Two sides to the retail story

THE closure of Mick Robinson’s butcher’s shop after 54 years is sad for the people of Netherfield and another nail in the coffin of the British high street.

His business began in an era when towns like Netherfield were teeming with family-owned stores; each one unique, each owned by local people and each providing a service that local people wanted and were happy to pay for: bakers, dry cleaners, toy dealers, bike stores, jewellers, newsagents and more.

In Netherfield’s case, there were 13 butchers in the area when Mick first opened his doors. How shopping habits have changed since then! Successive government ministers have promised to “protect the high street” and a national newspaper struck a similarly hollow ring yesterday with the launch of campaign along those lines. The bolting horse was miles away by the time the stable door closed.

It is sad, of course, but it is down to us, the shoppers. We voted with our feet - or rather, our wheels. We could have stuck by Mick Robinson and the countless independent traders who have gone to the wall in recent years but we succcumbed to the lure of one-stop shopping - and we clearly liked it, because we have continued to line the pockets of the Tescos and Aldis, though we could see that the high street was in decline; that the Mick Robinsons were struggling and would one day vanish.

It would be nice to have the best of both worlds: high streets bustling with family-owned shops selling what only they can offer, alongside 24-hour superstores with all the big-name brands. But there simply isn’t the money to sustain both, and the vast majority of us have made our choice.

Mick Robinson may well be right when he says that “people do not want quality any more”.

But let us not forget that the supermarket chains springing up everywhere - and in some cases providing small outlets not too disimilar to the corner shops of old employ vast numbers of local people who not only provide a service that other local people appreciate but who might otherwise have no jobs, and therefore no wages to spend elsewhere in the local economy.