is the UK closing down?

[OP marked this as the best answer](https://www.reddit.com/r/AskUK/comments/1hxf458/is_the_uk_closing_down/m68otuu/), given by /u/togtogtog. > All the shopping has moved to other places now, which are thriving and always full of customers: > > * Giant supermarkets which sell everything > * Out of town retail parks > * The Internet > > It's hard work to drive into a town centre. Parking is expensive, as are buses, which are also infrequent and unreliable. Business rates in town centres are more expensive than out of town. > > Once businesses start to shut down, it becomes even less attractive to visit a town centre, and there are even less customers. > > I feel quite sad about this. It used to be a Saturday entertainment to go and wander around the local town centre, just to browse the shops. You would always bump into a number of people that you knew, you could have a coffee with friends, the market would be open, you would see all sorts of interesting things and there would be a real buzz in the air. > > You could visit different towns, and see different shops. > > Those days are over, and will never return. They are now as historic as having live cattle markets in town centres. --- [_^(What is this?)_](https://www.reddit.com/r/AskUK/comments/jjrte1/askuk_hits_200k_new_feature_mark_an_answer/)