by : John Barber Hertford blog

Hertford Retail Check

“They may ring their bells now, before long they will be wringing their hands.”

When the bells were rung in London on the declaration of war against Spain in the 1739 ‘War of Jenkin’s Ear’ , Robert Walpole uttered his most memorable quote as all students of English history will know.

Sir Robert Walpole (26 August 1676 – 18 March 1745),  is generally regarded as the first Prime Minister of Great Britain. The current Prime Minister would probably like the bells of Big Ben to chime on Friday, 31st January on the UK’s exit from Europe but this will not happen now.

Hertford will not be ringing any bells on the publication of the most recent Hertford Town Centre Retail Health Check commissioned by East Herts Council and presented by the Retail Group.

They describe themselves thus: The Retail Group is a specialist retail management consultancy that provides informed solutions about consumers’ future needs for a wide range of retail and property clients. The philosophy of our business is “to improve our clients’ business through our understanding of shoppers, their shopping habits, businesses and the skills of retailing”.

The report does not make for pleasant reading. If you are feeling so disposed then you can read the Hertford Town Centre Retail Health Check here.

One thing in its favour is that the overwhelming majority of Hertford’s town centre traders responded to the consultation and their response is well documented into readable statistics. Some analysis of these results are below:

This question (satisfaction levels) clearly identifies that all is not well in Hertford Town Centre. Whilst the majority of businesses are satisfied with the performance of their shops /outlets, they are also unsatisfied with the performance of the town centre. Nearly half are very dissatisfied. This is a significant finding and one of the lowest satisfaction responses we have ever received for a market town of a similar size to Hertford.

Town Centre Priority Improvement Areas. Many of the other improvements sought relate to a better consumer experience (safe, cleaner, ease of use etc) or an improved environment (public realm, less traffic congestion). A final consistent theme wanted by respondents was more events that generate footfall (e.g. markets, promotion, online information, better signage etc). Improved food & beverage (f&b) offer is not a requirement.

Views and Opinions. In regards general views and opinions abut the town centre, this question captured quite negative responses. Respondents didn’t feel the markets offer was
good, nor agreed that the town centre was improving each year, nor had many reasons to visit it or was an appealing destination. The good news is that a few businesses would recommend it and most felt it was clean and pleasant. Whilst the tone of the response is clearly negative it does identify aspects for the town to improve.

Despite the report’s findings, there was little discussion when it was presented to the District Council’s Executive Committee on Thursday January 21st. Councillors simply voted to note the contents of the report and recommend that the Council works with other “stakeholders” to agree “the appropriate mechanism to support the improvement of economic and retail performance and environmental considerations within Hertford Town Centre”.

At the centre of all things Hertford is the future of Bircherley Green Shopping Centre. At the time of writing nothing has happened. Chase New Homes had stated that they have submitted plans to East Herts Council before Christmas 2019 as promised but there are still no signs of luminous yellow planning notices appearing on a wall near you.

There is nothing new in the universe as a reading of my previous posts (see right) will confirm.

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by : John Barber Hertford blog

2020 – a New Year

  • Goodbye 2019
  • Hello 2020

A New Year and a time to reflect and look forward.

This is list of things the people of Hertford have wished for based on my role as Town Centre Manager from 2001 – 2010.

It is far from complete.

Nearly all of the following were the subject of a response to a survey I undertook during 2008 to 2009.

The survey was commissioned by East Herts Council and funded through the LABGI scheme – or Local Authority Business Growth Initiative.

This was a fund from national Government based on criteria which few understood and was an unknown sum which suddenly appeared in the Council’s accounts. That was how it was explained to me and I looked no further.

Other East Herts market towns were given a similar sum and a guidance as to how it was to be spent. This was a national event and councils up and down the country were able to use this windfall for all sorts of local initiatives.

My brief was to submit five proposals which were relatively inexpensive but provided the greatest environmental benefit. Initially I consulted everybody from local traders to cyclist organisations, residents to County Councillors, street traders to national organisations with a base in Hertford.

