Forum Topic

Putney High Street

Why are there so many food takeaways in the High Street, one after the other, surely we want clothes and shoes.  Cafe's Sushi, Burgers, non stop each side of the High Street, it's a disgrace.  Ice Cream Parlor so expensive you never see anybody in there, Bubbly drinks in the Putney Exchange, also Donuts. Also going up towards the station now all food cafes. Do they think that is all people do all day is eat, yet their telling people to be careful what they eat and giving them weight loss jabs and pills. Why keep opening all these food shops, we need clothes shops for all the ones who's clothes don't fit them because they are now thinner.

Barbara Stevens ● 21d20 Comments

Wasn't some of this meant to be covered by the contributions that local businesses made to Positively Putney?

Peter Higgins ● 16d

So the thread goes on...Economic factors determine the type of shops we have on the High Street but why can't Wandsworth Council do more to make Putney High Street attractive through keeping pavements clean, making sure that the planters (which at the time of writing are an eyesore) are well tended and renovating the weather battered Oxygen Tree?

Miles Thompson ● 19d

"You and David Ainsworth could be literary twins."Wow, thank you Ms H. I have looked at my old postings sometimes and have thought that some of them are really good. I often feel that somebody else with more literary ability than myself had written them.So thank you for your qualified praise.

David Ainsworth ● 19d

God,  you’re boring.  You and David Ainsworth could be literary twins.🙄

Sue Hammond ● 19d

Actually I find it much harder to thread a needle now but I have found needles that are supposedly easier to thread and a big 'needle threader' and together with a special magnifier I carry on but I'm still more competent than friends whose sight is worse and younger generations who have never been taught and are more obsessed with scrolling.A lot more clothing would be saved from landfill/incineration and worn longer if people bothered to either mend it themselves or find someone who can mend it.  People obviously don't bother from the charity shop feedback and charity shops can't always find people to do this and so that clothing is consequently ditched.There is lots of info/are lots of tutorials online on how to mend things and there are websites like this where contributors can offer advice and give recommendations on where to go to get something mended or altered or copied because they have received good service.That would be a very constructive reply instead of just turning a FORUM into some sort of long whingefest.Click and Collect as I have just ascertained on another thread is available from M&S.  Perhaps you can also order in-store too.  Don't forget to check that everything you are choosing can be returned there if it doesn't fit and the timescale to do this in ie try not to get caught out over some small print the info on which was not offered and you didn't think/forgot to ask.  M&S aren't as generous as they once used to be over timescale IIRC! BTW If you don't like my posts then just Scroll On By! 

Philippa Bond ● 19d

Philippa, I fully support the charity shop concept and, as this thread is about Putney High Street, would particularly recommend the Trinity Hospice one. Which often has new samples donated by design companies. I agree that their main purpose is to raise money for the charities and, hence, stop clothes being sent to landfill. What I and others here find objectionable is your patronising attitude and your endless lectures from on high and assumtions that you alone are able to sew on a button or turn up a hem etc.

Jane Carter ● 19d

A designer handbag might be a better investment than shares!  Plenty of people risk their money by buying shares in companies and plenty of people buy unnecessary things on credit.  I didn't - but it's beauty sorely tempted me - so what's the great fuss?Charity shops exist to make money for their charitable aims. If you are lucky you will find something you like and need but because of the diversity of stock it means searching more.  You're even luckier if you find a real bargain.  Some also have online shops where they feel they may reach a higher number of prospective purchasers.If you want cheap clothing then that tends to be bought online nowadays but you can't gauge the quality of fabric and stitching and check size and fit and it may never actually arrive let alone last - fast fashion.  The poor quality of a lot of fast fashion is a reason for the Salvation Army closing some clothing banks.There is a big move to teach and restore the skills that have not been taught at home or school so that more people are able to look after and mend more than is happening now.  There are Repair Cafes where people meet and help others to mend or find a mender or the equipment to mend for their items.

Philippa Bond ● 19d

Thank you Jane, I don't always like buying second hand stuff, mainly because, I think if it belonged to somebody who died or had problems, the item might still hold bad luck or vibes. Perhaps some will think me stupid, but that's how I feel. Also buying over expensive items your more likely to get robbed. It's not what you wear it's how you wear it. Some people can look good in a sack.

Barbara Stevens ● 19d

Well it’s not often that I agree with Barbara but I have to say, Philippa, that I find your showing off that you could have bought a handbag costing thousands of pounds whilst sanctimoniously lecturing others on their lack of mending skills, for which you have no evidence, inappropriate and distasteful.

