Whenever I hear that most thrilling carol, ‘O Little Town of Bethlehem, how still we see thee lie’, I think of Newbury, Berkshire, in the early 1940’s when I was a child. There was a war going on, so there were no tourists, and strict petrol rationing meant that those of us in the surrounding villages cold not drive there very often for shopping. So the town’s economy was mainly internal, and it was flourishing. The wide range of pubs and small shops all seemed to do well enough with no unseemly haste or bustle, with early closing and weekends off. Mr Elliot of the shoe shop showed us children our skeleton feet in his x-ray machine, and invited us into his old walled garden behind, where we gorged on his plums and greengages. The commercial flagship was Camp Hopson’s a stately Department Store which sailed on calmly through the emergency. Customers were seated on chairs and discussed their requirements at leisure with the sales-lady at each counter.
Around the Market Square hotels and tea-shops went on as ever. Our parents enjoyed slap-up lunches at The Chequers in the company of Berkshire neighbours, and the teas, high or dainty, at the Banderlog Cafe were just what Newbury people liked at the time. There is much I could add to my idealised picture of old Newbury, but this is enough to illustrate what I am trying to say – that a localised economy, even under conditions of war and post-war austerity proved itself better adapted to survival and to catering for popular needs and tastes than the global economy that replaced it. A basic difference between the Newbury of old and any of the thousand Market Towns throughout this country today is that they used to finance their own businesses or borrow from the prudent town banker.
My parents lived during the war and into the 50s and 60s, in the South end of Newbury. There were three grocers, two butchers, one greengrocer a chemist, two newsagents, a bakers, a tobacconist, two churches, a registry office, an undertaker and six pubs within a five minute walk from their house. There were a large number of terraced cottages off of the main streets of Newbury and a high proportion of the populace therefore lived in town sharing an intimacy with the shopkeepers and other residents. They didn’t have or need a car as everything was virtually on their doorstep. The village bus and rail services were good and their residents could easily get into town to shop. The pavement outside Woollies was always crowded with locals and villagers as it was an informal meeting point.
In the 50's early 60's, packaged pre prepared meals were unheard of so it was basic ingredients, flour, sugar, marg, eggs etc. and all the packaging and cardboard which now goes to recycling didn't exist so the shopping nearly always fitted into a single basket which went on the bus or was carried home from one of the dozens of local shops rather than the trolley load in the boot of the car from an out of town anonymous, brightly lit shop. The start of the change was the introduction of freezers in the late 60's. Bulk cooking and freezing down led to the big guys, who were not so big then, doing it for us and there we are, buying so much stuff we have to recycle containers every couple of weeks and fill a huge bin every week.
You can't go back I'm afraid and I'm not sure I would want to. Can you imagine today, a couple getting married (or becoming partners as is the trend), starting their partnership without a fridge/freezer,a microwave, a washing machine, a tumble dryer and possibly a dish washer and of course, carpets throughout. The best that could be hoped for was a cooker or stove as it was called in those days. No central heating and probably an outside toilet. Families had a horror of getting into debt so you saved up for what you wanted rather than today’s buy it now, pay later.
Things are much too available now.. as you said we had no washing machine etc. when we were first married, and we had respect for money, and only bought what we could pay for. Now you don't even need to pay for anything..just declare yourself bankrupt when you have everything you want! Why have we slipped the slippery slope and given credit to everyone when knowingly they won't ever pay it back? Credit credit credit..lets have it now mentality..respect out the window along with discipline and everything else that was good..I don't want to keep on about the past, but, although they were tough times, they were respectable times...ow, whats the point!
I kind of agree with you regarding credit but I can't see that a policy of aiming to reduce the average number of washing machines per household would be a vote winner myself. People generally want all of the good stuff from the past without any of the bad which is totally unrealistic.
Perhaps BrianB will put it in his manifesto. Anyone know when this is out by the way?
I kind of agree with you regarding credit but I can't see that a policy of aiming to reduce the average number of washing machines per household would be a vote winner myself. People generally want all of the good stuff from the past without any of the bad which is totally unrealistic.
I agree, we have moved on and as I said, there is no going back. They weren't the good old days, it was just different and very low tech.
I agree, we have moved on and as I said, there is no going back. They weren't the good old days, it was just different and very low tech.
Having said that though I think there should be tighter controls on credit as the original poster suggested. Bar my house I don't owe anyone financially for anything. If one can't afford a thing or hasn't got the willpower to save for it one should do without.
Having said that though I think there should be tighter controls on credit as the original poster suggested. Bar my house I don't owe anyone financially for anything. If one can't afford a thing or hasn't got the willpower to save for it one should do without.
...and I think people appreciate their purchases less as a result too!
I agree, we have moved on and as I said, there is no going back. They weren't the good old days, it was just different and very low tech.
I agree to a certain extent, but would not call present day 'good times' by any standard. We could obviously go more deeply into the pros and cons comparing non tech with today's tech...is it any better?Spose it is otherwise I couldn't be doing this..but is it really? Anyway I'm off up the wooden hill now..see ya
Newbury in the 'good old days', was nightmare for traffic, but, there were more discrete places to park. Of course, in the 'good old days', I had grandparents and other family members that lived local. In the 'good old days', the local shops would close Wednesday afternoon, which would sometimes be an nuisance. We also had summer hours in pubs, where they closed early at night during the week. We also had absolutely nothing to do on Sunday and if you discovered that you needed a tool or similar, early Sunday afternoon, forget it.
Having said all that, I saw a lot more of my family back then.
There are those who say that Newbury is a nightmare for traffic today - a sure indication that they didn't know Newbury pre-bypass.
Summer hours are before my time - but I thought they meant that pubs were open later in summer?
However, I can't help feeling that we are in a sad state if we measure progress by the ability to shop on a Sunday or drink all day. To me progress in Newbury (and many other places) has been the loss of small shops of all sorts (Invicta being the latest example) and their replacement with national chains or non-shops (estate agents etc). When I travel around the country I notice that I feel more instantly at home, more comfortable in towns with a healthy collection of such small shops. These are places where I want to loiter, to browse, have a pint or a cup of coffee and watch the world go by, places where I am far more likely to make a purchase on impulse - whereas the faceless malls that have replaced so many town centres leave me wanting to get in, buy what I'm there for and get out as quickly as possible. Cheap Street and Bartholomew Street could so easily develop along those lines; if only the endless takeaways and estate agents could be persuaded to disappear.
I agree to a certain extent, but would not call present day 'good times' by any standard. We could obviously go more deeply into the pros and cons comparing non tech with today's tech...is it any better?Spose it is otherwise I couldn't be doing this..but is it really? Anyway I'm off up the wooden hill now..see ya
We would call today 'good times' by the standards of many of the world's countries.
[It's impossible to pin the blame on one thing, whether parking, supermarkets.
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The one thing to blame is Money,Money, money..greed,greed, greed!-Some people call it progress.. not many things that happen nowadays are for the good of anyone except the financiers, backers investors, call them what you will. They are certainly not looking after anyone but themselves. Allways on the lookout for a quick buck.. bugger anyone else who may get in the way.The days of the entrepreneur are numbered..unless of course you know different!
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