En route to Portas Pilot Market Rasen in Lincs which has reduced empty shops by 60 per cent and created new foody hub. Who says the high street’s dead. — Mary Portas
Market Rasen, a small Lincolnshire market town, has turned around its fortunes, from a failing town, to reducing shop vacancy rate by 60%, by focussing on what matters, small retailers, community and a sustainable local economy. Such as been the success, that folk now want to come into Market Rasen.
Market Rasen now has a thriving market, an art festival.
Contrast with Aldershot and Farnborough, where the policy is destroy small businesses, drain money out of the local economy. Town centres destroyed by greed and planners in the pocket of developers.
The current plans for Farnborough are more of the same failed policy. Hand the town to developers to trash. A c 1720s coaching inn, The Tumbledown Dick, that existed long before the town, is earmarked for demolition for a Drive-Thru McDonald’s.
In Aldershot, a Victorian Arcade was demolished and replaced by a plastic replica, it in turn to be trashed, destroying small shops to make way for an unwanted Wetherspoons and Poundland. Outside The Arcade, small shops are threatened with demolition. Westgate, an ugly development of a large supermarket and tacky chain fast food outlets, is laying waste to what little is left of the local economy.
The sick joke is that Rushmoor (local council for Aldershot and Farnborough) applied for Portas Pilot status. It would have been a complete waste of money. You do not need Portas Pilot money, you simply listen to local communities, not get into bed with developers and big business.
When you look at what other councils are doing, including working with local communities not against, you realise just how Neanderthal and backwards the Rotten Borough of Rushmoor.
Cambridge has built into its planning policies a sustainable local economy. Islington has built into its planning policies protection of local shops, recognises the need to stop the spread of junk food outlets due to the obesity epidemic.
There is a myth, peddled by Big Business, developers and councils in their pockets, that people prefer High Street clone shops, every town Clone Town, all looking the same. They do not.
That’s ridiculous, my music is like LISTENING to paint dry! — Jamie Crofts
Music recorded at SOUNDkiosk studio, Hove, England and filmed at Tic Toc cafe, Meeting House Lane in Brighton.
I have often walked this route on my way from the seafront up to the station. I can visualise the route, the buildings, maybe this wall.
Chromatic Fields for piano are compositions which in the most part use all of the 88 notes of the piano. This set of Chromatic Fields forms part of an artists’ book, a collaboration with artist Duncan Bullen. The accompanying artwork is as repetitive and monotonous as the music, watching paint dry is probably more exciting.
Two sets of 51 to 59, the first recorded on a Yamaha P-150 electric piano and the other set recorded on a Steinway grand. Chromatic Field 60, the score of which forms the content of the book, is only recorded on the Yamaha.
A cat walking across a keyboard would probably be more interesting.
5 Nocturnes is a limited edition of 500. At the album launch, 100 were given away, or at least that was the idea. When The Angel Coffee House tried to give away copies the following week, Jamie Crofts got in a strop.
5 Nocturnes is part of an ongoing series Octonic Fields using Octonic Modes (eight notes which divide an octave into four tones and four semitones). The number sequence is octal, ie base eight, hence for 5 Nocturnes we have 14, 15, 16, 17, 20.
Octonic Fields, like Chromatic Fields, is the aural equivalent of watching paint dry.
Jamie Crofts is currently working on counter to 5 Nocturnes, 5 Diurnes, the Brayford Pool by day. To truly reflect the Brayford, this will have to be loud and discordant to represent the ugliness of the Brayford.
The Lord Tennyson destroyed for student accomodation
The London Unity under threat of redevelopment thanks to greedy PubCo
The Tumbledown Dick under threat of demolition for Drive-Thru McDonald’s
Iris Murdoch once wrote of pubs as ‘universal places, like churches, hallowed meeting places of mankind’. This leads you to two inevitable conclusions: 1) she had a lovely turn of phrase and fully deserved that DBE, and 2) she had clearly never been to the Wetherspoons in Leeds city centre on a Friday night.
Like churches, however, pubs are facing a period of great challenge: the British pub is battling with diversifying consumer trends. The latest figures show that pub closures have slowed in 2012, but are still occurring at a rate of 18 a week, leading the Chief Executive of CAMRA to remark earlier this year that the future of Britain’s valued community pubs is ‘in jeopardy’.
