The Interview
Richard Maynard talks to the chairman of Hungerford Chamber of Commerce, Ben Blake
HUNGERFORD is known for its antique shops, but it is also a thriving commercial centre with a variety of businesses. Central to this is the Hungerford Chamber of Commerce, which has been active on a number of initiatives recently.Top of these has been its parking scheme, where visitors can take their parking ticket to participating shops and claim a refund.
According to Chamber chairman Ben Blake, owner of confectionery retailer Sugar Mouse, it has been a great success. “We’ve taken, between us, about 1,057 tickets, in seven weeks, so it’s definitely popular,” he said. “The original 34 business are still doing it, and there are another three or four coming on board as well.”
Hungerford Chamber currently has about 180 members. “That’s pretty good for a small town,” said Mr Blake. “They’re not all active members, at an average meeting we have between 20 and 40 people, depending on what we’re doing. It depends on what their interests are.”
The parking scheme is by no means the Chamber's only initiative. In recent months it has been running the Hungerford Quest, a treasure hunt with the prize of a £4,000 jewel. “It’s still ongoing, and we’re making a profit on that now. We had a promotional video of the town done last year, which is on various websites, including the town website.
“We now have regular meetings with [Newbury MP] Richard Benyon as well, with a question-and-answer session, and that is something that hadn’t happened before.
“And of course there is the Victorian Extravaganza, which is the biggest thing we do on a yearly basis. We try to work closely with the town council. Unfortunately there have always been groups in the town that haven’t really worked together, so for the last few years we have tried to work more closely with the town council Round Table, all those sort of groups.”
In the current difficult trading conditions, how did Mr Blake thing Hungerford was faring? “Quite well,” he said. “The number of empty shops in our town is about three per cent, against a national average of about 12 per cent, which I think speaks volumes. We’ve got two new shops opening in the next week, so Bridge Street is pretty much full at the moment. We’ve got the parking scheme, which raises the profile of the town, and even if it doesn’t bring in more customers or more spend, it’s keeping us on the map.”
What did he attribute this relative buoyancy to? “It’s because we have lots of independent shops – 60 or so independent shops, and no other town of this size has that many. Other than Boots, Tesco and Martins, it is all owner-managed businesses, so there isn’t one big company that dominates. People do like to shop in different places. That counts for a lot, particularly at Christmas. Last Christmas, for example, when the credit crunch was really getting hold, we had a fantastic Christmas, because people come to Hungerford knowing that they’re going to get something different for their money.
“On Sundays, there is a big trade – it’s generally busier than a Monday or a Wednesday, which are ‘works’ days. It’s a shame more shops don’t take advantage of that. It’s definitely a different type of customer – they’ve got money in their pocket and they want to spend it.”
The arrival of Tesco to the town was, he said, something of a “double-edged sword”. While the new store had brought more visitors to Hungerford, that increase had yet to filter out to increased trade in the High Street.
Were there particular issues which Mr Blake felt Hungerford businesses were facing? “You can quote the old chestnuts like rents and rates, but they’re not really worse than anywhere else,” he said. “Take rates – I looked at premises elsewhere last year, but compared to other towns we’re not that bad.
“One issue we have got at the moment which we’re working on is coach parking. We are trying to find somewhere for that, because West Berkshire Council were going to do something, they said they had plans for the last four years, but now they’ve chucked it back at the town council, who, in turn, have chucked it back to us, so we’re working with the town council to try and find somewhere for a coach park.
“There could be a lot of business that we’re not getting, because at the moment, coaches have nowhere to park up. They can drop people off, but they haven’t got anywhere to park close to the town centre, because people don’t want to walk miles.
“Otherwise, we’re doing very well – I can’t think of a negative issue.”
Could the district council do more? “We asked them for 30 minutes free parking last year but they didn’t want to know, so we introduced the refund scheme. So they could have helped us on that, but then every town centre – such as Newbury and Marlborough – is the same really.
“But they could support Hungerford a lot more compared to the support they give Newbury. Last year, they were advertising free parking in Newbury, big full-page adverts, but the Chamber paid for the ad for our scheme. So we do sometimes feel like the poor relation on that front.”
Did Mr Blake think that the Chamber benefited from being small? “Absolutely,” he said. “There are no big companies, and we do get on with things. The Thames Valley Chamber aren’t really interested in little towns.”
Mr Blake also thought the town benefited from having a mix of businesses. “There’s a lot more to Hungerford than people probably think,” he said. “Just look at the way Charnham Park has grown.”
Most of the Chamber’s energy for the next couple of months will focus on the Victorian Extravaganza, which will take place on December 11 and is always one of the highlights of Hungerford’s year. Then the Chamber will re-group in the new year and plan ahead for 2010.
Did Mr Blake see signs of recovery? “Generally speaking, yes,” he said. “From my point of view, January, February and March were very good, I was nicely up on the last two years. April was quite static, then May, June and July were down quite heavily, and August was down badly. September seems to be evening out. There was a big hit during the summer, but it’s definitely eased off.”
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