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10 April 2005 To AtherstoneOut of curiosity, I drove up to Atherstone today to have a sniff around. Plenty of vacant shop units up for rent, with prices from £90 to £150 per week. There are no bookshops as yet, but the Booktown office is up and running: apparently they're confident of getting seven bookshops for a spring/summer launch. These will be a "coffee bookshop", a children’s bookshop, photography and interior design, a natural history bookshop, a poetry and drama specialist, a literature store, and one focusing on cookery and entertainment. It's a much, much bigger town centre than Blaenavon, which will make the task trickier. Blaenavon is just one (steep) street. Atherstone's equivalent, Long Street (essentially Watling Street, the old A5) is a good deal longer: then there's also the attractive town square by the church, the connecting roads, and a bunch of sorry-looking shops around the bus station on South Street. Atherstone has lots of pubs, which is good, and a very sorry-looking railway station without any trains, which is bad. (uk.railway refers.) Unlike Blaenavon, it's not a World Heritage Site, so the booktown will be the sole draw for tourists - apart from the canal. Sadly, the canal's a little too far from the town centre for any one shop to take in both trades: and there's no 'honeypot' site on the water to make it a big draw. (Perhaps the local council should follow Daventry and campaign for an arm into the town centre. The geography in Atherstone is certainly more forgiving.) House prices, though surprisingly low, are still above what you'd pay in South Wales - an important factor for any incomers considering setting up shop. It could work. I'll certainly go back and have another look once the shops have opened. But I think it's going to be harder work than Blaenavon. Commentscnaelteltv Posted by ornotaeltbot on 21.8.08 19:45 | |
