It’s no secret that trade in Newport has been in free fall for some time but who‘s to blame? Ask any Newportian and they say it’s due to out-of-town shops, the lack of free parking, Cardiff‘s influence, the council, Labour, even.
This fascinating letter from the South Wales Argus from the 14th June, 1907 is so familiar to today’s problems.
[Article taken verbatim from the South Wales Argus, Friday 14th January, 1907]
TO THE EDITOR OF THE “SOUTH WALES ARGUS”
Sir, If Newport is to prosper and trade to abound, it is absolutely necessary that the wages earned from week to week in Newport should be spent and re-spent, over and over again — in Newport, as far as possible and practicable. Thousands of pounds of hard-earned wages are spent every Friday and Saturday in such a manner as to hinder the prosperity of Newport rather than to benefit it. Working men, think, wake up!
Where and how do you spend their money? Is it spent at the multiple shop with the big Trust company? If so, can you wonder at trade being bad? Every Monday thousands of pounds, taken at the weekend, are banked by these huge trusts and companies, and thus Newport is denuded of money which out to be spend and re-spent in the town. One company advertises they have so many hundreds of branches (more to their shame, I Say), and we will suppose each of these branches does the trade of ten ordinary shops. What does this mean to Newport? — the doing away of nine tradesmen, their wives and families; nine fewer shops to help to pay local rates and taxes; and nine less families to buy clothes, boots, vegetables, ironmongery, and numberless other articles; nine less ships to build, keep in repair, repaint, decorate, etc; nine fewer families to rear up, educate, etc.
…we have our friend and neighbour, Cardiff, exploiting us for her own benefit.
All this tells upon the trade of the town more than most people think. Then again, we have our friend and neighbour, Cardiff, exploiting us for her own benefit. A number of companies and traders are drawing large sums of money out of Newport every week by their system of vans. They supply our people with goods, they take way our money, without spending anything in return. They do not take a shop, employ local labour, they do not help to pay our heavy taxes. I don’t think they even buy locally the food their horses eat. In days gone by they would have had to pay the turnpike, but now they get out of this; they wear out our streets, they take away our trade and money, and we get nothing in return. And then we complain that trade is bad, and no money about. Yet one more reference to the company and multiple shop.
Competition in reason is good for the community, but is it reasonable and honest for a rich and powerful company to seek to destroy the private trader, and to monopolise the whole of the trade for themselves, by selling foods for less than he himself can but them, as was clearly proved at the large and influential meeting of the Midland Federations of Grocers in Birmingham a week ago, when it was clearly proved certain companies were retailing sugar at 6s a bag less than they could buy it. In my conclusion, my advice is spend you money where it will be spent again locally, as far as possible.
Thanks are due to our old-established manufacturers, in that they have fixed the prices of hundreds of articles to stop the ruinous tactics of the multiple shop, so that they cannot sell below a certain price or undercut the private trader.
Yours respectfully
LIVE AND LET LIVE
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