The multiplier
Why the farmers market is cheaper than you think
Everyone assumes the market is a treat. A nice-to-have. Something you do when you want to feel virtuous, not when you want to save money. That assumption is wrong.
A Booked-Out Independent Is Not a Problem
Someone in my comments said they tried to support the high street but the tradesperson was booked out for six weeks. They meant it as a frustration. I want to flip that completely.
Why a man who sold three companies spends his days talking about the British high street
I tried to retire. Properly tried. Different countries, different cities, the full tour. And what I kept finding, wherever I went, was that the thing I missed most was British…
95 Bank Branches Are Closing This Spring and the Corner Shop Is Being Left to Pick Up the Slack
Ninety-five bank branches are closing in the UK between now and spring. That is not a rumour. That is the report.
Yes, Chains Pay People. Here Is Where the Money Stops.
Someone in my comments said chains pay people too. They do. That is not the argument.
Why Peter Watson Films Independents Every Day: The Reason Behind Keep Them Open
I sold three companies and did nothing for two years.
You Are Already Spending the Money: Why Affording It Was Never the Point
Someone in my comments told me they love the idea of supporting the high street, but they simply cannot afford it. I want to be very clear about where I stand, because this one…
Every British High Street Is Starting to Look the Same
Someone wrote to keepthemopen.com recently and I have not been able to stop thinking about it. The message was simple: go back twenty years, and every time you arrived in a new…
Backing independents does not cost more money. It costs the same money, spent differently.
Someone left a comment on one of my videos, pulled from a submission on keepthemopen.com, and it said: it's easy for you to say, you've got money to throw at the butcher and the…
A Wedding Is Twelve Independent Businesses All Working Together
Someone sent this to me on keepthemopen.com and I have not stopped thinking about it since.
Why Independent Hotels Give Britain a Better Tourism Industry Than the Chains
Nobody who books a holiday expecting to discover a city actually wants to check into the same lobby they could find in any airport on earth. They want someone who has been…
The Free Eye Test Is Not a Gift: Why Loss Leaders Cost Independent Opticians Their Livelihood
Nothing is ever free. That is the whole argument, and if you take one thing from this, take that.
Why an Independent Hotel Gives You Britain, and a Chain Gives You Nowhere
Nobody wants a chain hotel. They think they do, because the booking is easy and the loyalty points feel like something, but what they actually want is a place with a person in it.
Why I Still Take the Black Cab: The Case Against Taxi Apps
Walk out of a London terminus and your phone already knows what you want. An app, a pin, a car in four minutes. I don't want it.