I will start with the first round of talks. Many of the following were mentioned by more than one person or organisation; but all I think, are self-explanatory. Some have been implemented, some not. I take no credit for either. It was not my remit to carry the recommendations any further. In no particular order:

  • shoe shop
  • baby shop
  • clothes shops for ladies of a certain age
  • improved signage around town centre and perimeter
  • information and interpretation boards for visitors
  • updated tourist maps and guides
  • control use of A boards for visually impaired people
  • bye-laws to control charity campaigners or ‘chuggers’
  • licensing buskers
  • regular ‘cleaner, greener, tidier Hertford’ campaign using community service
  • more litter bins and recycling pods in town centre
  • collecting and recycling cardboard waste from traders
  • bike sharing scheme
  • more public benches
  • more opportunities for public art and craft markets
  • small scale open air concerts in Parliament and Salisbury Squares
  • community toilet scheme with baby changing facilities
  • improved facilities for river traffic
  • finalise plans for the regeneration of Bircherley Green
  • open and improved toilets and waiting room for bus station
  • widen commercial and industrial town database for all businesses
  • Town Centre Traders organisation
  • Heritage trail

These were reduced to a final five which were:

  • More and improved signage
  • More information boards
  • A full and accessible town centre database
  • More strategically placed salt bins
  • More benches in public spaces

I would like to revisit this page in 2021 but I doubt if it will be any different. That makes me quite sad!

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by : John Barber Hertford blog

A Christmas Carol

About this time of year I try and read A Christmas Carol  by Charles Dickens. It is what Christmas is all about – family and the joy of giving.

I have a black and white film version 1951 A Christmas Carol: starring Alastair Sim as Scrooge and Kathleen Harrison – a classic.

This year I am sending a few Christmas cards to old friends. It is a special card designed at school by my six year old grandson Archie.

For everyone else in Hertford I would like to pass on this message – unashamedly copied from A Christmas Carol – says it all!

Scrooge was better than his word ……. he became as good a friend, as good a master, and as good a man, as the good old city knew, or any other good old city, town, or borough, in the good old world.

Mr Fizziwig's Ball by John Leech from A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
Mr Fizziwig’s Ball by John Leech

It was always said of him that he knew how to keep Christmas well, if any man alive possessed the knowledge. May that be truly said of us, and all of us! And so, as Tiny Tim observed, God bless Us, Every One!

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by : John Barber Hertford blog

Yarn Bomber’s Tree

Yarn bombers Christmas tree in Salisbury Square

This is a photo of  yarn bombers Hertford’s Christmas tree.

It’s good to write about something that is worth coming into Hertford for. (see previous post) Click image to see full version.

It is almost impossible to calculate the number of hours these people have spent in designing, making and dressing this tree.

In the past I have returned Christmas trees to the supplier as totally unsuitable for display in the county town.

No such problems with this. It is unique, colourful and worthy of Hertford.

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by : John Barber Hertford blog

Good, Bad and Ugly

Our misery has been lifted. There is to be a General Election.

It will be slightly different in Hertford this time as Mark Prisk, our MP for Hertford and Stortford is standing down having served the constituency since 2001.

This is his letter confirming his decision.

You have to speak as you find and to be honest Mark was a great help to me when I was Town Centre Manager.

He attended a breakfast meeting to talk to and answer questions from the town traders.

It was a decision of genius to hold Town Watch meetings at breakfast times. Business people can always find excuses not to be able to attend meetings at coffee time, lunch or after working hours. But offer a free breakfast then they will be there at 8.00am especially if you throw in a guest speaker who has some gravitas.

So thank you Lloyds Bank for sponsoring those breakfasts, Waitrose for the food, Michelle for opening the Waterside Bar and Restaurant and Theresa for turning up early and cooking the food. You could have anything from a glass of orange juice to a full English breakfast with toast, coffee and all the trimmings.

I would recommend this to any trade organisation hoping to get  business people together to meet, chat and generally network (horrible word, but that’s what it is). The key to its success was that local politicians were not invited. And it was free; and in the early morning so they could slip off to their own workplace without any fuss.

When Government cuts hit the rivers and waterways the Lee and Stort Inland Waterways Association as it is now, organised a blockade of the River Lee at Hertford.  It was supported and addressed  by Mark Prisk who joined our own craft to cruise along the Hertford stretch and spoke to all of the residents whose properties bordered the river.

In 2007 with a colleague from East Herts I launched Hidden Hertford. Mark wrote letters to various organisations such as the Lottery Fund and Action For Market towns. His support was invaluable in raising the £32,000 which went to fund all kinds of heritage and community projects.

The Hertford and Stortford constituency is considered to be one of safest seats for the Conservatives. if you are selected as candidate by the local party you are bound to win at the general election and sent to Westminster. It is quite surprising that anyone in Hertford actually bothers to vote at all.

However all is not sweetness and light here. Julie Marson has been selected to stand for the constituency as Conservative candidate. As far as I can ascertain she is not a local woman and has previously lost when standing in various parliamentary seats in south England.

Her selection and the way it happened caused a few ripples amongst the members. It is a bit of a political handbag fight in itself so here is the background.

