Another country



Henley: good for rowing and shopping



A few weeks back I blogged about the difficulty that lurks behind the theory that our High Streets would be so much better if only they were full of independents rather than the same old chains.

It’s an entirely understandable lament based on concerns that High Streets all over the country are at risk of looking the same wherever you go. Choice without choice, so to speak.

But the idea that you can somehow regulate these Clone Towns out of existence is flawed in my view.

Chains proliferate because people like using them. People prefer the lower prices they tend to offer. And, as I discovered in Alnwick in August, a street full of independent retailers isn’t necessarily an attractive one. It can be utilitarian, drab, even off the pace.

Yet there are places where independents not only thrive but make very good money, and I was in one of them at the weekend.

I knew Henley when I was a lad, having grown up just outside Reading and rowed on the Thames at Henley for the school boat club. It was an affluent enclave even in those days, benefiting from a mix of old money and London commuters.
Multiply that by any factor you care to name now. As you drive through the downland in Berkshire and West Sussex you see carefully managed countryside dotted with paddocks, maneges and gravelled drives leading to characterful piles. It seems like Olde England, but is too carefully cultivated for that.
Put simply, there is not only no recession in this part of the country, it is in fact motoring along as if economic life is perfectly normal and rudely healthy.
Henley town centre, which gravitates gently down towards a river frontage and past the old Brakspears brewery buildings, is dominated by independent shops, restaurants, cafes and galleries. Many are so slick and well-presented that you would easily mistake them for a hip, new chain.
They combine classy fascias with clever window displays showcasing upmarket goods, often without price labels – a sure sign of high-end disposable incomes.

It is also a sign of independent retailers who know how and where to make good money, who understand the power of brand and display, who are good at sourcing fashionable quality, who know their market well, who know how to provide an experience rather than a simple sale.

I suspect Henley is also a well-managed retail centre capable of saying no to things it doesn’t like, with independent retailers making enough money to afford the rents on prime locations. Some national chains were there, but they were having to play by Henley’s rules.

An affluent town in the healthy South East is a total contrast to Alnwick. Places like Henley are microcosms of the now considerable gulf in wealth and economic performance between London and the South East and the rest of Britain. It is, I'm afraid, another country.

But they also tell another tale about independent retail, suggesting that it can thrive in exclusive catchments, but will always struggle elsewhere.

For independents to make a significant comeback in smaller towns and cities – especially as you travel further north – they would need local or national government support of one form or another, through either property-related incentives or help with marketing and training.

But that won’t guarantee success. I go back to what I said about Alnwick: for an independent retailer to genuinely thrive, it has to be extremely hard working, commercially savvy and uncompromisingly committed to succeeding.
People like that are rare. And those that do decide to go down the independent retail route may well be tempted by the internet rather than the High Street because it’s a cheaper way to trade.
Retail is about customer demand, not political ideals. In this climate in particular, it’s also about hard economic facts of life.