Despite this, the emotion people have for community institutions like pubs sets them apart as a distinct political issue for local authorities. And recent planning policy suggests this is a concern shared by central government. The 2012 National Planning Policy Framework includes new responsibilities for local authorities to promote local pubs. According to the framework, planning policies and decisions should:
plan positively for the provision and use of shared space, community facilities (such as local shops, meeting places, sports venues, cultural buildings, public houses and places of worship) and other local services to enhance the sustainability of communities and residential environments; and
guard against the unnecessary loss of valued facilities and services, particularly where this would reduce the community’s ability to meet its day-to-day needs. (NPPF, March 2012)
The public house has never been specifically identified in a document like this before, so its inclusion is significant. The Localism Act too raises similar issues. The new Community Right to Buy makes it possible for communities to list local pubs as assets of community value, and to bid for them should they come up for sale.
There is certainly a strong argument to be made for the social and economic value of the community pub. IPPR’s recent report Pubs and Places: the social value of community pubs, placed the wider social value of a sample of community pubs at between £20,000 and £120,000 per pub. It noted that pubs inject an average of £80,000 into their local economy each year, besides their cultural and practical community value.
With this in mind, some local authorities have already gone out of their way to safeguard the future of their local pubs. Cambridge City Council and the London Borough of Islington, for example, have both established their own ‘pub protection policies’ to make it more difficult for planning loopholes to be exploited to turn pubs into housing, or betting agencies.
Of course this won’t be a priority for all councils. Pubs have the potential to exclude as well as include, and councils will need to weigh their decisions against the views of their community. Nevertheless, if councils want to protect the pub, they now have the powers to do so. We hope those authorities that plan to use them will get in touch to share their work with us.
Pub closures, although they have slowed, are still running at the rate of 18 a week.
They are being sold by zombie pub owning companies that are unable to pay their loans for redevelopment as Tesco supermarkets, housing, drive-thru McDoanald’s.
The Lord Tennyson, a fine example of a Victorian pub was sold last year against strong local opposition for redevelopment as student housing.
The greedy Pub Companies will falsely claim the pub not viable. What is not viable for them, is not the same as the pub not being viable. CAMRA has shown that pubs sold freehold without economic burden of extortionate rent to a PubCo can flourish thereafter.
I first came across The Ordeal by Stuart Warwick in Resident Records in Brighton.
Resident Records is a great indie record shop in Brighton.
My first encounter with Resident was on hearing Undisciplined Art by Jacob’s Stories in Brighton Books (next door to Iydea, a great place to eat and watch the world go by). I asked what it was, and was told pop down to Resident.
I could not find what I was looking for and asked. They went straight to the shelves and picked it out.
I ran off copies for friends. They liked, and asked would I pick them up copies next time I was in Brighton.
I called Resident and did a deal with the owner. Next time I was in Brighton I picked up half a dozen copies of Undisciplined Art, most of which I gave away as gifts.
A wonderful gift. Not only excellent music, but very unusual. A black CD made to look like vinyl (even had grooves), limited edition with a handmade cover woven from grass, and a limited edition art work (each one unique).
Next time I was in Resident, I asked anything else by this artist? I was told no, but expect a new release by this artist soon. I was talking to the owner Natasha and she said I would like Part II EPs by Mechanical Bride.
I trusted her judgement. It was great.
On a later trip to Brighton, I picked up The Ordeal, the release that followed Undisciplined Art.
Whilst we may feel sorry for the staff who have lost their jobs or will lose their jobs, we should not mourn the loss of Jessops, HMV or Blockbuster. All three were rubbish retailers who will not be missed.
My experience of Jessops was they knew nothing of cameras. They would feed a customer any bullshit to flog a camera.
My experience of HMV, loud, moronic, distorted music blasting out. It was as though they deliberately wished to drive people out of the shop. You did not walk in and think, I wonder what that is, it sounds interesting, I might like to buy it. I would walk in, turn on my heels and walk out. Staff lacking any knowledge of music, very poor choice. In recent years they have completely lost their way, very little music, boxed sets of rubbish TV programmes, iPads.
I would differentiate HMV shops from HMV record label. The record label has been destroyed by greed, turning music into a commodity (which is all the HMV shops stock) and criminalising those who love music. This is true of all the big record labels. If you treat potential customers as criminals, then you deserve to fail. And who needs record labels?
