Markets and High Streets

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Each Monday and Thursday a market is held in the High Street in town. When I was a kid there was no such thing. The High street used to have cars running through it and shopping was a hassle, a bit different nowadays. Some years back this main shopping street had the tarmac replaced with cobbled stones and paved slates. The traffic was diverted and a more relaxed way to shop came to be. As there are no malls in town, each shop has to be entered and exited separately, this can be quite a nuisance if the weather is bad.

Apart from these two days, the rest are kind of quiet. Most of the bigger stores (Walworths. Littlewoods etc) have moved out to bigger, more prosperous towns. Some premises lie empty. There are an assortment of second hand stores in town now, where bargains are waiting.

Since I was here last, about six years ago, many things have changed. When I first came to this town I was eight years old, it was a very 'white' town. In fact we were the second Indian family to move here. It's unrecognizable from those days now. The last 5 to 10 years have seen many different kinds nationalities come to live here. As I walk down the street I cannot even make out some of the languages. I know many Eastern Europeans have come over, but also have quite a few people from African countries. Add to that people wanting to move out of London, who have decided to make this area their home also.

Anyway, just to give you an idea of what Market day is all about, here are a few photos:

The High Street:





The English version of the 'Sham Wow!' guy. This one was good at what he did, he got quite a few costumers:




I had to stop myself from saying 'dollars' when I shopped. I slipped a few times, but soon enough I was into the pounds and pennies like the rest of them! The best way I can describe the merchandise at this market place is by saying it was 'cheep and cheerful'. I knew that most the things on sale were not made to last. In fact I'm sure some were defective to begin with. I found the fruit and vegetable to be a good deal though. Much cheaper then in the supermarkets. I was surprised to see bread and pastries on sale that were not even covered up, or covered up haphazardly, they did look good though, although I didn't buy any:









Some the toys were not safe for young kids. You have check carefully that there are no sharp bits or too small bits that little kids and chew off or swallow:






Seedless grapes anyone?







I found this guy fascinating, his pitch at selling meat was really good. I made a few short movies of certain things while I was in the UK. This guy and his selling techniques was one of them. I'll download and put these up at a later date. The English accent was forever intriguing to me. The accent in this part of Kent is not quite as pronounced as a true 'cockney' accent, but not anywhere as posh sounding as where Spingdrift lives. I loved listening to all the different kinds of English accents while I was there.




Another view of the High Street:

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'Iceland' is a very popular store. It started business across the country some years back. Most of the food sold in this store is frozen. I found the quality to be quite good on the whole. It's reasonably priced and very popular with the locals:







The High street travel agent. Trips and vacations to other parts of Europe are quite reasonable I thought. The flights are much cheaper then the part of Canada where I live in comparison. I guess this may have something to do with the amount of competition they have over there?

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I had a few surprises while I was in England. One was that they now have Subway restaurants everywhere! Another one was that McDonald's is all green, not painted red as is the case here in Canada and the US. I even saw a gray one, but mostly they were this kind of hunter green.

I always thought that they HAD to be painted mostly red just about anywhere because of the franchise rules?




Winchester main street:




Shopping on nicely cobbled roads:




They do sell good books here:







Ramsgate:

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Chatham, Kent, High street. They do the most delicious fish and chips here:







A local store. This one has been in town for many years, decades even. Now changed hands from the original owners:




High street grocers shop:




Whenever the economy is on a downturn, second hand stores and these kind of 'cash generators' spring up everywhere:




Rochester is probably best known for it's Castle and Cathedral (this will be on another thread), but I also really like the nice little streets that sell many trinkets to tourists as well as other merchandise:
















Many privately owned stores around still:







Chatham, Kent. Not many malls around, but there a few. This one is called the Pentagon:




Chatham High street:







These cannons have here for years and years. My kids used to climb on them on they were little, when we lived here at some point in time. A reminder of the local Dockyard that was once so busy here:







These shops are located on a council estate, I went to visit friends here and took these photos on the way home:








'Bluewater' is a big mall located in - yes, Bluewater! On the way to Gravesend. It was developed some years back and has it's own movie theaters and a wide range of restaurants, bars and stores:




A little more expensive than the more local places:




And now I think it's time for me to go and do some shopping!

