Lewes Forum thread

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Age of Stupid

On 3 May 2009 at 2:23pm Isle of Lewes wrote:

I see Lewes Cinema showed that film "Age of Stupid" and made a special exception by taking Lewes Pounds for the occasion. Presumably because paying in Lewes Pounds will.... do what exactly?

On 3 May 2009 at 2:34pm Landport Ligger wrote:

You're missing the point mate! It more like "Lets find the stupidest local thing we can and stick it beside this film." Geddit?

On 3 May 2009 at 4:58pm Pearlie wrote:

To be honest that's quite illuminating in itself. It says we will support the Lewes economy on a one off basis but really can't be bothered to do it the rest of the year.

On 3 May 2009 at 6:58pm Laird Landport wrote:

perhaps they were just testing the water? seeing if there is much "demand" and if so might well take them right through 'til August...

On 3 May 2009 at 7:13pm Long Distance Whelk Fisherman wrote:

Someone told me that Waitrose accept the Lewes coins. Can anyone tell me where I can purchase them?

On 6 May 2009 at 2:50pm Lewes Cinema wrote:

We took the 'Lewes Pound' because we had a specific request to consider taking it for this film from the treasurer of the Lewes Pound group. It seemed appropriate for the film and so we did. It is fairly obvious that it would work as a kind of 'shorthand' to identify the film as being of interest to a certain group of people as well.
Comments about us not supporting the Lewes economy are both incorrect and ill-judged. We actually spend a great deal of money in Lewes - perhaps more than you do Pearlie?
I'm not going to make any judgments on the benefits of the Lewes Pound - suffice to say that we believe that we can support the local economy (which we are part of) through our normal trading practices.
It is not particularly practical in our view for us to take the Lewes Pound on an ongoing basis (but as always this remains under review) as our major expenditure in Lewes is to pay Lewes Town Council for the rent of the All Saints. Now, the Town Council do not take Lewes Pounds in payment - therefore we consider it impractical.

On 6 May 2009 at 6:05pm Pearlie wrote:

Spending more money me is more support then? Probably not in my mind because although I don't have much money but I do use Lewes pounds where I can. It doesn't make me a poor supporter just poor.
Fair point about Lewes Town Council, I guess.

On 7 May 2009 at 10:56am Lewes Cinema wrote:

If by 'support' the local economy you just mean some fuzzy idea of support, then how much you spend means nothing.
If however you mean 'support' the local economy in the real sense of the word, then that means generating local wealth through trade and spending some of that wealth locally through fees for goods or services and/or local taxes - and that is something that we or any other local business do regardless of the Lewes Pound.
I think one of the problems with the Lewes Pound is that people can be a little short-sighted about the whole 'local is best issue'.
It's very simple - if you want to support local trade then spend your money locally - and pounds sterling will do that just as well, if not better than the Lewes Pound. There is nothing wrong with the Lewes Pound except the major disadvantage that it potentially removes some consumer choice.
For businesses to prosper they need to be able to trade with the outside world and therefore a more universal currency is useful.
Of course I would prefer it if people CHOOSE to spend their money at Lewes Cinema rather than at Brighton or Uckfield cinemas but I don't intend to restrict peoples choice to spend their money where they please. We have to be good enough (and trust me the conditions are VERY challenging at All Saints and Lewes in general!) to attract people on our merits not just because they can spend a local currency. Sometimes local is best and sometimes it isn't.
I don't believe that isolating Lewes with a local-only currency is healthy.
We all depend on trade from outside and that all contributes to the local economy as well. Lewes Cinema could not survive without customers from other towns visiting us as well as locals.
The Lewes Pound is a voucher scheme rather than legal tender and some businesses accept the voucher and some don't, just like any other voucher scheme.
Having said all the above, the LP is great publicity for the town and there is no such thing as bad publicity. As a promo exercise it has worked brilliantly and I congratulate the people behind it on that basis.
Kevin Orman - Film programmer
Lewes Cinema

On 7 May 2009 at 8:21pm Pearlie wrote:

I do choose to support Lewes Cinema and the Lewes Pound as it happens......I just thought it would be nice to be able to do both at the same time. Which I guess it's where I stand on things, nice to have a choice and I don't think anyone's asking to replace sterling with the LP? Isn't that what consumer choice is? Anyhow, I stand by both.