Dream on dreamer, life gets in the way

On Sunday I had a rather bizarre thought that still plagues me occasionally. I'm writing this blog entry in a vain attempt to clear it from my mind. The initial thought was, what's becoming of the old Woolies in Hanley? The answer still seems to be “nowt”.

So then of course my thought was what would I do if I were to re-open this fairly large and nicely located space right in the centre of Stoke on Trent's main shopping area? Would any funds be available from the council to help kick-start something? After all they're not gonna want an eyesore in their central shopping thoroughfare. However judging by the above article it's not even clear where the council stand as to who currently owns the property. (Same goes for their Longton, Stoke and Burslem branches)

My thoughts seemed to conclude on the idea of a shop that sold almost exclusively locally made goods; be it art, pottery, food, music ... whatever. The back of the shop would be a place for local musicians to play acoustic sets and do CD signing sessions, perhaps it would work as a comedy venue too - with a coffee/juice bar to boot. There could perhaps be a way to work with Cross Rhythms (who of course I still have strong connections with), in order to have a place in Stoke that sells a wide range of good quality Christian music.

After watching a recent Panorama it was clear that Woolworths were selling CDs and DVDs at a loss. If this shop actually happened (and that's a huge if), aside from that Cross Rhythms collaboration idea, CDs would only be from local artists. As with all local produce items would be sold in a co-operative manner – in other words the shop and the artist/producer would agree a set rate of what their cut from each sale would be.

Local artists (in a varied forms of media) could perhaps display their work around the shop in order to add to the aesthetic of the place and of course provide them a valid avenue of potential revenue. Staffordshire is considered the creative county yet the past fifty years has seen a decline in the pottery industry with little coming along to replace it in terms of creativity. Our innate local talent needs to be championed more.

After a short amount of research it turns out at least one council has worked with local creatives to stop the old Woolies becoming an eyesore. Stroud District Council (Gloucestershire) has been given temporary permission to jazz up their town centre store. They're tapping into the £3m government initiative to help communities reduce the impact of empty shops, stopping town centres from becoming ghost towns. The better known example of a reborn former Woolworths store is that of Wellworths in Dorchester.

I'm sure this will just remain a pipe dream but at least now I've typed up some of the bare bones of my idea it will hopefully stop bugging me ... unless someone else out there has the know-how and/or the passion to help make this happen and gets in contact with me.

Five qued gerrin! You’re josheen aren’t ya duck?

There are few things in Stoke on Trent that truly bring in the outsiders. Stoke really is one of those cities that people aspire to leave rather than draw in people who aspire to live here. However one of those few attractions has really been burgeoning the last ten years or so is Trentham Gardens, especially after the introduction of the Monkey Forest.

On the back of that investment came the development of the new paths, the Italian Gardens and the shops between the garden centre and the lake. At the start of this year some wise guy decided to charge people to walk around the lake, something which had been free for as long as the lake had been there.

Now, I’d been aware that this charge was imminent and as such wasn’t entirely surprised when yesterday ‘may un mar lady’ were asked to dig our hands in our pockets. However a fresh dose of outrage came over Lisa, hence the title of the blog. Yes she’s a true Potteries girl but I don’t think she actually said, “Five qued gerrin! You’re josheen aren’t ya duck?” You’ll have to allow me poetic license there I’m afraid.

It must be noted that on one of the sunniest days of the year so far the car park was half empty, less people were in the shops than usual and from what we could see the path around the lake looked like a ghost town. I really feel for the shop-keepers as passing trade must have dropped significantly. It might be rather late to join now but this facebook group is still heavily subscribed to and I urge you to join in unison with me when I say “Five qued gerrin! Hast thee avin me on mar mate?”