Meet the Oapsters
As hipsters shun Shoreditch in favour of ships, sherry and the shires, we report on the unlikely cachet of ‘pensioner pursuits’
IF HIPSTERS ARE the millennial mavens dictating the next big things, prepare yourself to up sticks from the city, take up sewing and book yourself a Mediterranean cruise. In short, to become your grandparents. This month saw the launch of the U by Uniworld cruise, a sort of Club 18-30 on the Seine, listing yoga and cocktail-making on its roster of fogey-free activities. Meanwhile, OAP aperitivo sherry has seen sales double in the last year among hipsters, who have been dubbed ‘fino fiends’. Farm shops are having a moment, too: ethically minded, almost half of us have shopped at one this year. And finally, needlework. With sites like Etsy seeing a spike in sales, Patchoo sells Seinfeld cross-stitch patterns, while Grammyshop sells expletive-laden versions, like a sunflower with the slogan ‘fresh out of fucks’.
Take former city dwellers Amanda and Joe, 31 and 34. Waking up in their thatched cottage, three miles from the Kent coast, the first thing they do is feed their cat, Rose. Then it’s a pot of tea and toast, as Joe plans to tackle the courgettes in his allotment before bridge club, while Amanda heads for a sea swim. That night, they’ll both head to a ‘ barn rave’ down the road. ‘ We were keen to experience a different sort of lifestyle, before we had children, and see if it was possible to make it work NOT in the big smoke,’ says Joe.
According to the Housing Futures report, over a fifth of movers – often in their twenties and thirties – are opting to head for villages. Estate agency Strutt & Parker split these into two subsects: rusticarians: homeworkers who moonlight as ‘rural entrepreneurs’, and rubies – rural newbies – who want to start families in the country. Both young, both millennial, both reformed hipsters who have swapped irony for the idyll.
But aside from its appealing aesthetic, there’s a necessity behind this rise in Oapsters. According to Housing Futures, people like Amanda and Joe move to Kent because of ‘inadequate housing provision, urban sprawl and increased pollution’. It’s about harking back to a simpler period and employing a ‘make-do’ mentality because we’re skint. Indeed, as new report by researchers discovered, OAPS think millennials work far harder than they did at the same age. So maybe it’s small wonder the same pensioners are inspiring cheap and cheerful pursuits. After all, sherry is affordable, needlework is virtually free and cruises give you bang for your buck.