What businesses will die?

[coprolite]

44 minutes ago, Genuine Hibs Fan said:

I worked on a project about 8 years ago looking at Sustainability scoping for Glasgow City Council's crems, and was surprised to see this was the case. Its theoretically possible (wasn't my part of the project so can't remember the ins and outs of it) to use the amount of heat generated to power a turbine as well and generate enough power to supply about half the electricity required for an electric cremator. 

Was a fun job, walking past the queue of coffins waiting for their shot on my way to get lunch every day. Saw a skull implode once. Great days

 

Do fatties burn better? 

 

[Derry Alli]

1 hour ago, Shandon Par said:

Welcome to Helle.

That's a brothel, surely?

[Left Back]

8 minutes ago, Mr. Alli said:

That's a brothel, surely?

^^^ regular customer.

[GiGi]

I hope all pubs, even the shit ones I don't like, survive and stay open. Else all the wankers who drink in them will start going to the ones I do. Provided the good pubs don't go the way of Rangers an'all.

[Big Rider]

10 hours ago, Genuine Hibs Fan said:

I worked on a project about 8 years ago looking at Sustainability scoping for Glasgow City Council's crems, and was surprised to see this was the case. Its theoretically possible (wasn't my part of the project so can't remember the ins and outs of it) to use the amount of heat generated to power a turbine as well and generate enough power to supply about half the electricity required for an electric cremator. 

Was a fun job, walking past the queue of coffins waiting for their shot on my way to get lunch every day. Saw a skull implode once. Great days

 

I did some work in one of the GCC crematoriums recently as part of a heat recovery system. Really interesting stuff.

I’ll never forget seeing a skull on fire through one of the portholes.

It was reassuring to see that what goes in comes out as, mostly, ash. I originally thought that there was maybe a big pile that got divvied up at the end, 3 scoops for big Jim, half a scoop for wee Betty.

There was a room where they put the remaining chunky bits into a cremulator to grind them down to a finer ash. Any bionic body parts that remained were removed for recycling.

[Genuine Hibs Fan]

11 hours ago, Empty It said:

So what you're saying is more auld c***s need to die so they can power turbines and lower my electricity bill? I'm willing to make that sacrifice. 

Yes

11 hours ago, coprolite said:

Do fatties burn better? 

 

Yes, considerably

1 hour ago, Big Rider said:

I did some work in one of the GCC crematoriums recently as part of a heat recovery system. Really interesting stuff.

I’ll never forget seeing a skull on fire through one of the portholes.

It was reassuring to see that what goes in comes out as, mostly, ash. I originally thought that there was maybe a big pile that got divvied up at the end, 3 scoops for big Jim, half a scoop for wee Betty.

There was a room where they put the remaining chunky bits into a cremulator to grind them down to a finer ash. Any bionic body parts that remained were removed for recycling.

Aye they love giving newbies the full tour, surprising how quickly it all becomes unaffecting isn't it. And aye I didn't really know anything about it before starting the work so seeing what's left going into essentially a tumble dryer full of steel balls was weird. Can't remember surnames but is it still Dave and John running the service there? 

[D Angelo Barksdale]

Most of the Tartan Tat shops in Edinburgh are owned by the same 2-3 Scots Indian families. Possibly some tax/VAT dodgyness going on, but they're not OC fronts or money laundering outfits. They'll be fine because daft tourists will continue to buy their shite.

Reckon there'll be another round of High Street bookmaker closures, it's mostly all online now, add in rising overheads, pub closures and the older generation dying off. Doubt there will be many left in 5-10 years time.

[ICTChris]

3 minutes ago, Stringer Bell said:

Reckon there'll be another round of High Street bookmaker closures, it's mostly all online now, add in rising overheads, pub closures and the older generation dying off. Doubt there will be many left in 5-10 years time.

Bookmakers have stayed relatively steady in the 2009-2019 period, where there must have been a growth in online betting.

https://www.statista.com/statistics/203401/number-of-betting-shops-by-operator-in-the-uk/#:~:text=As of March 2019%2C the,premises%2C reaching 1%2C620 betting shops.

 

A collapse wouldn't surprise me though for the reasons you give.  What will replace them though, lots of empty shop fronts across the country in the next few years.

[welshbairn]

6 minutes ago, ICTChris said:

Bookmakers have stayed relatively steady in the 2009-2019 period, where there must have been a growth in online betting.

https://www.statista.com/statistics/203401/number-of-betting-shops-by-operator-in-the-uk/#:~:text=As of March 2019%2C the,premises%2C reaching 1%2C620 betting shops.

 

A collapse wouldn't surprise me though for the reasons you give.  What will replace them though, lots of empty shop fronts across the country in the next few years.

2019 was just before they limited stakes on FOBTs to £2, a load of of shops have closed since then.

[D Angelo Barksdale]

22 minutes ago, ICTChris said:

Bookmakers have stayed relatively steady in the 2009-2019 period, where there must have been a growth in online betting.

https://www.statista.com/statistics/203401/number-of-betting-shops-by-operator-in-the-uk/#:~:text=As of March 2019%2C the,premises%2C reaching 1%2C620 betting shops.

 

A collapse wouldn't surprise me though for the reasons you give.  What will replace them though, lots of empty shop fronts across the country in the next few years.

