High Street Fights Back in town’s library exhibition

AN OPTOMETRIST has switched from contact lenses to camera lenses to create a portrait of an Angus high street.

Steven Whittaker, 58, who has run his business in Carnoustie since 2007, has taken portraits of shopkeepers and business owners working on the High Street.

The works are entitled The High Street Fights Back and Steven has been inspired by the challenges facing small business owners.

He said: “It’s almost like the blitz thing. The baddies are coming to get you, but we’ll stand firm.”

He said he started taking the photographs around a year ago, before Angus councillors voted through charges for parking in town centres. Retailers have blamed the decision for reducing footfall on high streets.

Steven said: “The parking charges, Brexit, under-occupancy – it’s the right time to get an exhibition up.

“The people on Carnoustie High Street are a really diverse, independent bunch. It is a lot better than some others.

“We only have a couple of chains and the rest of it is local people. They have tattoos, they have piercings and they have back stories. It’s a fascinating thing.”

The exhibition runs from Monday to September 28 i n Carnoustie Library.

This month, the Federation of Small Businesses revealed Angus has one of the highest percentage of empty retail units in Scotland.

Only I nverclyde and North Lanarkshire had more unlet shops.

The report said 72 bank branches, shops and local businesses had closed in Angus, Perth and Kinross, Dundee and Fife since 2016. Steven said his photographs strike a lighter note, capturing the positive side of working in a town centre.