Battling the forces of blandness and uniformity (From Bradford Telegraph and Argus)

Battling the forces of blandness and uniformity

1:22pm Wednesday 18th March 2009

• Print
• Email
• Comments(0)

Skipton is a pretty special place to live, work or visit with its castle and many other historic buildings, canal and Dales ambience.

And as a shopping centre for the surrounding villages, it can provide all a consumer could need. With a bustling market four days a week to boast of as well, the High Street was recently voted the best in the country.

But even this seemingly thriving town cannot escape the credit crunch and recession which has hit all round the country with some shops empty - Toyworld, Woolworths and Ponden Mill leave ugly gaps along and at the bottom of the High Street.

The fact that these are - or were - national retailers is a worrying sign for, like most of Britain, Skipton is well on the way to becoming a clone town.

Walk along the High Street as I do every week and you appreciate what a special and individual place it is with the cobbles and spectacular view up to the church and castle. But look closer and you realise that apart from that veneer, shopping in Skipton is much the same as everywhere else.

Small, locally-owned and independent shops are squeezed to the edges and side streets while national chains take centre stage. The banks and building societies can be found across the country, as can the companies that own most of the pubs.

Then there are the clothes retailers like Phase Eight, Top Shop, Next and Rackhams, shoe shops Clarks and Stead & Simpson, mobile phone outlets, opticians and even charity shops - Oxfam, British Heart Foundation and so on.

Bakers show some regional presence with Grandma Wild’s alongside Greggs and Timothy Taylor’s Woolly Sheep survives among Pubmaster and Green King but there can be only half a dozen businesses along the best High Street in Britain that are owned by locals and not franchises.

Health food shops, restaurants and cafes are doing well but the four great local butchers are squeezed out, local chocolate manufacturers are on the fringes and newsagents battle from the sidelines against WH Smith.

That says a lot about the UK today and how a lot of places depend on major chains which, if they go bust, spell trouble for everyone and while they trade suck money out of the local economy and impose a uniform style and look on everywhere and everyone.

With the revival in interest in locally-produced and sourced food, I think there should be an equal consideration of locally-owned businesses. Skipton brings in millions of pounds from other areas thanks to tourism and large busineses like the building society but much of that wealth must gush out again because retail outlets are not locally owned and do not use supplies from the area.

If Skipton is to keep its crown then it has to make the most of that individuality and not succumb to the blandisisation that has ravaged many of our High Streets so they all look the same.

But I don’t hold out much hope - most of the people walking up and down it are already Bench-ed, WAG-ed and Ugg-ed and follow the latest fashion like lemmings as consumerism and globalisation pulls our society down the plughole.

GREEN OR OBSCENE? The mileage counter

Miles by car: -935

Miles being driven: -41

Miles by train: +590

Miles on foot: +136

Miles by bike: +0

Miles by bus: +0

Miles by ferry: +0

Total: -250 (running total: -2165)