Cornish Guardian (Bodmin & East Cornwall)
– how Newquay has reinvented itself
ness, while another empty shop further along will soon welcome the Card Factory.
Mark said that most of the empty units at the Bank Street end of the town will be occupied in the coming months. He is aware that Gover Lane, which runs down from the high street to Towan Beach is in need of attention. He said the plan is to clean it up and get rid of the unsightly graffiti so it is more enticing for both shoppers and wannabe entrepreneurs.
There are similar plans for Beach Road to make it more colourful with bunting pulled across the road, similar to what has been done in Market Street in Falmouth.
Steph Cresswell is the manager of the Cornish Oven shop on Bank Street which opened last year as the company wanted to test the water with its first high street café.
She said the shop has been busy since it opened including through the dark and wet winter months, adding: “Cornish Oven wanted to test the business on the high street. They have shops in West Cornwall like Scorrier and Camborne, but felt that opening in Newquay was the natural progression. They now have plans to open a new café in Truro this summer. It’s been so busy. It’s down to having the right products at the right prices and some amazing staff.”
Another area that has undergone its own little revolution is Wesley Yard. It is in a former semi-industrial area where Pizza Jockeys have opened their second permanent shop, and where The Bottle wine bar and Project 83 have also elected to make their high street debut.
What used to be motor garages only a few months ago has now been transformed into trendy bars and cafés.
Gillan Pope, who set up Project 83, a bikers-themed shop and coffee shop, music and community venue, said the space fitted perfectly with the business’ ethos.
“Back on December 1 last year, it was still a garage,” he said. “And now, we have done motorbike maintenance workshops for women, have had acoustic nights and other live music events. The space has also been used for photoshoots.
“We know how hard it is to find a space for small businesses so we wanted other people to come to us and use this space.
“We may love motorbikes but you don’t have to be a burly biker to come and enjoy what we’re trying to do here. People thought we were crazy to open here but we think it could be a new trendy part of Newquay.”
Oliver Bailey has been trading in Newquay for 35 years. He has certainly seen the change the seaside town has gone through over the past decades. He owns and runs True sportswear shop on Crantock Street.
He said: “We’ve always had to evolve. When we started out we were a full sports shop selling rackets and cricket bats, now it’s all about the fashion side of it. We’ve expanded our range of brands. It’s constantly evolving.”
He fears that the death of the high street for shops like his will not come at the hands of the internet but because large brands like Adidas or Nike are increasingly refusing to sell to small shops and prefer the big name customers like JD Sports or Sports Direct.
“It’s been a huge change,” he said. “We have had to adapt and go down the fashion route even more. It’s getting harder every year, not just because of the internet, which is a pain in the backside and always has been. It’s the difficulty of getting products from brands onto the shelves. That’s what will kill us off.”
He added: “Newquay remains a summer town for us. We’re open all year round but the summer trade provides a huge boost for us. Newquay is certainly bigger than when we started out but I don’t think it’s changed that much. But we’ll keep evolving.”
Next to the established business is Stinging Weever, a brand-new eaterie which opened just a few weeks ago. A stone’s throw away is The Cave which evolved from a bar and nightclub into a gaming bar which caters for locals as much as it does holidaymakers – and not just in the summer.
Mark added: “The best way to battle the internet is to be better and be more individual and offer that great service you won’t find online. If we don’t there will be no high street.”
Mark believes Boardmasters remains a divisive issue in the town. There are some who think it does little for Newquay and doesn’t bring in any footfall, but there are some who love it. He said: “Boardmasters is one of the biggest festivals in the country. We can’t ignore it. If we did they would go somewhere else and it would be a huge loss for Newquay. That’s why we’re working with them so it supports Newquay even more.”
He said some of the conversations the BID team has had with the festival have been around making the shuttle buses cheaper to encourage revellers to check out the town on their doorstep during the day.
The town also wants the festival to reconnect with its surfing roots with more events at Fistral beach, where the surfing competition takes place, so festival goers can come and watch the action on the water event while enjoying what the town has to offer before going back to the Boardmasters site at Watergate Bay for the main music acts.
Mark said that through working more closely with Boardmasters many more local shops are now on the festival’s own website so there is cross-promotion between the town and the five-day music festival.
“We shouldn’t knock Boardmasters,” Mark added. “We need to work more closely with them so their customers become our customers too and come to appreciate Newquay.”
He added: “We can’t fix everything instantly but we need to continue to thrive to make things better and change the perception that our town is now a grown-up town.”
Hélène LeBlanc is one of those who enjoy Newquay’s traditional seasonality. A keen surfer she swapped her home city of Montreal in Quebec for Cornwall’s premier surfing destination 15 years ago and opened Kook smoothies and juice bar on Fore Street by the top of Beach Road nine years ago.
In the time she has been in the town she has noticed its evolution from stag and hen paradise to the more gentrified town it has become.
She said: “I love Newquay because it is seasonal. I like the fact that some shops were closed on a Sunday or that some shop owners will close to go surfing. Last year I started opening all year round to support my staff.”
Helene added: “When I moved here I think the town was at its worst. The shops were run down and it was full of stag and hen dos. Now there are more families and a lot of money has come into the town, especially since Covid. Newquay has gentrified a lot. We have some good businesses in town and if people could work together more, the town would be so much better.”
❝❝ Now there are more families and a lot of money has come into the town, especially since Covid. Newquay has gentrified a lot. We have some good businesses in town Hélène LeBlanc, owner of Kook juice bar