Town Center Plans

I hear from the council the entire town center, including the new Lidl, but not the medical center or the chinese, are to be buidozed by the developer in order to make space for new housing

You'll have to try harder than that.

Its true, and they are going to house all the overspill from Pilton and Granton when they demolish the tenements there.

This must be somewhere in America - hence the town CENTER!!!

At last I get a response, Sam, since you didnt answer my question about the reasons for shops closing in the town CENTRE.

OK I admit I was trolling, but my serious point is - does anybody care about town centre shops as nobody uses them!

It is a shame what has happened to the shops in Penicuik but I really cant see a way of getting things back to being busy/well used. Penicuik is a commuter town now

To get the town centre being well used again would take a few good retailers to setup shop, this of course would be a massive risk on anyones part even for large name stores, who are unlikely to entertain anything less than a retail park situation. So yes it would be nice to see Penicuik being a hive of activity but the reality is that the very people who are sad to see the decline are the ones that caused it by driving off to other places. We are a commuter town for Edinburgh, of course the sad fact is that even Edinburgh residents are calling for better shops..

Agreed, Musicman, however, how can Edinburgh residents want better shops? They have just about every shop you could want there, with the exception of PreMark, cant beat them for cheapness!
Some people are never happy. also, who are they calling to for these better shops?

No matter how you try to analyse it, the sad fact remains that our high streets seem to be unable to survive in the face of ginormous shopping facilities with easy parking. Wee local shops used to be the lifeblood of a community, where one could pick up a couple of slices of cooked meat and pass the time of day with a blether and gossip. Having worked in just such a shop in Gorgie 35 years ago, I know the value of such - it was practically a social service for some lonely old folk - a type of care in the community (OK, maybe going too far here). Anyway, looks like the car is the problem, indirectly.

I noticed today that the new flats in the precinct are up for sale so the stories that they were all sold before they were built are obviously the usual "spin".
Details are here:

http://www.amcdlaw.com/html/housedetails.php?id=1055959

£115k for a one bedroom flat or

http://www.amcdlaw.com/html/housedetails.php?id=1055960

£160k for a two bedroom. Don't think I will bother thanks!!!!