Jane Carter ● 19d

The Alexander McQueen bag I saw cost several thousand pounds.  I could have bought it but it was better to enjoy looking at as a work of art than to use.  There are some second hand Alexander McQueen handbags listed on Ebay for hundreds of pounds each.  Charity shops do sell some designer goods.Charity shops often don't have anyone to sew on missing buttons and then donated clothing is discarded.  Many children aren't even taught to sew a button on or how to hem a garment.  Parents can't sew nametapes on. Both sexes of my parents' generation were expected to be able to mend their uniforms.  It's a bit harder when you need to use a magnifying glass but still not that hard to learn some mending skills to keep clothes wearable for longer!PS  There's nothing wrong with using and boiling flannels.

Philippa Bond ● 20d

Well, i cannot imagine for 1 minute Philippa, you would have bought a second hand bag for that price. Seeing as you always used to point out how thrifty you are. using a plant pot to put your shoes in and using a flannel to wipe your back side so you don't need toilet paper. Anything you have probably wouldn't be fit to put in a Charity Shop, as you are always telling people how to mend items with a needle.

Barbara Stevens ● 20d

Do everyone Gift Aid your donations to charity shops.  It helps them to make more money.  So you didn't like the handbag Barbara?  I suspect it was something special even if you didn't like it.  I once saw an absolutely fabulous one in Liberty's by Alexander McQueen but it cost so very much that I just wouldn't have dared to use it even if I owned it.  It was a real work of art and needed to stay untouched and on display!  I used to work near there and it was a favourite shop with the most lovely fabrics.

Philippa Bond ● 21d

Do everyone Gift Aid your donations to charity shops.  It helps them to make more money.  So you didn't like the handbag Barbara?  I suspect it was something special even if you didn't like it.  I once saw an absolutely fabulous one in Liberty's by Alexander McQueen but it cost so very much that I just wouldn't have dared to use it even if I owned it.  It was a real work of art.  I used to work near there and it was a favourite shop with lovely fabrics.

Philippa Bond ● 21d

Well David, the Charity shop obviously looked it up. Lets hope if it's sold the money goes to where it is meant too.

Barbara Stevens ● 21d

Either a very generous donor, or they had failed to look it up before donating. What should the charity shop have done otherwise?

David Ainsworth ● 21d

You do not live in Putney Philippa, I looked in the window of a charity shop in the High street, so a used handbag had a price tag in the window of £225.

Barbara Stevens ● 21d

People need to eat regularly and many very busy working people no longer can cook or live somewhere without a kitchen or don't have the time or want to cook.https://www.theguardian.com/business/2026/feb/27/sainsburys-to-cut-300-jobs-as-it-restructures-tech-team-and-argos-deliveriesAs new tech takes more jobs there will be more people who will be buying less extra clothing.  There will be even fewer of the part-time jobs needed by those who are aldo working as part-time carers for the elderly, the ill and disabled.  Many of these are unpaid carers.

Philippa Bond ● 21d

https://www.greenheartcollective.uk/blogs/sustainable-living/heres-how-many-clothes-the-average-adult-has-in-their-wardrobesHow many of the items in your wardrobe do you actually wear?  Apparently the aversge number is over 100 and we only wear a small percentage of these regularly.My MIL who died in her nineties still had items in her wardrobe that she had worn before WW2 plus plenty of things that I think she'd bought online that she'd never worn and perhaps never fitted.  I've recently been wearing a fleece that I bought over 30 years ago and which I fell out of love with but which I've fallen in lovevwith again because it's warm and it fits better this year.  I've also altered a favourite jacket so it has an inside pocket - why are men's jackets so much more practical.Dry Cleaners often have people working there who are good at mending and altering clothes.  There's nothing better than another copy of a favourite comfortable style that fits.  It certainly beats trudging around looking for something new.You can now buy some great elastic that has ready-made buttonholes all along it's length which is brilliant for when you need to keep adjusting waistbands.I read recently that the Salvation Army has now closed some clothing banks because so much clothing is now of such poor quality.  There's so much new imported cheap stuff being imported from countries where the labourvis cheaper and working standards and rights are questionable.  Not that there aren't sweatshops in the UK too.When did you last search the rails in a charity shop for something that you like?  There are often some hardly worn gems of really good quality?

Philippa Bond ● 21d

I particularly enjoyed 'Cafe's Sushi, Burgers, non stop each side of the High Street, it's a disgrace.'

Miles Thompson ● 21d

There are charity shops too.

David Ainsworth ● 21d