Guest 715- Registered: 9 Jun 2011
- Posts: 2,438
From Twitter, sounds interesting. Dover Express ‏@doverexpress
In tomorrow's Express: Dover Harbour Board exclusive, why we are the sportiest town in Kent, and the return of the street market. #Dover
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Audere est facere.
Terry Nunn
- Location: London Road, Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 4,316
Yes it's Bob Goldfield cutting overheads by sacking people!
Terry
ps I thought we already had a street market
Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?
Keith Sansum1
- Location: london
- Registered: 25 Aug 2010
- Posts: 23,942
but without getting into the dhb debate
lets hope this express gets this story correct
its been a very critical of others for maybe getting things wrong,
when it gets photo's of wrong places it's reporting on etc
and in the past has hardly been a community paper
but thats my view)(shared by others not of my lefty leaning to)
ALL POSTS ARE MY OWN PERSONAL VIEWS
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
Keith Sansum1- Location: london
- Registered: 25 Aug 2010
- Posts: 23,942
doesnt look good
ALL POSTS ARE MY OWN PERSONAL VIEWS
Brian Dixon
- Location: Dover
- Registered: 23 Sep 2008
- Posts: 23,940
cutting back ready to privatize i bet.
Guest 1694- Registered: 24 Feb 2016
- Posts: 1,087
BG angrily denied that this would happen 3 months ago when the story warning that it was imminent first appeared in the Dover Express. As with everything else that the DHB has told us will not happen, it has now happenned.
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
i trust you will be relaying this to your contacts in the national media neil, this really is a hot potato.
dhb cannot make cuts like this without compromising safety.
Guest 715- Registered: 9 Jun 2011
- Posts: 2,438
When I made the original post I thought it was going to be good news, should have know better!
Audere est facere.
Guest 653- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 10,540
I wish the Town-Team well with their new initiative on a new street-market for Dover, but I have a sneaky feeling that it won't be the success that it could/should, be.
It's not enough for the Town Council to throw £6,000 at it, it needs someone to put into practice the initiatives and ideas in my paper on street markets.
Twelve market-stalls is simply not enough to entice people into Town, it needs to be much more ambitious and be run by an entrepreneurial market manager.
I believe the Town-Team would have been better to have spent some time on creating a Business Plan, which shouldn't be difficult as they are all (bar one) business owners and take it to DTC, DDC, DHB and possibly one or two others.
But then, what do I know ?
Roger
Guest 705- Registered: 23 Sep 2010
- Posts: 661
DHB must think their employees and members of the Dover community were all born yesterday...talk about devious...
DPPT waiting in the wings-what a reassuring presence for all...
Never give up...
Guest 732- Registered: 8 Nov 2011
- Posts: 128
Bob Goldfield told myself and my colleagues 3 years ago that we weren't going to lose our jobs, guess what I did , Goldfield has been a nightmare ever since he arrived, I bet Shannon air port were jumping with joy to see the back of him and his team gold digging hatchet men.
Peoples port please.
Guest 1694- Registered: 24 Feb 2016
- Posts: 1,087
Hi Howard, yes, nationals have the story, whether they'll run it though is another matter - oddly enough the only place where you can find real news at the moment is in local newspapers, the nationals all appear to have been taken over by their sports editors who are running continuous coverage of some sporting event
Guest 714- Registered: 14 Apr 2011
- Posts: 2,594
Roger, thanks for your support, it seems a reality check is required here; if what you are proposing is so straightforward and your action plan so compelling why hasn't it been actioned already?
This mythical entrepreneurial town centre/market manager - who/where is this person?
Such a person won't come cheap, lets say they'll warrant a salary of £30k pa. After the recruitment process, office facilities, rates, utilities, IT and marketing we're looking at a conservative outlay in year 1 of approx £40k.
You mention 12 stalls is not sufficient; at a cost of £500 each can you see why we are starting with that number, bearing in mind we have £6000? If you think 30 or so is required thats another £15000 outlay.
Now we're on to the marketing and advertising of the market, the formation of a company and other incidentals. Lets work to a budget of £5000. So, as part of a business plan we need £60000 in the first year.
We have £6000 from DTC to buy market stalls, as a District Councillor perhaps you can suggest which dept of DDC can help with the remaining £54000. You mention DHB, who on this thread are being castigated for cutting staff - is it realistic to go to them and ask for funding a town centre manager?
Roger, I dont want to appear confrontational, we all know you have Dover's interest at heart, but your plan is simply uncosted and unfunded, it is a wish list not a plan. You will note that the Town Team has made no promises, we were unsuccessful with the Portas bids and have decided to plough on with the limited resources we have. Within the next month we will be meeting with as many major organisations in the town as we can, lets hope they share our enthusiasm and feel able to help in some way, but we can make plans based on what they can do, not on what we want them to do. As a small group of people we have no credibility, we have to take things gradually and hope progress can be made.
