Post #4763 by Trader Woody on Wed, Jul 31, 2002 9:17 AM

You guys are not alone! This 'Blandification' of our towns is happening around the world. America usually gets the blame for it because of some of the biggest brands (McDonalds, Coca Cola, Levis, Nike, Marlborough, etc) have virtually achieved worldwide market saturation. In fact, home grown store chains
are doing a damn good job of ripping out the heart of towns.

At the weekend I went to a town called Dorchester in Dorset, which was founded in 70AD. It obviously
has had an interesting and varied history, but walking down the high street was exactly like walking down
the high street of any 'New Town' built 30 years ago. All the shops were exactly the same ones found in virtually every town in the country, and no doubt sold the same stuff. These days to find an interesting
little independent shop you have to skirt around the center of town where the rents are affordable or go
to a big city and find the interesting areas.

What's even worse are the proliferation of 'Dormitory Towns' like the one I live in just outside Oxford.
Everyone shops at the giant Tescos (like Walmart) at the edge of town for everything bar haircuts.
This leaves the town center consisting of takeaway food joints, video rental places, a couple of wine & beer
places and about 10 charity shops. (And a barbers called 'Hair Cut Sir!') Not exactly a pleasant shopping experience, unless you are on a thrift-hunt. So, this leaves the average local water-head with a lifestyle consisting of: Come home from work after picking up a DVD and a bottle of wine, send out for a curry, and then mong out all evening in front of the tv. Repeat into perpetuality with the occasional break for shopping at Tescos or to wash the car. And that's life folks....

......unless you go out of your way to shop at the little independent stores, eat at one-off restaurants, and
drink in out of the way pubs and bars. But as a Tikiphile, you probably already knew that!

Trader Woody