WESTON locals have been discussing why they believe High Street shops "fail."

Speaking in the We Grew Up In Weston-super-Mare Facebook page, one person has said that the "demise" of High Street stores is due to a combination of factors.

They said: "Three easy answers for the demise of High Streets. Online shopping. Out of town shopping with parking, or even free parking. Daft rental prices for High Street stores. If you don't use it, you lose it, it's that simple."

Another added: "High Street shops fail because no one wants to use them and landlords extort outrageous rents, and councils do the same with business rates... but mainly it's the fault of those who prefer to shop out of town or order online."

Another local has said that this is simply a product of changing times: "I think perhaps times change.

"The Second World War left a huge impression on British society both physically and psychologically.

"The 50s 60s and 70s generations had less choice, more things held in common, more used to walking, cycling and public transport. With only a few TV channels we all watched the same programmes and consequently discussed the same topics at the same time.

"Live entertainment was traditional but still preferable to unreliable TV and socialising more a way of life.

"Weston is not unusual, far from it, it’s just followed the inevitable march of economic progress and suffered all the unintended consequences."

Some believe that people want more choice of products nowadays.

They said: "It's the same reason as small corner shops being in decline. We all want a larger choice of products.

"We all shop at large supermarkets now for choice and convenience and we do the same with the likes of Amazon etc."

Believing car ownership to be the culprit, a resident concluded: "I think the High Street probably needed to be pedestrianised as it wouldn't have been safe otherwise due to rising car ownership, but I do think rising car ownership was one of the reasons the High Street went down the pan.

"We all reminisce about the High Street baker who baked lovely bread, or whatever, but the simple fact is that the only reason that bread was lovely was that it was the only bread available unless you wanted to bake your own.

"Once we got cars we could start shopping elsewhere at places that offered a greater variety of better quality, cheaper products. And as soon as places like Cribbs Causeway opened up so you could get everything under one roof, there really was little point in going to the High Street."