Hot air

Once upon a time, shops had entrance doors that opened and shut. Now the doors just stay open all the time - at least during trading hours.

I walked through a shopping arcade on a chilly day recently and every shop except one (an independent optician) had the doors wide open. And to speed up environmental warming just a bit more, most had hot air heaters air right over the entrance.

Even the charity shops seems to have caught the open door disease. And some (eg Body Shop, who really should know and do better) don't even have doors - just metal security shutters resulting in a huge open area at the front of the store.

A sensible energy insulation policy just doesn't come near a commercial business that makes a virtue of giving up so much heat.

I do understand a little of the thinking behind this and assume that, once one shop started making it easier for shoppers to come in (it's such a drag opening a door, after all...) others followed, all anxious not to lose customer advantage in the highly-competitive high street.

By the same token, it seems an excellent potential campaign for the public to get this reversed and start shaming companies for their cavalier attitude towards gross wastage of energy. Perhaps we could start by pointing out this folly to shop staff in the hope that the message might begin to filter through?