The shape of things to come

If you think trucks and hard times are boring, look away now!

I went down to the Friday market this morning, something I don't usually make time for on my way to work. I wandered among the stalls, blipping vintage china and kitchenalia, but my eye was caught, as it has been every day, by this lorry looking for all the world like a ship in dry dock. It's cordoned off in the middle of the high street (pedestrianised apart from delivery vans and lorries) while resurfacing part of the street.

Last year, one of the council departments (highways?) had a bit of money left over that they needed to spend before the end of the tax year. They used it to resurface a part of the high street, at the junction with Kendrick Street, where the pavers were particularly in need of repair. Unfortunately they covered the area in black tarmac, with yellowy-orange chippings, which did not match the rest of the grey stone-blocked street in any way.

Predictably, there was an uproar ( no-one does 'cross' or 'indignant' or 'hopping mad' like a citizen of Stroud!) so this year, work recommenced on laying new stone over the area. It is York stone, which is of a high quality, and matches the stone flagging of the nearby Shambles market, which was completed in the late 1990s.

in this picture, you can see the new York Stone flags shining in the rain, and the lorry. But, to me, this picture says more. The high street is in decline again. Just out of shot, bottom left, is a branch of Dixon's that closed last year and has not been re-tenanted. Gregg's the bakers/pastie shop on the left replaces a shop that was once a pharmacy (19 years ago) and then a fruiterer's, then a clothes shop, and finally Gregg's. On the right is Millet's, the outdoor clothing shop, which is about to close down, with the loss of half a dozen jobs. It has been there for at least 20 years. Just out of shot is a large charity shop, Age UK, which suddenly closed a couple of weeks ago. Most likely, the lease expired.

Above Millet's on the first, second, and attic floors is a fine building with fabulous views that I know very well, for I worked there for years! It was occupied by the publisher, Gaia Books, for ten years, until 2002. Gaia books sold on to Conran Octopus but retained the imprint (name) Gaia Books; but these offices have been empty ever since they left Stroud. Further up the street, also out of shot, the clothing shop Brilliant Disguises (once known by the inspired name of Slippery nipple) is about to close but re open in March, apparently. In between is the Stroud Bookshop, where I also worked for years. This shop is hanging on, but their offshoot, the Children's bookshop, which opened in 1999, is not long for this world. The recession; the internet shopping habit; and the collapse of the Net Book Agreement in 1995 have brought about the decline in bricks and mortar bookshops. I, too, am guilty as charged.

On the other hand, the sun was shining in the marketplace, and I coped ok with the 'behaviour' at work, and managed not to burst into tears at the second job when one of the students came in sobbing, and refused to take part in the lesson. Sometimes I wonder why I did not 'just' stay in publishing, or in the bookshop. At least no-one there throws chairs!

End of Depression-era blip. I hope to come back in a while, and show how great the new surface looks, and how many new shops have opened in the high street. It's had its historical ups and downs, but is still a fine place, thanks in large part to the work of the Stroud Preservation Trust, who saved so many fine buildings from the developers' wrecking ball.