HMV still trading are refusing to honour gift vouchers. Staff should do the decent thing, ignore management edicts and honour these gift vouchers. After all nothing to lose, you are losing your jobs and not getting paid. Some staff are now occupying HMV stores due to the failure to pay their wages.
My experience of Blockbusters, badly scratched DVDs that were unplayable, very poor choice of films, multiple copies of the same Hollywood rubbish. Small selection of foreign films was better. Unbelievably rude staff who seemed to be Asda rejects.
London Camera Exchange know their stuff, do not try to sell you anything, and you do not feel you are dealing with a chain.
For DVDs, libraries offer a far better choice, as does Ben’s Records.
These retailers are no loss. They made every High Street look the same
Boston has recently been griping at the dire state of its High Street. But why should anyone visit when every High Street looks the same, Clone Town, same shops.
It is corrupt and incompetent planners in bed with greedy developers who have made all our High Streets look the same. Councillors now wringing their hands and shedding crocodile tears are the same councillors who gave planning consent and backing for unwanted retail development that crushed independent businesses. Our High Streets are now paying the ultimate price of Clone Town, now they are all the same boarded-up shops.
Aldershot is the classic example of a town destroyed by a local council with hypocritical two-faced councillors shedding crocodile tears over the dire state of the town centre. The same council is now in bed with McDonald’s trying to destroy The Tumbledown Dick, an old coaching inn in Farnborough.
Loss of these rubbish retail chains provides a space for independent retailers to move in and offer a better service.
Lincoln is unusual in that it has a high number of independent coffee shops. But this owes no thanks to the City Council. When Stokes tried to create a downstairs coffee bar in their lovely old building on the High Bridge in Lincoln, they faced a two year battle. Sincil Street, the only remaining heritage outside the Central Market, is facing destruction It is an area of small, local businesses.
Contrast with North Laine in Brighton, lots of quirky independent businesses very popular.
Local businesses recycle money within a local economy, chains drain money out of the local economy. If you are worried about the dire state of the High Street, the last thing you want is national retail chains draining money out of a collapsing local economy.
The next chain to fail will be Waterstone’s.
A petition has been launched by two independent bookshops blaming Amazon for failing High Street. They are wrong. It was the chains that killed our independent shops and turned our towns into Clone Towns.
It is Waterstone’s that has killed our independent bookshops. When they do deals on books offering for half price or less, it is predatory pricing designed to destroy independent bookshops. We have lost a quarter in a period of five years. Waterstone’s displays books based on what the publisher will pay, not on merit. I have yet to find a Waterstone’s that has Neverseconds on display or staff that know of the book, even though it has had masses of publicity.
Yes, Amazon dodges tax, but then so does Starbucks. Address the tax dodging, but do not muddy the waters by conflating with other issues.
There is something seriously wrong with our economy when it is dependent upon pointless consumer spending in the High Street. This dates from the 1950s when it was seen we were producing far more than we needed. People had to be conned into buying what they did not need. We have also seen a massive expansion of retail space. Neither was sustainable. The planet cannot sustain, neither could the High Street at a time of austerity and triple dip recession. What we are seeing is necessary readjustment, from a system that was not sustainable, where people shop locally, value independent retailers, value their local heritage.
We should see the loss of HMV, Jessops, Blockbuster, and hopefully Waterstone’s, as an opportunity to rejuvenate our High Streets. Places where once again it is a joy to be.
Totnes got national if not international recognition as the town that said no to Costa.
Not the local planning authority, they stuck two fingers up to the people and local businesses of Totnes. It was the people of Totnes, the local businesses, the town council, the mayor, the local member of Parliament who said no to Costa. The local district council, they didn’t give a toss for the people of Totnes.
Heritage is important. It gives character, sense of well being, quality of life, civic pride to a locality.
Heritage houses local businesses, it gives them somewhere to operate out of. They in turn give an area its character, its idiosyncrasies.
People do not visit these places to drink coffee in Costa. It was a sick joke when Costa tried to claim they would enhance the vitality and vibrancy of the town, that they would attract tourists into the town. People visit to drink coffee in indie coffee shops.
