the request (as they do) but they would deal with it right away. We are now in November and there is still no sign. This seemingly trivial matter can, for small businesses, have serious consequences. My shop is on Mary Street (a street that everyone says Where's Mary Street?) To advertise my shop effectively, I need people to know where Mary Street is. If they don't know the street, they don't know where to go and if they don't know where to go, what's the point in advertising? Advertising can be everything in business to get customers into your shop.

I have also learnt that the council only cares about our business rates.

As long as they get their rates they're happy. I also know that if I didn't pay my business rates, something would be done about it fairly quickly, certainly quicker than the seven months I have waited so far for a street name.

John Walton

Culture Vulture

Mary Street

Lancaster

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.