 

14 minutes ago, welshbairn said:

2019 was just before they limited stakes on FOBTs to £2, a load of of shops have closed since then.

Aye, William Hill alone have shut over 750 shops in the last couple of years, a third of their estate and nearly 10% of the overall total.

[welshbairn]

1 minute ago, Stringer Bell said:

 

Aye, William Hill alone have shut over 750 shops in the last couple of years, a third of their estate and nearly 10% of the overall total.

There are barely any outside Inverness and Aberdeen up here now, Ladbrokes alone have closed up in Banff, Forres, Huntly, Keith and Lossiemouth recently, Hills just shut in Elgin

[101]

15 hours ago, Mark Connolly said:

Think the Edinburgh based owner probably gave the name to the signwriter over the phone

I think its owned by a Falkirk butcher.

[D Angelo Barksdale]

9 minutes ago, welshbairn said:

There are barely any outside Inverness and Aberdeen up here now, Ladbrokes alone have closed up in Banff, Forres, Huntly, Keith and Lossiemouth recently, Hills just shut in Elgin

Aye, it's similar down this way. Hills used to have shops in all the East Lothian towns like Berwick and Haddington etc. Now there's not a single shop between Musselburgh and Alnwick.

[welshbairn]

1 minute ago, Stringer Bell said:

Aye, it's similar down this way. Hills used to have shops in all the East Lothian towns like Berwick and Haddington etc. Now there's not a single shop between Musselburgh and Alnwick.

FOBTs were criminal exploitation but I think it's a real shame they couldn't work out a different business model, it would be the only place some folk would go to mix with people and maybe share a grumble or a joke. In Spain they've started integrating them into cafes/bars.

[D Angelo Barksdale]

34 minutes ago, welshbairn said:

FOBTs were criminal exploitation but I think it's a real shame they couldn't work out a different business model, it would be the only place some folk would go to mix with people and maybe share a grumble or a joke. In Spain they've started integrating them into cafes/bars.

Yeah, I still maintain that if the industry had better self control and self regulation, they could have avoided the £2 stake limit. Far too greedy though and they continued to kick the arse out of it until the government stepped in. I'd agree that they were/are an important social and community space, but the auld yins are dying off. With the advent of the betting terminals punters don't even have to have any interaction with the staff or other customers.

I'd guess the future business model will be similar to an arcade, with a room filled with betting terminals, one or tv screens showing sport and someone in a wee box who doesn't actually take any bets, but hands out change and winnings and empties the machines. I doubt the foreign methods will catch on here, especially outside bigger city centre locations. Hills have tried the cafe thing.

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2021/oct/25/william-hill-accused-of-cynical-tactics-over-cafes-serving-hot-food-in-its-shops

Edited August 10, 2022 by Stringer Bell

[welshbairn]

4 minutes ago, Stringer Bell said:

I'd guess the future business model will be similar to an arcade, with a room filled with betting terminals, one or tv screens showing sport and someone in a wee box who doesn't actually take any bets, but hands out change and winnings and empties the machines. I doubt the foreign methods will catch on here, especially outside bigger city centre locations. Hills have tried the cafe thing.

I could see sports bars with multiple cubicles with choose your own sport tv's and betting terminals, and drinks brought to your table, along with big screens showing the major events. Maybe only for city centres though, as you say. I don't really see the point of the arcade thing when you can just as easily bet on your phone, but I've never seen the attraction of fruit machines anyway.

[effeffsee_the2nd]

13 minutes ago, Stringer Bell said:

Yeah, I still maintain that if the industry had better self control and self regulation, they could have avoided the £2 stake limit. Far too greedy though and they continued to kick the arse out of it until the government stepped in. I'd agree that they were/are an important social and community space, but the auld yins are dying off. With the advent of the betting terminals punters don't even have to have any interaction with the staff or other customers.

I'd guess the future business model will be similar to an arcade, with a room filled with betting terminals, one or tv screens showing sport and someone in a wee box who doesn't actually take any bets, but hands out change and winnings and empties the machines. I doubt the foreign methods will catch on here, especially outside bigger city centre locations. Hills have tried the cafe thing.

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2021/oct/25/william-hill-accused-of-cynical-tactics-over-cafes-serving-hot-food-in-its-shops

Shows just how profitable the pre capped fobt’s were

they were limited to 4 per shop yet could afford to proliferate shops,with all the overheads that entails, all over the place ( 4 in falkirk town centre is now 1) at a time when the majority of sports betting  was shifting online 

[DA Baracus]

Betting machines in pubs sounds like an absolutely dreadful idea.

[welshbairn]

1 minute ago, DA Baracus said:

Betting machines in pubs sounds like an absolutely dreadful idea.

Vegas is basically one big version of that.

[D Angelo Barksdale]

24 minutes ago, welshbairn said:

I could see sports bars with multiple cubicles with choose your own sport tv's and betting terminals, and drinks brought to your table, along with big screens showing the major events. Maybe only for city centres though, as you say. I don't really see the point of the arcade thing when you can just as easily bet on your phone, but I've never seen the attraction of fruit machines anyway.

Sounds great in theory. Can't see the Scottish government allowing anything like that though and it would need legislation passed and licensing laws changed anyway.

Not everyone wants their bank account involved or linked to their gambling.