How much have we lost?

11 October 2011 

WOW!!!  190 people viewed this blog yesterday.  I'm staggered and humbled by that.  The idea behind it really is for me to be able to sit down on a regular basis and do some actual 'writing' rather than pussy-footing about making excuses.  The tie in with Dorktown and the Bitzer name came after.  Those of you who are Charles Dickens fans will probably know where Bitzer comes from.  There's a character in his Hard Times called Thomas Bitzer who shows the fallacy of the strict bluebook education that he was given.

There's a photo from the 1970's in today's Dorktown News.  It's of Queens Road looking out of town and was taken outside the now closed Woollies building.  There's double yellow lines on both side of the road and three old cars there waiting at the zebra closing.  I well remember the town in those days!  It was clean and friendly; it was inviting, no metal shutters everywhere; traffic was allowed through the town centre.  Not only that, there were a lot of old pubs as well.

"Old pubs?  What has that to do with how a town was 40 odd years ago?"  Well, it did have a lot to do with it.  On the Market Place there was The Clock, the Peacock (my local), and The Castle.  A few door up on Queens road was the Red Lion.  On Abbey Street about 50 yards over there was the Weavers and the Half Moon.  All but the Weavers (now called the Blue Bear), have gone.  The thing is, they all added character to town, and that has pretty much gone now.  Come chucking out time everyone headed off home after a good night out or  stood around talking good naturedly to each other by heading off.  Now I'm told that like most other places in the UK the town centre is like a battle ground most weekends.

That photo I mentioned ... it was taken outside Woolworths.  Now, at that time Woolworths was a brilliant place to shop.  There was a 'provisions' counter where you could buy bacon, sausage, cooked meats, cheeses, biscuits by the tine full, bread, butter and oh so much more.  Some smart arse university educated idiot decided that the company shouldn't really be selling such items and here in Dorktown al least the store lost a good 50% of its trade, trade that it didn't get back either.  OK, they had their rushes at Crimble and Easter which I think helped to keep it afloat.  But that decision to stop selling the provisions was in opinion a poor marketing choice.  I remember the fuss and bother in the local rag at the time and the Woollies management making all sorts of excuses.  Top and bottom of it, they just ignored the wishes of their customers. 

The Debenhams store in Dorktown at that time was called J C Smith.  They also had a provisions counter but that was closed a at about the same time.  There was also a very good restaurant in there too and that has since gone too.  Ask any of the older people if they remember Boffins.  See their faces light up at the thought of all the first class provisions that were sold there.  Provisions suppliers are not the only shops that have gone.

Opposite the Ritz cinema (which I will come back to soon), there was a cafe were you could buy the most tasty sausage batches ever!  They were fried in shallow pans and I remember being fascinated because instead of being the normal links, they were spirals with just one in each of the frying pans.  The staff would cut a chunk off each one as they were sold ... my mouth waters at the thought of it. Of course, I now know that they were Cumberland sausage, but they were oh so nice.

The Ritz then!  It's a large art deco building on the corner of the Abbey Street and the Roan Ringway.  Did you know that Dorktown is the only town in the UK with a ring road that goes right through the centre - well you do now!  Anyway, my uncle Jack who lived next door to us here was one of the many plasterers that were employed on it when it was built.  It closed a cinema a long time ago after attempts to improve it with a multi-screen layout that didn't work and then became a bingo hall.  It's been closed now for a number of years, being left to rot as it stands there.  But that is just one of many cinemas that have closed.  At the time that photo in the News was taken there were three cinemas in town, The Palace, The Scala and the Ritz.  I also remember seeing a film in another one in Stratford Street that I can't remember  the name of (there a Whetherspoons pub there now, the Felix Holt) .  Then there was the one down by the river on Bond Gate, again I can't remember is name.  I have a vague recollection of The Tattler on the Market Place.  Now they are all gone. 

All round, so much character has been torn out of the town.  It's such a shame really.  Of course I do know that Dorktown is not the only town to suffer this appalling fate.  It's supposed to progress - progress towards what is my question!