Belper has been named as having the best high street in England at a glitzy award ceremony in Edinburgh.
Great British High Street judges celebrated the town and it's Love Belper group, even awarding "hero" status to its leader, Laura Armstrong.
The ceremony brochure stated: “Using the #lovebelper hashtag, visitors can enjoy virtual showcases of this UNESCO World Heritage status town, including The Pumpkin Trail, Bunny Hop and Fiver Fest.
“Many businesses have undertaken Belper ambassador training and all have signed up to being breastfeeding-friendly.
“Shops have also been audited for accessibility too. Declaring a climate emergency, the town has introduced initiatives like a Sharing Not Wasting project and the new Repair Café.
Belper is within easy reach for us and the High Street is okay as high streets go, but
we hardly ever visit. Why? Shops are shops and for us a nearby shopping mall
has more attractions.
Soulless it may be, but the mall has a huge free car park and a regular bus service, is
clean and there is absolutely no litter. Go there early enough and you see
staff wiping down the litter bins after making sure they have a fresh bag
inside. There are no derelicts, no drunks, no drug addicts, nobody sleeping in
doorways, no charity shops and no Big Issue sellers.
Not that Belper has these issues to any significant degree as far as I know, but the mall doesn't have them at all. That soulless atmosphere tells you that it doesn't intend to have such problems - ever.
Not that Belper has these issues to any significant degree as far as I know, but the mall doesn't have them at all. That soulless atmosphere tells you that it doesn't intend to have such problems - ever.
Of course it is merely a shopping mall and shops are shops, but the
whole place is managed very professionally. High streets have no chance.
5 comments:
Breastfeeding friendly, climate emergency. That might tempt me to shop there, but I wouldn't commit until I was sure that Belper didn't discriminate against transsexuals.
We're lucky really, as we have a small Tesco for value, and a small Waitrose for quality.
Clothes are really bought from Cotton Traders or online, as T.Wells is just dire these days... I don't think you'll get the Hastings town centre on any lists either!
If you Google 'farting tent', you may just get the shopping outlet in Ashford, but I wouldn't advise it! (actually, I've just tried to do that and it doesn't come up)!
Sam Vega,
I was in Belper a few months ago and was surprised that many shops and offices were flying the the LGBTQ flag and that there had been some sort of promotion of “ Belper Pride” . I thought it rather -welll - queer.
As a youngster I lived in Hazelwood on the other side of Chevin and my contemporaries thought Belper was quite sophisticated. In the days before TV ownership was widespread, they went to the cinema every week sometimes twice. There were two cinemas know as “ top ‘un “ and “ bottom ‘un”.
Years later I was with a friend who farmed some of the fields above the town. The stone walls were rather dilapidated - with moss growing on the outer stones but the inside of the walls was thick black with accumulated soot from the old mill chimneys.
At first, I assumed that this must be a parody. Then I realised that it is an example of the traditional high street finding a new economic basis by re-inventing itself as a theme park. This has already happened in many small historic towns, where the high street now survives by selling a "ye olde worlde" experience to tourists. They have tea shops, sweet shops and heritage souvenir shops that are as authentic as Main Street, U.S.A. at Disneyland. Belper high street has re-invented itself as a theme park for the chattering classes, where they can enjoy a range of smug virtual-signalling experiences and then pick up a few unreasonably priced souvenirs just to show everyone that they can afford it.
Sam - we also need to be sure that Belper doesn't discriminate against transtranssexuals, those who have been there and back again.
Scrobs - our local Cotton Traders is rather strange, being an end of line outlet. Seems to have everything they couldn't sell elsewhere and I can see why.
Edward - it must be a while since we visited Belper because we haven't seen LGBTQ flags. It would be interesting to know how many people notice.
Andrew - you are probably right, although Belper has a strong industrial heritage and isn't the kind of place where I would expect LGBTQ flags to be a good fit with its past. Maybe research says otherwise.
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