Update 8 December 2019

Hold the Front Page

Yesterday received a letter in the post from no other than Julie Marson, Conservative candidate for the Hertford and Stortford constituency asking for my vote at next week’s General Election.

Obviously the local Conservatives have not been reading these web pages!

However I note that the address at the top right was Bishops Stortford and I read further that Julie lives in Sawbridgeworth so I apologise if I have slighted her.

Despite the personal approach and a letter personally signed ‘Julie’ I will not be casting my vote in her direction.

Who gets my ‘X’? Unfortunately the Official Monster Raving Looney Party are not fielding a candidate here. So I might abstain or vote for whomever takes my fancy on the day as most of the mainstream parties are already totally raving.

Just when you thought that things could not get much worse with Bircherley Green this has happened.

The riverside service road showing all entrances and exits boarded up
Bus station entrances boarded up

All entrances, exits, door, windows and even gates have been boarded up. What a lovely sight for visitors to be greeted with when coming to the county town.

East Herts Council consistently refused a plethora of applications and amendments from Wrenbridge on the grounds that Bircherley Green was part of the Hertford Local Conservation Area.

But allowing the waiting room to be closed during the winter months, closing the toilets and now letting the place resemble the set of a Hollywood Western makes those claims a bit hollow.

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by : John Barber Hertford blog

A merry Christmas

Walking around town this last couple of days I notice that the Christmas lights are in place. I know that they are not switched on yet but Christmas does seem to get earlier every year.

First let me categorically state that I am not against Christmas lights to brighten up the town and improve the shopping experience.

In 2004 East Herts Council made a one-off grant to the market towns for Christmas lights and responsibility for purchase and installation was transferred with it. The Hertford Town Centre Management Board as it was then, did not have access to extra funding and control was transferred to Hertford Town Council who employed myself to manage the project.

The work involved many different agencies but the result was worth the effort.

Christmas lights Maidenhead Street 2004
Father Christmas themed Christmas lights in Maidenhead Street 2004

The project was not without its problems.

We had originally planned for blue LED lights to  be hung in a triangle from the lamp posts at Old Cross. I am told that these looked absolutely fabulous in the early morning mist. Unfortunately a retired engineer driving through town informed the council that these lamp columns were not load bearing and the lights had to come down.

I don’t know who he was but down the lights had to come. We found several places to install these; one was outside the White Hart pub in Salisbury Square. Ironically those very same lamp columns now hold hanging baskets and a small xmas lighting motif.

White Hart 2004
White Hart in Salisbury Square 2004 with those blue lights

Since those early days Hertford town Council with the aid of business donations has increased and improved the town centre display.

I am not wishing to play Scrooge at this time. The lights themselves are expensive as is the contractor’s cost of installing and removing them along with Highways regulations regarding such things as stress tests.

Over the years I have come to question the benefit of town centre Christmas lights.  By default they come on when most shops are closing and the night time economy needs no extra boost to attract late night revellers.

I am saddened to read of the problems the Town Council is having regarding festive celebrations. Keep the tree in Salisbury Square by all means but I believe it is time to replace the lights with something else to kick start Christmas shopping.

I have suggested in the past that funds should be spent on a celebrity to turn on the lights. Stevenage often hire a failed finalist from the X-Factor and other towns also seem to find a none too reclusive D-List celebrity to help Father Christmas and the Mayor hit the plunger.  A famous face appearing in Hertford might help draw in the crowds when Christmas begins.

After all my efforts in the past I would be the first to bemoan the loss of the lights. I have written to Cllr Sartin to congratulate the team on the town display but if as I am led to believe footfall is dropping then perhaps now is the time to think of an alternative.

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by : John Barber Hertford blog

A candle for Zach

River Lea at night 11 October 2019

11th October 2019 was the fourth anniversary of the passing of our grandson Zach.

We marked it by launching four floating candles along the River Lea.

This beautiful photo was taken by my stepson and Zach’s uncle, Jonathan Lucas.

It was shot from Folly Bridge; a view Zach loved.

I used to stand him here so he could see the houseboats, ducks, geese and all the other river life.

I know it sounds very sentimental but all I could think of was a line from Elton John:

‘Your candle burned out long before your legend ever did’.

by : John Barber Hertford blog

Hertford – the county town

Sometimes I think I am living in a different universe from everyone else. Apart from a message on Hertford.net no one else seems to be the slightest concerned that the planning application for Bircherley Green Shopping Centre has been withdrawn.

Just to make sure I downloaded the entry again and here is the email from Barton Willmore: 3_19_1308_VAR-WITHDRAWAL_EMAIL-1431163.

