Is this the end for the High Street?
FOR years, I have shopped at the local Glaysher Family Butchers for excellent meat, sausages of almost infinite variety, home-made pies and pasties, and service with a smile, wit and a genuine interest in the needs and lives of villagers. Sadly, the shop is closing tomorrow because there are not enough customers to keep it going. There are 5,500 homes in the village, but the issue is that over the past three years more and more people have turned to home delivery from the supermarkets or order their meat from internet suppliers. This closure follows the local artisan bakery, which used to sell fresh bread every day. Now, they bake loaves only at the weekend and for special orders. They just couldn’t compete with the supermarkets. Office workers would queue for freshly made rolls and sandwiches at the local cafe, but after a M&S Simply Food opened nearby, joining the huge Tesco, local trade has fallen off a cliff. When the owner of the general store retired, no one was willing to take on the business and so it closed. Not everyone wants or is able to drive to shopping centres, buy in bulk or purchase online. Shopping for everyday items has always been one of the major activities of village life and provides an opportunity for isolated elderly residents to associate with others. But 2018 in my village means we no longer have daily deliveries by the postman, milk is delivered only a couple of times a week due to economies of scale, the bus service is limited, there is no Post Office, the ATM is not always working and in winter the side roads are not gritted and the pavements are death traps for the unwary. Yes, there are attractions to living in the countryside, but a village life based on four wheels and the internet is doomed. Mrs HAZEL VANBERGEN,
Old Basing, Hants.