People like Kathy Bailes at the Express are very supportive, in general the same applies around the town. As I said to you previously, there are no new ideas its a case of doing things in an organised way.
Guest 640- Registered: 21 Apr 2007
- Posts: 7,819
Sorry to hear that Vince..its always tough.
Very interesting post from David there, often forgotten are the costs of implementation of these schemes and plans. Roger has tried very hard to get things off the ground over the years but with no funding for the grand plans it is/was very difficult. When Roger joined up with the Chamber i thought things were going to progress..I was at the enthusiastic launch...but...it all went...
For a while Cameron paraded around the market with his dog but in no time at all it was down to a handful. But hopefully better days ahead now.
Guest 714- Registered: 14 Apr 2011
- Posts: 2,594
Thanks Paul, nobody doubts Roger's enthusiasm, plans have to be realistic and at the moment raising £60k to fulfil his plans is a complete non starter.
We make no guarantees at all, we'll simply do our best with the resources available.
Keith Sansum1- Location: london
- Registered: 25 Aug 2010
- Posts: 23,942
yes roger has dover at heart but two chambers decided roger hadnt costed things by the sounds of it, and david is correct things need costing
ALL POSTS ARE MY OWN PERSONAL VIEWS
Guest 705- Registered: 23 Sep 2010
- Posts: 661
Vince-perhaps you won't have to wait too long
Neil- BG obviously timed his announcement to coincide with the Olympic coverage and be buried accordingly-er the announcement that is...
Never give up...
Guest 653- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 10,540
Keith, please don't post such inane comments on things you know nothing about.
David, thank you for your post, but before I give a further reply, let me tell you a true story
A couple of years ago or so, I had a call from the General Manager at the Holiday Inn Express at Cheriton - close to Tescos; we used to work together at the Ramada - he was the General Manager and I was the Marketing Manager.
He wanted to meet me to discuss ways in which the Holiday Inn could improve their marketing and fill their rooms; they were doing O.K. but like everyone, wanted more business.
We made a date for me to go and chat to him, but in the mean-time, I did some research on the Hotel and looked at their website and from that made up a marketing plan.
When I saw him, there was another chap there, who was a Venture Capitalist, part of a group of VC who owned the Holiday Inn.
We had a good, comprehensive chat and a very enjoyable working lunch, talking about how I could improve their occupancy levels.
I made the mistake though, of leaving my paper on what to do and how to do it, with them and after a few days I was informed that I didn't get the job, they didn't (now) need me. I heard later that they had employed someone junior to implement all my initiatives - on the instructions of the Venture Capitalist.
I have done it again with the Plan of Action for Dover Town, The Tourism Strategy and the paper on how to bring a successful market to Dover, only this time I am not after a job - I've been told that I will never be given the job and my personal circumstances have changed.
The Town-Team doesn't have to "run" the market, the Market-Manager does that; it's a once a week market - it could be twice if done properly, but what you are proposing is absolutely wrong - talk to the man I recommended, he will run it properly for you (the Town Team).
Don't let the Town Council spend £6,000 on buying new stalls - for existing stall holders, that will be a criminal waste of tax-payers money.
Talk to Kevin, he is a professional market manager and stall-holder, he will tell/show you how to do it - properly.
Horses for courses is a saying - a good saying; neither the Town Council, nor the Town Team have any experience of running markets, you are in the dark, let someone turn your light on.
Near the begininng of when the Town-Team was being set up, after the second meeting when I was told not to attend any more meetings, Steve Davies of the Accommodation Shop - a good guy and a good businessman was charged with finding out all about a street market. He contacted Dover and Channel Chambers of Commerce, he had no reply from the Dover Chamber, but Peter Hobbs, the Chief Executive of the Channel Chamber - a Chamber acredited to the British Chambers of Commerce, told Steve that if he wants to know anything about running a market, ask Roger Walkden - so he did.
I then wrote that paper on how to bring a successful market to Dover, he in turn brought it to your next meeting, but obviously no one took any notice of it; you couldn't have, because if you did, you wouldn't have made the above posting.
If you would like to email me, I will give you Kevin's full name, email address amd mobile phone number - you need to listen to him, he knows what should be done.
Dover District Council do not need to know how to run a market, nor does the Town Council or the Town Team, but for it to be successful, you do need to listen to people who do know.
Good Luck.
Roger
Jan Higgins
- Location: Dover
- Registered: 5 Jul 2010
- Posts: 13,883
I think the day of the 'old' style market has almost gone now there are the £1 type of shops with their good quality cheap items. The farmers market is possibly the best way forward, I know that is the only kind of market that would draw me there.
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I try to be neutral and polite but it is hard and getting even more difficult at times.
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