From the BBC:

 
We can look forward to more empty premises in the coming months.

From 1st October 2026 the new Vaping Products Duty comes in to effect. New stock of vape liquids (regardless of nicotine content) will have a £2.20 per 10ml of liquid duty applied. I buy a product called 'shortfills' in 100ml bottles. This is a mix of propylene glycol and vegetable glycerin with food grade flavouring. To these I add 2x 10ml 18mg nicotine shots, giving me 120ml liquid with 3mg nicotine strength. Currently this costs me £10 a bottle with the nicotine shots free. And that lasts about a month.

After current stock is exhausted and replaced with duty applied stock this will cost me £36.40 per 120ml with £26.40 going to the Govt. Retailers will no longer be permitted to offer free nicotine shots with shortfills. Needless to say, I've stocked up.

Those looking to quit regular tobacco by switching to vape may well be put off by the new costs. Government's aim is to replace the ever falling revenue from tobacco duty. I don't believe their arguments about youth vaping though as an excuse to tax.

I spoke with staff in my regular vape shop today. They will likely be closing some of their bricks and mortar locations, and concentrating more on the sale of vape hardware in the remaining stores. The industry body reckon as many as 50% of physical High St vape stores will close in the next two years.

On the wider point about High Sts dying I believe they're evolving as shopping habits and products sold change, and we are currently in a long term state of flux. And we're ALL to blame. Retailers need customers. If they don't come you haven't a viable business.

 
Bradford on Avon has it's charms.  There's the attractive town itself and up by the canal lock there's a couple of waterside pubs and the Tithe barn retail outlets.  From there you can take a modest stroll along the canal towpath to Avoncliff and the Cross Guns pub located between the canal and the river Avon.  Just over the river bridge is Avoncliff railway station for the return journey.
Worth noting is that there are a couple of impressive National Trust gardens within a few miles radius iThe Courts in Holt and Great Chalfield Manor) plus the splendid Italianate Peto Gardens at Iford.

 

Take your Bath and raise you Swindon.

 
From the BBC:

 
Just to throw another spanner in the works, an empty 175 has failed on the up near Ivybridge.   Two long distance eastbound trains being held at Plymouth.

 
Laira's saltwater.

 
Another update, from the BBC:

 

That can happen if another follow up has been posted while you are writing - you press "post" and can (I sometimes do) don't notice that rather than posting, it alerts you to another contribution and asks if you want to post anyway. 


Not sure if the original post specified "for two". Similar generation to you, or outing with a child or a parent?

Like the example so far - I left out Southampton because I find it a bit car infested near the station ...

 
I wrote a post earlier this afternoon that seems to have gone AWOL. So, briefly, thanks for the ideas so far, and don't stop yet!

My request was (and still is) genuinely for ideas for a day trip for two in the near future. However, the search and follow-up raises a number of interesting points, some relevant to the concurrent thread on town centres.

I will post some further thoughts when I have time.

 
Exeter Central for shopping, museum, cathedral, riverside. It's not car friendly.

 

Probably rules out Slough too.

 

A number of years ago I did a walk from N&B to Bristol going through Tyntesfeld, Ashton Court and the Clifton Suspension Bridge.  Tyntesfield was accessed by a "back entrance" (stop giggling all of you at the back there) footpath from around the Wraxhall area.  It did involve a bit of roadside walking and a yomp though Nailsea but all in all I quite enjoyed the day out.

 
Nothing on JourneyCheck as at 16:30 but Realtime Trains is flagging a familiar pair:

 
Have you thought about Southampton or Windsor? If you don't mind two changes of train (at Reading and Richmond) and like gardens with a bit more, you might also consider Kew Gardens.

 
He's a liar.....

 

I do not find that very re-assuring.

 
Considering both climate change, and the present very high price of diesel fuel, one might hope that ALL the new trains will be battery, or battery OHLE hybrids.
Whilst there maybe a few routes for which diesel power is more suitable, cascaded diesel units will be available for many years yet. No need to build ANY new diesel units.

 

Level Boarding at last to be specified for new rolling stock!


