AN interesting analysis by Jonathan Meades, a provocative but authoritative writer on, among other things, architecture, culture and food.
Our High Street is not as opulent as those of Winchester, Taunton, Chichester or other towns of similar size, because our housing stock is “rather poor”, he says.
People with money who might support more upmarket shops choose to live in the villages of the Woodford Valley or the New Forest.
The number of desirable houses “from a yuppy point of view” is slight, he declares.
So we need to ‘think demographics” when we think about how to restore our city’s fortunes.
Turning the spaces above shops into housing is one answer, he says. “The best customer is the one who is just around the corner.”
He’s also pretty scathing about Salisbury’s restaurants, declaring that they’ve been “disastrous" for years.
Meades, who grew up in East Harnham, was one of the panel in Wiltshire Creative's online debate about how to rescue our High Street.
He recalls a feeling of "snugness and cosiness" about the city in his childhood and bemoans the municipal "vandalism" that destroyed historic buildings to create the Old George Mall.
He now lives in France, and says restaurants there will recover better from the current crisis than ours will, because they are family businesses, and the rules in France and Spain are biased towards small shops.
“In Britain, all governments take notice of is big business. There isn’t the will to help small businesses.”
Of course, the Covid crisis may force a reappraisal of national priorities. Let’s hope so.
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