Devizes is a fantastic town. Great architecture, friendly people. And unlike many of its neighbours, it managed to avoid the 1970s and 1980s pretty much with regard to its town centre, so it isn't just "high street anywhere"with rows of franchises and chains and nothing else. It enjoys many independent stores and services run by the genuinely self employed.
As I stroll around the town centre things are a little .. odd. I suspect these are not solely the preserve of Devizes in 2012 and that these trends are replicated throughout the land, but nonetheless a quick thought as to the demographics of businesses in town throws up some interesting figures.
It has many pubs still, as befits a brewery town. That includes a Wetherspoons, which is one of the franchises in town, but we don;t have a Moon and Slug, Or Carrot and Harvest, or any such chain style pubs. It has a Subway, mercifully located way away from the centre and a Greggs, but also has several owner-run sandwich shops as well. We almost have the full range of supermarkets, just "missing" Asda, though there is one you could build a 747 in just a few miles away in Melksham if you need to slap your back pocket. Two independent butchers of excellent quality.
But... when you start to count things up... there are 7 Coffee Shops within a 50 metre radius. Two of them are franchises, possibly three but I don't drink enough £2.75 a cup coffee to know to be honest. And this number doesn't include other outlets where coffee is also available - a chain bakers serves coffee out the back, there are a couple of cafes, Morrisons has a cafe (if that doesn't break the Trades Description's Act) and Wetherspoons sells coffee. But places that say "coffee shop" number seven. In a small area.
Then there are also three delicatessens in a smaller radius - all of which incidentally also sell coffee though one of them somehow doesn't fit the coffee shop nomenclature - personally. Go figure.
And of course the thrift/charity shops which are burgeoning. Goodness alone knows how many of them there are but my wife would as she is the charity shop queen - great deals constantly at bargain basement prices., kitting herself out for a fraction of buying new clothes, and when they were younger our children. Many of the clothes having hardly been worn - if ever. As for me I get the occasional item of clothing from them too of course.
And finally yet more shabby chic type and "domestic antiques" shops... half a dozen of them, full of tastefully renovated (or distraught!) furniture and twiddly bits. Stuff that your grandad threw away and are now worth £45. Bet you never knew you needed a enamel bread bin with a big rust hole in it to have the postman deliver to instead of a letter box did you? Mind you, the kitchen tables are at least a decent size and don't look as if they will fall apart after 18 months. And are only 50% more anyway.
We live in what we are told are tough times - not that the cuts have started and there is a lot of pain to come. people. generally people haven't; a clue as to what needs to happen. But even so, prices go up, salaries and wages don't - and yet people can spend enough on drinking coffee and eating Venezuelan Beaver Cheese (with thanks to Monty Python) before going home to sit on their distressed sofa to gaze at their Edwardian fireguard to keep fourteen or so businesses going
Maybe its because they are buying their clothes at the charity shops and saving money that way?
(c) Ian Diddams 2012
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