And there you have it. They won't do this unless it can be shown that it WILL do so

Edit just to clarify quoting

 

Although there is quite a lot of research to show that shopkeepers habitually overestimate the number of customers who come by car:


(from https://ggwash.org/view/96602/survey-most-shopkeepers-shoppers-overestimate-car-use, which has lots of interesting links)

To be honest I think 90% of the High Street problem is online shopping. We buy stuff from Amazon and eBay and the like, not Debenhams or BHS or Woolworths. Town centres are just too big for modern shopping habits. The only options are to major on the visitor destination/experience angle - as JohnM says, "having a pedestrianized high street during most of the day made it magnitudes nicer as a place to shop/loiter" - or to shrink the town centre. Much better to turn town centre buildings over to residential use, where the residents might spend time and money in the town centre, than to build acres of new suburbia where the residents will just drive to Tesco.

 

I am not sure these people have much of a clue; when they say 'removal of diesel traction' do they mean partially or completely? Energisation of around 25% of the existing non-electified network implies the former. One assumes they think the remaining 75% can be served by purely battery- or hydrogen-powered rolling stock. Best of luck with that, it would cost billions.

Or are they thinking the madness that is discontinuous electrification coupled with a large fleet of new battery-electric trains will do the job?

If I was in charge there would be a proper rolling programme of 'full fat' electrification. 

 
Also a potentially important strategy shift in that some or all of the new vehicles may be directly purchased and not leased out by ROSCO's.

 

Slight bias involved?  .  I have visited Nailsea, as friends live there. Would like to visit Tyntesfield again, but there doesn't seem to be a safe walking route between N&B station and the NT site?

 
Thought I would quote the section on Regional fleet (one of 4 types of train, the others being Intercity, commuter and metro) from newly published Rolling stock strategy, as it gives hints to what is intended


So comfort will be the priority on Regional Express

Meanwhile for those more interested in Bristol or Exeter commuter services
 
The strategy seems to favour Battery electric multiple units, but there will be many years old cascaded trains, with an expectation that about a quarter of the currently unelectrified network will be (eventually) wired

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6aba4b47997a4b2950ccefc0/gbr-rolling-stock-infrastructure-strategy.pdf

 

That is true but it is a strategy and not a plan.  I would venture that it is more likely to be delivered than any of the previous rail strategies of the last 30 years.

The method of funding changes for Network Rail Control Period (CP) 7 is the last one, it changes to "Funding Period (FP) 1)" for GBR this to reflect a whole industry approach.

 
I have mirrored that (here) for easy access into the far future, and so that it comes up in our searches - and categorised it as a "key" document - one of just 64 such documents in the archive of 2400.

It's 26 pages - not read and absorbed it all yet.  In the earlier part I note


Reliability not frequency, nor size of the network, I note.  Good to see "facilities" noted and whilst this is a train related paper, that overlaps a little onto the stations.  The whole is qualitative rather than quantitative - as I say, nothing on frequency, and not on length of trains either.  Standard 30 minute frequency, 5 car train, Swindon to Weymouth anyone, or just 2 through trains a week, 3 in summer, of 2 or 3 carriages each as it is at present?   That improvement in frequency and capacity would sure as heck make it attractive to increase revenue.   And it might be attractive enough to allow fares to rise. Even with higher fares, I doubt the extra cost would reduce subsidy needs.


 

 
Oh, hang on, I think I can see them.

https://maps.app.goo.gl/rPqSy38t8agUP6CT7

 

They stored them where?!!!

 
Ah, Nailsea has a post office. Good. Bath: your move.

 

To be quite expected due Spring High Tides (4 mtres) this evening and Strong SE winds of more than 18 mph forecast  so undesirable for the newer trains ( IETs ) to stop between D.Warren and Teignmouth and passrs thus travel in the local and a bit more reliable trains.
As for salt water/corrosion effects in the problematic cl 175 units, well we have yet to find out , but know two years stood and forgotten uncared for at Holyhead in the Salt / wet air did their electrics no good, a well known fact to all but their owning ROSCo Angel and DfT ‘remotes’.