[mich64]

Wow Deyana, what a fabulous photo essay! Lots of great photos and insights. My favourite photo is the one looking down a market street with all the shop signs and the giant clock! What is the difference of the stores being on a council estate? I hope there are more photos to come!
Cheers,
Mich

[bjd]

This is interesting, Deyana. Did you get the idea that the economy was not so good these days? I ask because there don't seem to be many shoppers around.

Are all these towns in a smallish area? They tend to look a bit the same. Unless they were redone by the same contractor?

Nice to see that you had good weather while you were there. Any regrets about leaving England?

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Thank you, ladies. mich, The council estates usually have homes that are rented by people from the government or local 'council'. These are subsidized, and so are more affordable to those who cannot afford to pay for a place to live on the regular market. However there is quite a bit of competition to get one of these houses and long waiting lists. Years back, when Margaret Thatcher was in power, she made it possible for those who worked to be able to buy the council homes they lived in, and some did just that, and at a very reduced rate, taking into account all the rent they had paid into it over the years. So as you can imagine, some of these places went for next to nothing. I guess you can compare them to the 'housing projects' that they have in the US. I took quite a few photos on this trip, and do have some more photo essay ideas, I wasn't sure if anyone would be interested in them. But, sure I can put some more up later on...

bjd, yes, most definitely, I could see that the economy in the UK was really suffering, much more than I knew. Seeing it first hand really makes you much more aware of it. You are right, in that there really aren't that many shoppers in any of the towns in the Medway area. People just don't have the kind of money they once had to splash out, so the are prioritizing and spending much less. Jobs are much harder to find, I was told that one job can have over 150 applicants! It's quite dismal really for the people there. On top of this the government has made many cuts and some have lost their jobs and are still losing their them.

Most of the towns in the pictures are in Kent, but, yes they do tend to look very similar, not sure why this is. Probably just how they were built years ago. Each town tends has a poorer area and a more upmarket kind of area. The poorer areas have rows upon rows of small terraced houses, streets full of them. Many of the people who used to live in these kind of houses years back, have now moved up town more. Some to the larger, detached places. I will be making a separate thread about the different kinds of houses and streets that I came across at a later date.

I was lucky to have nice sunny days while I was there, I know it could easily have rained every day! I have a few regrets about leaving England, but I made that decision in my early 20's, so Canada feels more like home to me now. My kids were born here (apart from the oldest, who came over at 8 months old!). It feels great to be home.

[Deleted]

That is the kind of report that I love, deyana -- a view of the ordinary elements of daily life in another country. Different and yet very similar to what you can see in a lot of France -- tired old city centers with a few struggling shops, or shops selling definitely downgraded items from the old days.

I image that this sort of thing will continue in Europe for another 10 or 20 years, the time it will take to figure out 'what next?' Commerce will never be the same again with the internet, suburban shopping malls and various superstores, so the old time shopkeepers are condemned in the long run.

Fresh foods will still be for sale nearby, but people are unlikely to ever return to the high street if they want to buy a TV or a washing machine.

I think it is reassuring that the cannons that your children played on are still faithfully on duty. I have been to so many placed that have changed totally since my childhood, but here and there you encounter a little element that hasn't changed, and that is enough to reassure you.

McDonald's in France, too, abandoned the colour red many years ago. In Paris, they used yellow and dark brown for years and now as each location is renovated, they are using the yellow and hunter green, with a lot of natural wood inside.

I would love to have some fish and chips at Bells of Chatham, although just like in places of worship, I am sometimes intimidated by the questions about the various varieties or seasonings.

Thanks for posting this.

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You're welcome, Kerouac

Oh okay I see. so outside of the States and Canada Mcdonalds can be other colors? I never knew that. Buying a T.V. or any other major electrical product in the High street may very well become a thing of the past. As you can see from the pictures, the bigger stores have all closed down. Not a lot left to choose from, at least in the area that I was brought up in. I can't imagine you being intimated by anything, Kerouac But if you say so, I believe you

[cheerypeabrain]

Excellent thread Deyana, really interesting. I think that English cities and towns have become pretty uniform with the same big stores, fast food stores etc....but the layout and the buildings are all slightly different.

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Thanks, cheery.