It’s David vs

Are all-powerful chain restaurants and cafes starting to edge out their rivals in central Canterbury? What kind of city will we be left with if they do? Alex Claridge investigates

In 1982 Mcdonald’s opened up its first outlet in Canterbury. It sat on the curl where St George’s Street met St George’s Lane long before the Whitefriars redevelopment of the late 90s and early noughties.

The fast food giant had first come to the UK in 1974 and even eight years on did not enjoy the ubiquity it does today.

Indeed, in Canterbury it was seen as a dangerous threat to the independent restaurants dotted around the city. They included the likes of Quine’s in Jewry Lane, Caesar’s in St Peter’s Street and Sweeney Todd’s in Butchery Lane.

A conversation about whether Canterbury loses something of its identity or charm if large corporate entities are allowed to outmuscle their independent rivals is one we as a city have been having ever since.

And it is one which in 2016 seems more relevant than ever. Restaurants which form part of national chains dominate the central shopping area. The big three at the top of town – Burger King, Mcdonald’s and KFC – have been joined this autumn by Wok and Go in St George’s Street. An oriental fast food joint, it is one of 15 across the UK in a growing operation.

Further down we have Cafe Rouge and the Côte Brasserie, then a slew of Italians in the shape of Pizza Hut, Prezzo, Pizza Express, Wildwood and Ask, before the chains finally give way to the independents such as Marlowe’s, Dems and Cafe des Amis by the Westgate Towers. Still, their neighbours include the likes of Gourmet Burger Kitchen and Nando’s.

Other independent restaurants are for the most part pushed off the main drag into the side streets. Among them is Cafe Mauresque in Butchery Lane, the Moroccan restaurant which started life as the famous Sweeney Todd’s.

Owner Chantal German fears the direction the city is taking means it risks being overwhelmed by chains in an increasingly crowded marketplace.

“What tends to happen is that restaurants and cafes are moving into units which were once retail units which contained shops,” says the former St Anselm’s School pupil.

“It’s not a level playing field. The independents do not have the same buying power or the same marketing power as the chains. The result will be that independent restaurants will start to disappear.

“How boring it would be if every time you go to a city, you find the exactly the same restaurants in it, the same sandwich bars and the same coffee shops.

“I’m not saying there’s not a place for them. Every city should have a healthy balance, but Canterbury is tipping far too much towards the chains.

“For them this is just about business. For an independent it’s about a love of Canterbury and its place in the city.”

Richard Scase, the Canterbury-based academic and international business consultant, argues that the contrast between the chains and the independents runs far deeper than merely the food they provide and the atmosphere they create.

“The chains take everything out of the city and put nothing back in,” Prof Scase said.

“Who sponsors the Canterbury

Top, Professor Richard Scase;