So now we await an approach from Chase Homes regarding their proposals for the site which may or may not include a hotel, NHS surgery, prime retail space or hot food take-away premises.

It might appear that East Herts Council have missed an opportunity to invest in the town. All I have heard since moving to Hertford in 1980 and all through my years as Town Centre Manager is the same refrain: ‘Hertford is the county town’ followed by a list of things that should have been done, or hasn’t been done, or has been done, that has added nothing to Hertford.

Historic English shopping centres will benefit from a £95m regeneration fund, the government has said. The government’s Future High Street Fund is providing £52m of the money, while £40m will come from the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS). A further £3m is being provided by the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

Towns and cities had to bid for the £95m funding, which was first announced in May.

“Our nation’s heritage is one of our great calling cards to the world, attracting millions of visitors to beautiful historic buildings that sit at the heart of our communities,” said Culture Secretary Nicky Morgan.

“It is right that we ensure these buildings are preserved for future generations but it is important that we make them work for the modern world.”

Maybe an application was doomed to fail but you have to try.

Hertford is the county town. Nearly all of the buildings in the town centre, which is considered a Local Conservation Area in its own right, feature in the Government’s list of buildings considered to be of architecturally or historic interest.

This would seem to tick all Nicky Morgan’s boxes.

This is East Herts Council’s response:

“Under the scheme, districts of our size were limited to one bid so we had to select the town with the best chance of success.

“In submitting the bid, we knew that by most measures within the scheme (e.g. vacancy levels) none of East Herts’ towns are in the ‘failing’ category.

“The principle vehicle for improving Hertford town centre is the Bircherley Green redevelopment which is not owned by the council so the basis of a bid would not have met the HSF criteria.”

No council at any level gave any support to the Hidden Hertford project which sought to attract visitors to the county town. Well, not until I had already raised over £32,000 towards the project. The aims and results of the Hidden Hertford project can be viewed here.

In 2010 East Herts Council paid me to produce a report to provide a series of environmentally sound projects at minimal cost with maximum benefit to the community.

After a lengthy consultation with a wide range of businesses, traders and organisations which had an interest in the town I suggested the following, amongst others, based upon the success of what had already been achieved with Hidden Hertford (see above):

Tenants of listed buildings should be responsible for their maintenance
New town centre signage and visitor maps
More benches throughout the town
More salt bins in vulnerable places
Using litter bins to take recycling products in place of anonymous bollards
Bikes for hire at bus and rail station
Community toilet scheme

The  motive behind all the above was to attract more visitors to Hertford and to make their stay as enjoyable as possible whilst improving the local economy.

Not surprisingly none of the above were introduced.

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by : John Barber Hertford blog

Sitting in Bircherley Green

“I used to have a standing joke and say if I’d been really bad and went to purgatory when I died, I’d find myself trapped in Peterborough railway station on a cold winter’s night, with the cold wind blowing across the Fens.”

Not my words but those of Louise Doughty talking to BBC News about her new novel Platform Seven which centres on Peterborough station.  The main character, a ghost named Lisa, attempts to solve the riddle of her own death. Ms Doughty’s best-known novel Apple Tree Yard was adapted for television in 2016.

I know what she means. A long time ago in about 1968 when the world and I were very young many of my friends and myself used to travel from our various university homes and meet up in Nottingham, as the most populated campus of our particular social circle. One particular Saturday night myself and friend Dan missed the last train back to London.

A station porter (such an old fashioned term) mentioned that we could meet the milk train (another anachronism) to St Pancras if we caught the cross country slow train to Sleaford – which we did.

Sleaford station waiting room was a vision of terminal decay. The walls were a deep tobacco stained yellow/brown to match the lino on the floor. This was cracked and in several places worn away to reveal the wooden floorboards below. There was one 40 watt light bulb to illuminate the tattered and faded posters offering a trip to ‘Bracing Blackpool’ or enjoy ‘Sunshine in Skegness’.

On the back wall there was a fireplace comforting a blackened grate where the fire had died out some time in the faraway past. On two sides there were wooden benches that might have seen better days as church pews on which a few fellow travellers had encamped to await the train out of purgatory so well defined by Ms Doughty.

Sleaford Railway Station
Sleaford Railway Station

By Ben Brooksbank, CC BY-SA 2.0

I had always thought of this as my own purgatory. I have revised my future.

I will be held captive in Bircherley Green. Last week I was waiting for the late running 724. The whole frontage was covered with cigarette butts, discarded copies of Metro, overflowing waste bins and lost pieces of paper fluttering through the air like recently hatched butterflies.

