Non cyclists need recalibrating

[ColinJ]

It does seem incomprehensible that they got planning for the store without including provision for "alternative" means of transport to and from the store, especially as you say the old store had cycling provision.

Strictly speaking, the old store didn't have cycling provision either but the trolley bay there had a big guard rail round 3 sides of it which was ideal for locking bikes to, and the bikes were under cover there too. It was effective but 'unofficial' cycle provision!

Perhaps they simply "forgot" to install the bike racks in their haste to get the store opened?
Definitely worth taking further.

The new store was actually completed over a year ago but Lidl and the council had a disagreement about flood planning. In times of heavy rain the building and large car park would be dumping large amounts of water into the sewer on the main road and that road is liable to severe flooding. It took Lidl a year to buy the land next door and put a large water storage system in there. The council is now satisfied that the new store will not be increasing the flood risk and so it has finally been allowed to open. So ... Lidl have had over a year to put cycle parking in. Maybe the cycle parking will be added on top of the flood water storage system, once the ground above it has been made good?

 

[Julia9054]

Come and shop at our new Lidl, @ColinJ . Opened end of August, lovely covered cycle parking (which I don't usually use as it is 10 mins walk from my house!)

 

[Ming the Merciless]

Interesting story here about supposedly poor amenities for those in new build housing...

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-45970349

One guy moaning that his nearest shop is a mile away. The second geezer bleating that it's a 20 minute walk to his local shop. Even worse than that, the Beeb think such laziness is commendable and worthy of a news story.

I'd think nothing of walking either of those journeys for a paper and a pint of cow juice, or hopping on my bike. In fact, this is ideal bike journey territory for otherwise non-cyclists. Why isn't BBC journalism mentioning that not everyone feels the need to drive 1 mile journeys in a car, and present a balanced piece of reporting for a change.

More proof that society and the planet are doomed, and when civilisation does collapse the Beeb will report on how unfair it is that people's nearest escape rocket to Mars is a 20 minute walk away.

Meanwhile on another page they will be reporting on rising obesity, poor health, and life expectancy falling. A 20 min walk, a 5 min bike ride, lazy sods.

 

[ColinJ]

Come and shop at our new Lidl, @ColinJ . Opened end of August, lovely covered cycle parking (which I don't usually use as it is 10 mins walk from my house!)

It's a bit far for me to travel for a bottle of milk!

I'm about a 15 minute walk from our new Lidl. I will probably cycle to it most times unless I want to call in at other shops as well in which case I'd walk.

I think that somebody probably just forgot to add the cycle parking. I'd be very surprised if they don't rectify the mistake quite quickly once it has been pointed out to them.

 

[Drago]

In the retirement thread Lance O'Classic today walked home 2 miles while pithed, but these lazy arrissed sober people baulk at a 20 minute walk while sober.

 

[classic33]

In the retirement thread Lance O'Classic today walked home 2 miles while pithed, but these lazy arrissed sober people baulk at a 20 minute walk while sober.

Who did!!

 

[Drago]

Ah, maybe I was pithed when I read it!

 

[classic33]

Ah, maybe I was pithed when I read it!

It'd be a bit further than two miles from down there to here.

 

[fatjel]

Where I used to live in Kent I used to walk to the shops, maybe 10 minutes,
and several times car driving neighbors actually stopped their cars to ask me why' I was walking !

 

[Edwardoka]

Ray Bradbury's short story The Pedestrian is becoming more and more prophetic.

 

[ColinJ]

I am walking round to Lidl and Morrisons this morning with my camera. I will take a photo of the bike rack next to the entrance at Morrisons, and a similar one of an empty space at Lidl. I'll superimpose captions on them 'More reasons (for cyclists) to shop at Morrisons?' and 'Less** reasons (for cyclists) to shop at Lidl!' and email a note to Lidl UK HQ. I have their contact details and they say that they are always pleased to hear from their customers. Let's see how long it takes for them to agree to a plan to rectify the situation and how long before it is implemented!


** 'Fewer' doesn't have the same ring to it.

 

[mjr]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-45970349

One guy moaning that his nearest shop is a mile away.

I was once surveyed while living in King's Lynn because we lived in a "remote rural area" which was defined as more than a mile to the nearest shop and in a rural or semi-rural borough. It was 1100m to the nearest shop but that didn't count because it was 2 miles to drive to it (the motor vehicle exit from our estate faced away from that shop) and 1.3 miles to the next one. It was 1200m to walk or cycle to that one, but only driving distances mattered to the survey.

Ironically, where I now live, in a village of about six streets and no general shop (we've a beer shop and an antiques shop and some others, but nowhere to buy milk or tinned food) is not a remote rural area by that definition because the nearest shop is 0.9 miles away for both cycling and driving.

Our politicians keep coming out with stuff like "driving is essential" but it's only so because they've defined it as such and then built the world to suit drivers.

And why is anyone surprised that the Bike Bashing Corporation doesn't suggest that such people should cycle to the corner shop?

 

[mjr]

I think that somebody probably just forgot to add the cycle parking. I'd be very surprised if they don't rectify the mistake quite quickly once it has been pointed out to them.

I won't. In my experience with Lidl, you'll have to report it to the local planning department for enforcement action (assuming the cycle parking is a condition on the planning decision) and then Lidl will do the minimum necessary to stop enforcement proceedings.

Norfolk's Parking Standards require (among other things) that cycle parking is closer to the shop door than any non-disabled car parking space (IIRC) but the local Lidl put theirs on the far side of the car park, next to the loading bay that HGVs reverse into - because bikes and HGVs go so well together(!) That's even worse than Tesco, who got their cycle park at one local store signed off as approved before finishing fitting out the store (and it's unusual for them to install it before the last minute) and then it became obvious that it was by a fire exit, not an entrance.

 

[mjr]

I am walking round to Lidl and Morrisons this morning with my camera. I will take a photo of the bike rack next to the entrance at Morrisons, and a similar one of an empty space at Lidl. I'll superimpose captions on them 'More reasons (for cyclists) to shop at Morrisons?' and 'Less** reasons (for cyclists) to shop at Lidl!' and email a note to Lidl UK HQ. I have their contact details and they say that they are always pleased to hear from their customers. Let's see how long it takes for them to agree to a plan to rectify the situation and how long before it is implemented!


** 'Fewer' doesn't have the same ring to it.

Does your camera put the GPS location in the pictures? If so, tweet the pictures (or send them to me and I'll do it) and cyclestreets should put them in the right location on their photomap. More publicity might help motivate them

 

[mjr]

What's this "shop" people keep mentioning? Our food is brought to the door by a nice man with a van and every morning a couple of bottles of fresh milk appear on the doorstep, empty bottles also get taken away for reuse. This leaves us free to concentrate on the important things like cycling, walking etc.

You pay extra for the food being brought to the door by a nice man with a van. One of the consumer shows recently did comparison shops of the websites and the physical stores and the websites were all marking up the prices, despite company assurances they didn't. The companies who don't charge any delivery fee inflated prices more.

ETA: the report I saw seems to be the same findings described in this Express article.

So instead, I cycle to some town shops once a week and to a village with a nearby farm shop and butcher's shop once a week.

And we gave up on the milk cart because Dairy Crest seemed to use it as a way to dump short-date milk despite repeated pleas for at least 3 or 4 days ahead.