There has been this campaign going on in Berkeley to shop local. If everyone in Berkeley just spent £10 per week in local shops, then the shopkeepers would all be millionaires and Mr Bed-Of-Roses would be visiting everyone - well, summit like that! So in keeping with local wishes, I need a new tube for my bathroom strip light. It hasn't worked for years and may all have to be junked, but i start off with trying to replace the tube and shop local. I take the old tube out and take it with me on my morning quest for a Mocha and scrambled eggs on toast. On the way back, I call in at the hardware shop who sell everything. "Oh no, we aren't allowed to sell those type of lights any more with a filament, but you might find a dodgy place on tinternet who will still sell them". So, bang goes shop local. I come home and go on Amazon. I don't know even the wattage but jut put in summit like "bathroom strip light tube" and Hit! The very first thing that comes up is exactly the right thing at exactly the right length. It is 12 watts, and that sounds right. So much for shopping locally . . . . . . . Maybe there is a reason why local shops struggle. It could be - just could be - that they are shit! Even if they didn't have one in stock, but said that they need to order some in, I wouldn't of minded. If Amazon can sell them then everyone can!
It’s not that local shops are shit in as much as your particular fitting is old and outdated. While I’m all for shop local It wouldn’t make much sense for a shop keeper to stock such antiquities in the hope that one day he gets lucky and makes a sale. In this case the internet is your friend.
Sadly, gone is the day, the shop keeper slid his ladder across the floor and climbed up to pick your part off a shelf or out of a drawer There used to be a motor factor in Cove, near Farnborough, who kept parts for British cars back to the 1930’s ….. and he knew where every nut, bolt and washer was kept in his store room Andy
Well, it is old, but not unobtainable, Amazon and Screwfix sell them: https://www.simplyled.co.uk/crompto...Tc5My4xLjAuMTczNTYzOTc5My4wLjAuMTQwMTUxODkwMQ..
In Berkeley, with J C Aldridge, we still have that type of shop for homeware!!! The last time I bought something from then, they said that they could not accept card payments, only cash. I had to go a few doors down to the now closed NatWest bank who still had their cash point to get cash! Now, as well as a closed bank, they have removed the cash point!
I hear lots of moaning people locally going on about how the town is dead, usually they are sat there waiting for an Amazon delivery. The reality is that things change over time. I don’t use Amazon personally as will never order from companies that evade tax if I can help it, but there are a million options online and I bought all the presents I needed for family without setting foot in a shop. Why would I spend time driving into town, fighting hoardes of people to get access to a very limited range? I think smaller towns need to rethink their centres - Tamworth has the college taking over the old co-op which will mean 1000+ customers in the town every day. I only go into town in the evenings for the pubs, restaurants and cinema which I can’t do online for obvious reasons. I am also happy to go to a farm shop IF it’s their own stuff and decent, most of them are just buying stuff in and charging a fortune for it. Times change, things move on, I wouldn’t feel bad about not shopping locally.
I'll support local shops if I can and the price differential isn't too large. I'm blessed to have a hardware shop over the road from my house, a veritable Aladins's cave. Constantly suprised by what they do stock. Though old incandescent bulbs isn't something they do anymore.
me if i was to only ever spend local. cos fast food is mostly all we have. we do have a v,good hardware shop. i buy jack online. the lads at work are the opposite. personally speaking i enjoy the buying from shops and getting a bit of craic while im at it experience.
Got one from Amazon and it is legal. But doesn't solve the problem I unfasten the whole thing from the wall and it has no leccy going to it! Double drat!!! I think that I remember a main switch for it in the loft, but although I 've got a built-in ladder that comes down when you open the loft cover. I just can't climb it with my leg being what it is So I am trying to get a mate round to go up there for me. I think - only think - that it might be a fused spur and the fuse has blown. Main fuses(well. ELCBs) in consumer unit are all good and lights everywhere work and I "think" that this is a spur off the lighting circuit as I don't believe that any ring main ever went up there. Do these new type of light need a starter? I haven't got any power to it, but dunno if I just need to change the whole fitting anyway to "start" the light.
Current ones on Amazon are exactly the same as mine so no point in getting a new fitting. Just neeed to sort out the leccy supply!
Look at the photo and look at the mirror underneath. I never realised that as a qualification to post here, I need to use a spirit level on my phone to take a quick picture. I won't post any more pictures, taken quickly on my phone, if it is to cause such offense
Luckily we still have an old fashioned hardware store in our small town, it’s incredibly handy for most things.