Hertford Bus Station boarded up

I don’t need to explain any further about the state of Bircherley Green Shopping Centre.

It is locked and barred, grass is pushing through every crack. It is so depressing. The site manager used to keep the whole area free of litter and weeds. He would be crying if he saw it now.

I will be trapped within the gates of the shopping centre like the captain of the Flying Dutchman; a ghost ship doomed to sail the oceans forever.

I don’t enjoy spending my time knocking my home town. I spent over ten years with other agencies and good people to maintain its high standard as a place to visit and live in. It is difficult to defend the town now. If this is the vision visitors have as they alight from their bus then we really have reached a low point from which I suppose we can only go up.

19.50 12.9.2019. I have just received an email from East Herts Council Planning informing me that the application to develop Bircherley Green including the hotel has been withdrawn. More comment when full details emerge.

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by : John Barber Hertford blog

Fings aint what they used to be

Since it was announced that Chase Homes intended to buy Bircherley Green the newspapers, message boards and pubs have been full of hopes, plans and wish lists. Unfortunately the planning process does not work that way.

I have lived in Hertford since 1980 but was born and grew up in Camden Town. On Saturday morning I was dragged along by my mother to do the weekly shop. I hated shopping then and still do now. Ask my wife!

However back in those far off days of the early 1950’s shopping was a far different experience from what it is now.

  • Camden Town 1937
    Camden Town 1937
  • Inverness Street market
    Inverness Street market
Camden Town Remembered

We started at Allens Newsagents in Camden Road to pay the paper bill and to pick up my copies of Beano, Dandy, Lion and sometimes Topper. Then across the road to the butcher. From there to Camden High Street. Our first call was Talbots the Fishmongers. They had a large metal tray outside the shop in which several eels swam. Once chosen the evening meal was taken to the back of the shop and beheaded and sliced into ….. slices.

Next the Greengrocers. I think it was called ‘Greens’. Anyway my mum had an excellent relationship with one of the proprietors, Chic. They weighed everything on large scales with weights. I doubt if the measures were ever correct but once weighed the potatoes and larger items such as cauliflowers were tipped straight into my mother’s shopping bag. Fruit tended to be shoved into a large brown paper bag and then into mum’s bag.

Our final routine call was to Biroths the Bakers. Bread was always freshly baked; always a wonderful smell wafted out on to the street. They were open for a a few hours only on Good Friday to sell hot cross buns. Once gone, they shut. My mum was always an early bird then, bringing home freshly baked and still warm hot cross buns.

There were of necessity some days with other routine stops such as Pages the general store for all things household such as needles, cloth, knicker elastic etc.

These were easy going days. My mum knew all the traders  by name and vice versa. Such as Montagu Saxby the leather goods man who sold cases, satchels and handbags. We all bought our sweets from Pugh’s – which for some reason my mother and all her friends and acquaintances called Puckies.

She had a Christmas club everywhere so we ate and drank well in the season to be merry.

Now they’ve all gone – the butcher, baker and candlestick maker. I’ve never met a candlestick maker but he is up there with the best of them.

As Bruce Springsteen once said: ‘these jobs are going boys and they aint coming back’.

People in Hertford are hopeful of a return to those good old days but at the risk of repeating myself: they’ve gone. Shopping and the High Street have changed forever.

You cannot demand that River Island, Next or Harrods open a store in town; or even Bircherley Green Shopping Centre. You can try but they will not come.

These big firms known all about demographics, return per square metre of selling space or in plainer terms – footfall.

However there is one aspect of shopping in those days which is so, so far ahead of today’s world. We knew all about recycling and carried it out.

Milk bottles were washed and left out for the milkman the next day, along with a note asking for just one pint to cut down on waste. Bottles from the Off Licence were returned for the small deposit. Yesterdays newspapers were given to the fish and chip shop. There was a minimum of plastic packaging as everyone used their own shopping bags and if you did get a bag from the shopkeeper it was usually a plain brown one given a bad reputation  by purveyors of ‘glamour magazines’.

We weren’t wealthy and neither were the bunch of kids who I knocked around with. If we wanted a new football we knocked on doors and took all the newspapers we could cram into a an old pram and took them to the rag and bone man under Camden Road railway bridge for a few pennies. We did our bit!

So, what future for Bircherley Green? One with no butcher, baker and the other one. That’s for sure.

The two black and white photos come from a booklet called ‘The End of One Story – A Souvenir of the Borough of St Pancras’. There is a page of photo acknowledgements but they are not referenced to page numbers. The booklet was issued in 1965 when the boroughs of St Pancras, Hampstead and Holborn were merged to form the London Borough of Camden.

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