|
These are just some of the people who make YOUR High Street special, the
independent shopkeepers who give Bishops Waltham its character – its heart.
Remember: it only takes a relatively few customers to change their shopping
habits to affect small businesses like these. Sainsbury’s superstore would take
in just two days the equivalent of what some of our traders turn over in a
whole year! So what will Sainsbury’s mean for them?
Coffee House (Coffee shop)
“I’m Debbie Walker and I’ve owned the shop for over 3 years. When I bought the building, it was listed by Winchester City Council as 'at risk' due to its very poor state. I spent over a year refurbishing it to bring it back from the brink, creating two flats and a shop. So the Coffee House itself has been open for just over two years and now employs 10 people.
I do so wish people wouldn’t just focus on what they think they may gain – a big new supermarket in Bishops Waltham and no more need to drive to Hedge End or Fareham, but instead think what they may lose – the village community atmosphere, local independent shops and the peace and quiet around the beautiful palace and pond. These can never be brought back once they’ve been lost...”
Ron Upfields (Electrical goods)
“I’m Matthew Backhouse, but everyone knows me as Matt from Upfields! I’ve worked in the shop for the last 20 of its 40-plus year’s existence.
Concerns about the High Street is not just about the loss of shops, bad though that would be, it’s also about it being the hub of the community. It’s where people meet and greet each other. It’s how people get on and survive as a coherent, healthy community. Take that away and you’ve ripped the heart and soul out of the place. If people just drive to Sainsbury’s car park, do their shopping and drive away again all that is lost.
Without a strong hub in the centre of the town – focussed on family run shops – the town will lose its identity, its warmth and its friendliness. How sad would that be?”
Tashinga (Gift shop)
“I am Rachel Wells and my husband and I established our gift and furniture shop, Tashinga, 10 years ago. We bought the building and the flat above it in 1999 because we believed that Bishops Waltham was a special and unique village and the best place for miles in which to invest our future. I employ three members of staff on a part time basis.
I am so saddened by this endless invasion of supermarkets across the whole country but I never thought I would see the day that we would be fighting off the advances of one in such a perfectly balanced working town. A town that purely and simply does NOT needs a major supermarket.
I think the biggest impact that Sainsbury’s will immediately bring is major traffic problems. And once our roads are a nightmare, then that will be what stops people coming to the town. I want to believe that Bishops Waltham High Street has enough to offer that it won't be destroyed by this encroachment but if you can't drive into the town then that will cause the damage anyway.”
Hylands (Greengocer)
“I’m Phil Channon and I’ve owned and managed Hylands for 21 years and I employ 12 people full and part-time. The shop itself has been a greengrocer’s for around 30 years.
I can’t believe that Sainsbury’s might be allowed to build this eyesore right next to a historic monument like the Palace. And a lot more people round here need houses to live in, not yet another supermarket.
If they do come to the town, I’m afraid that even loyal customers will – over time – inevitably start buying their fruit and veg there and in a few years Bishops Waltham will have no heart. I’ve got local suppliers in Titchfield, Swanmore, Botley, Shedfield, Durley and they’ll all suffer too...”
The Post Office and shop
“I’m Cathy Headdock and Paul Glover and I’ve run the Post Office, and its shop, for the last four of its 100 year existence on Bishops Waltham High Street.
All evidence, where supermarkets have opened in or near towns, shows that footfall decreases and businesses close as a result. We saw this happen in London in small local communities and one of the attractions of Bishops Waltham, when we moved here, was that the independent shops flourished.
We are now concerned that history will repeat itself, that shops will close. Empty shops discourage shoppers from going to the open ones. Even though Sainsbury cannot have a Post Office, they will be selling various products such as stamps, mobile telephone top ups and indeed, if they operate a foreign exchange bureau, the overall impact will have a severe impact on Post Office business, substantially reducing our income and putting our future at risk. The Post Office attracts footfall to Bishops Waltham so the fewer people who use it then footfall will again decrease in the town. As far as the shop is concerned, Sainsbury's can buy stationery and cards cheaper than my wholesalers, so can easily beat us on price.”
Cathy Headdock and Paul Glover
Stainers (Bakers)
“I’m Christine Blandford and, along with my husband David, we’ve owned the bakery since 1984. The bakery was first established in 1912. Our shop was originally where the butchers are now, but we moved to our present shop 15 years ago.
We employ 25 full and part time staff and the majority are Bishops Waltham residents. We use local suppliers where we can, and supply wholesale to numerous local shops, pubs, and restaurants which I think will also be affected. Sainsbury’s would destroy the High Street. Supermarkets and High Streets do not work hand in hand, never have, and never will. Sainsbury’s would also create so much more traffic for our already overloaded roads. Trying to get onto the main Winchester Road in the mornings for our vans is difficult enough now.
I have lived here since 1968. Bishops Waltham has grown considerably in that time, but still has all the charm of a village with a very close community. All my daughters were born here, and I have hoped that my grandchildren would also grow up here. I think that if Sainsbury’s were to build here, we would lose everything that we hold dear to us, and I don't know if I would be happy to continue to live here.”
Peter Atkinson (Fishmonger)
I’m Pete and I’ve run my fresh fish shop in the centre of town for 20 years now. What really upsets me about the possibility of Sainsbury’s coming here is that the special characteristics of the town will be lost forever. I agree that change is necessary, but not all change is good and the changes that Sainsbury’s presence would make to Bishops Waltham would be awful.
Sainsbury’s talk about services to the community, but let’s get real, they are doing it for one reason and one reason only – profit, their profit. Anyone who thinks otherwise is deluding themselves. Their arrival would be the thin edge of the wedge, the change in a short space of time to the character of the place would be devastating – and once gone, it could never be rebuilt. The choice is that simple!
Bishops Waltham Butcher (Butcher)
“I’m Andrew Grover and I’ve owned this shop for 5 years, but worked with my father in his butcher’s shop at the bottom of the High Street for 15 years before that.
Sainsbury’s coming to Bishops Waltham would have a very detrimental on the town centre and would effectively take the heart out of the community. And, once gone it can never be recovered. I live in the village and the traffic congestion it would cause would affect all our lives – my 13 year-old son crosses what would be the main entrance to the site twice a day to catch the bus to school. How’s he going to do that with traffic pouring in and out?
As the oldest trading village in Hampshire, we’ve survived this long without a supermarket and I’m sure we can get by without one for a few more centuries!”
Barrington’s (Delicatessen)
“I’m Julia Tomasyan and I’ve owned and run my delicatessen, Barrington’s, for the last six years.
I feel that Sainsbury’s plans to come here are a totally unnecessary invasion of a medieval market town by a large superstore. I think it would affect, in a negative way, the older population who live here, both in terms of their food shopping and especially in terms of moving the surgery away from the centre of town, where it is now, over to the Abbey Mill site.
If they came, I fear that we’ll lose the independent traders and with them and the busy High Street will go the character and atmosphere that so many people really value. We just don’t need it!”
|
