Kentish Gazette Canterbury & District
‘We attract people who aren’t just going to look at all the nice buildings’
‘Whenever there are detailed plans for a new building, they necessitate a chorus of denunciations
As the new academic year bursts into arterial-route-clogging life in Canterbury, the topic of conversation across the city turns to the impending arrival of students.
This year, development is at the centre of our discussions.
The proposed Guy Hollaway-designed student hall next to the near-complete Palamon Court on the ring road is the latest proposal to cause a fair degree of uproar. No surprises there, then. The principle which applies here is that whenever an architect or developer submits detailed plans for a new building, they necessitate a chorus of denunciations.
But the real issue with any future student accommodation isn’t over-development, it is the one identified by Barton ward councillor Steve Williams in last week’s newspaper.
The Conservative points out that if there is a significant drop in the numbers of young people going into higher education in the future, then we will be left with buildings that are difficult to convert to other purposes – mostly somewhere for people to live who aren’t students.
Meanwhile, the other objection to Mr Hollaway’s plan is the loss of the old St Mary Bredin School, more latterly better known as the sales office of the Canterbury Motor Co.
Campaigning to save the school is likely to prove the best way of thwarting the development.
So let’s say it succeeds or there was some other reason why the development never went ahead. What would anyone do with the old school?
The problem with the building is it’s fairly small compared to the land it sits on. So on social media someone asked: why not build a restaurant with a car park?
Well, that’s not a bad idea. Perhaps we could get something classy in there like a Harvester or one of those 24-hour eat-all-youwant carveries renowned for dispensing the driest meat in Christendom.
But hang on a minute. Elsewhere in last week’s paper it was reported that the former Currys store on the corner of Burgate and the Longmarket is to be halved, with one portion set aside for a restaurant.
“Oh no, not anuvva blaady restaurant,” was the way one friend reacted to the news. There’s too many of them is, I think, the argument he’s trying to make.
And amazingly, one bloke writing on the Canterbury Residents Facebook group said he wanted restaurant businesses to fail: “Too many restaurants in the city already. Jesus Christ. I can only hope they go bust. Serve them right.”
Serve them right for what? Selling people tasty food and drink? And what sort of mentality is it which would want to see people’s dreams of running their own food business destroyed and dozens of people laid off?
I’m not going to deny that there are a lot of restaurants in Canterbury these days, but there are reasons for this.
As a tourist hot spot, we attract people who aren’t just going to look at all the nice buildings, but want somewhere to sit down and grab a bite – far more so than places which don’t attract visitors like Lydd or Dartford.
Then there’s the fact this is a market place, essentially a well of information according to which business calculates what it thinks people want and seeks to supply them with it. YO! Sushi and Bill’s opened this year in Canterbury and are already kicking bottom.
Finally, we have to factor in our changing consumer habits. Lots of shopping is now done online or out at edge-of-town retail centres.
This means that retail units in city centres are increasingly being filled with the sorts of businesses people walk into: hairdressers, coffee shops and restaurants.
As ever with this great city, if there’s something to grumble about – we’ll find it.