You do not go to Protaras in Cyprus to eat at McDonald’s or drink coffee in Costa, you go to Nicolas Tavern for kleftiko a traditional Greek-Cypriot meal cooked slowly, slowly in a wood fire clay oven or sip freddo cappuccino sat outside patisserie amelie.
Independent record shops do still exist. It is not Amazon that treats music as a commodity, it is a platform that sells stuff and dodges tax, it is the major record labels that treats music as a commodity.
Ben’s Records in Tunsgate in Guildford, not only has a passion for music, but knows what the regulars like. It will be playing no sooner have you walked in the door.
Resident in North Laine in Brighton, has an amazing diversity of music.
Independent record shops and a thriving music scene seem to go hand in hand.
If you wish to use the net, there is bandcamp, which offers a far better deal to both artist and music lovers than Amazon, iTunes or Spotify.
The shop earmarked for Costa was a wholefood shop. It stood empty, it was claimed there was no interest, Costa were doing everyone a favour, occupying an empty shop. That lie has been exposed, no soonest has Costa pulled out, than it has found a use as an art collective and exhibition space and a leather workshop.
Independent businesses trade with each other, support each other, they recycle money within the local economy, they pay their taxes. Totnes even has its own local currency.
If Totnes is one end of the spectrum, then Aldershot is the other, a Victorian town raped by greed and planners in the pocket of developers and big business. If Totnes serves as a model for others to follow, then Aldershot serves as a model of what not to do.
Aldershot is a Victorian town, or was. It is unusual in that it sprang up almost overnight from an isolated village in the midst of heathland. Over a period of ten years when the Army arrived it became a Wild West boom town, brothels, pubs, victuallers, whatever was needed to service the needs of soldiers away from home.
Most towns would be proud of this heritage, not Aldershot. Systematically it has been destroyed. Many of the fine Victorian buildings were destroyed, or defaced by inappropriate developments, the heart of the town was gutted for a ghastly shopping centre, which houses the same clone shops as found in every other Clone Town.
Aldershot used to have a Victorian Arcade. It was levelled to the ground, to be replaced by a plastic replica. Last year it was acquired by a developer for redevelopment, the first act was to kick out all the small retailers who were in the way. The head of planning fell over backwards to try and push it through, blatantly lied to committee saying it was putting to good use empty shops (no mention why they were empty). For once councillors said no, and refused planning consent. It now goes to appeal.
Opposite The Arcade is a small row of shops. Possibly what is left of a much larger row of shops, another small row further down the street. These shops are 250 years old, pre-dating Victorian Aldershot by a century. The greedy developer who owns the ghastly shopping centre wants them demolished.
It could not be stronger, the contrast in this tale of two towns. Totnes is thriving, a strong sense of community, Aldershot is a centre of deprivation in an otherwise affluent southeast, a strong sense of alienation.
From Argentina and currently in Guildford until she moves to Brighton, Karina Vismara is a very talented singer song-writer.
Woods way is a brilliant piece of avant garde rock, unfortunately spoilt by the change at the end. Always a good idea to keep it simple and not try to be too clever and overdo it.
Their début album Dead Fools Gold, released January 2011, was not available at Staycation Live.
Autumn Red are somewhat perversely on iTunes and Amazon but not bandcamp, not a good deal for either them or their fans. An oversight which hopefully they will correct.
Apparition is an interactive dance and media performance conceived and directed by Klaus Obermaier, in collaboration with the Ars Electronica Futurelab, featuring Desirée Kongerød and Rob Tannion.
The music is taken from Skin and Home by Klaus Obermaier.
What a pity Klaus Obermaier does not put his albums on bandcamp, where we can listen to quality audio (not low quality short track samples) and download should we wish.
I started shooting not long after my thirteenth birthday, and what began as a test, turned into a project that would take 9-10 months of on-and-off shooting to complete. I shot over 45,000 stills including reshoots, not all of which made the final cut, and eventually decided that I had most of the footage I had set out to get for my film.
Shot as a series of stills on a Sony A230. Tilt-Shift effect applied in AE. Edited in FCP.
The music is by the wonderful ‘Cinematic Orchestra’.
The film itself is dedicated to Rob MacDonald who sadly passed away this year.
– Caleb Yule
These little cameos of Brighton originally posted on Vimeo by Caleb Yule.
Brighton, one of my favourite places to visit. I would though have found more attractive parts of Brighton to film.
