Town traders hope for better times after hardships

Lindsey Atkins wants to revitalise a former bingo hall in Kettering town centre

Independent traders in a town that has lost its only cinema and several big-name stores said they believed better times could be ahead despite "a lot of hardship".

The Odeon in Kettering closed in January despite local opposition, and its branches of Marks & Spencer, New Look and Argos have also gone in recent years.

Local business owner Daisy Farrar-Hayton said the loss of the cinema "seemed like the last nail in the coffin" but that locals were still "trying to bring out the good in Kettering".

Lee Watkiss, the Green Party leader of Kettering Town Council, said efforts were under way to create "much more footfall" in the town.

Mark James and Daisy Farrar-Hayton said the importance of shopping local was more critical than ever

Ms Farrar-Hayton is the co-owner of Irregular Art Hub, one of a number of small businesses located in the The Yards shopping quarter off Market Street.

She said that the town's high street looked "sad" at first glance, but added that "once you scratch the surface there are a lot of people who really care about the town".

"Lots of people locally are really trying to bring out the good in Kettering," she said.

"There's a lot of litter picks, like the big Kettering clean, and people just coming out and they're always painting columns around the town centre and really sprucing up the town, so people do really care.

"It's definitely faced a lot of hardship and a lot of places have shut down. There's not many local independent shops apart from at The Yards."

Mark James, who co-owns Irregular Art Hub with Ms Farrar-Hayton, said: "I think people always like the phrases 'use it or lose it' and 'shop local', but it's really easy and we're all guilty of just going online [to shop].

"I think that people do need to back local and shop local if they want to have these things on their doorstep."

More than a dozen independent businesses trade at The Yards in the centre of Kettering

Another trader at The Yards, Lindsey Atkins, said she wanted the shells of shops previously occupied by big names, such as the former Gala Bingo Hall, to be repurposed to provide services which better served the town's community.

The bingo hall closed in 2018 and Ms Atkins and her business partner Beccy Hurrell have proposed a scheme to transform the space into a mixture of health services, a cafe, performing arts spaces, and a music venue.

However, progress on the project, which has been backed by local singer Mae Stephens, has been hindered by funding issues.

Ms Atkins and Ms Hurrell, who run Beccy Hurrell Voice and Arts, lost out on funding they had applied for when there was a change of government last year, but they remain hopeful.

Lindsey and Beccy are campaigning to transform Kettering's former bingo hall into a diverse community hub and music venue

Ms Atkins said: "The main reason we're hopeful is because the people want it, the town wants it, everybody we speak to wants it. The business owners want it.

"We don't want to do this as a quick fix for now. We wanted to do something for the longevity and the future, and the communities within Kettering and North Northamptonshire as a whole. So 100% [we] believe something can be done."

Kate Oslizlok believes town centres like Kettering's could be regenerated by being full of thriving local businesses

Other traders share the feeling of optimism.

Kate Oslizlok, from the Eunice Artisan Bakery - also located at The Yards after previously trading in the town's market - said that although the departure of traditional big names from the high street had been a blow, it had opened up the opportunity to champion local businesses.

"The small local businesses, we all believe that it's going to be better," she said.

"When we opened the bakery here, the other traders [were] saying that they didn't see that many people [shopping] around here previously.

"We just brought our customers with us [and they] realised that something [other independent shops] are around going on.

"Hopefully, all the units will be full of local traders. That's the most important thing."

Lee Watkiss says the town council is looking to make Kettering a place "people want to come and see"

For the town council, factors such as the Covid pandemic and the growth of online shopping have had a big impact.

"It is a very difficult time. I think that towns have changed over the last sort of one to two decades," Watkiss said.

"What we're trying to do though is look positively at the future and at how we can shape the town centre for what the community wants.

"So looking at probably bringing more leisure into the town centre... bringing other sort of units into the town, maybe like NHS units, might be things like GP surgeries, dental surgeries - but anything that can generate footfall into the town.

"I think that everything that we're looking at doing as a parish council is working towards working with all the stakeholders and making this a town that people are proud of, want to invest in, and that people want to visit."

Martin Griffiths, the leader of Reform UK-controlled North Northamptonshire Council, said the authority was committed to "raising the profile" of town centres such as Kettering.

He said the authority had delivered "a support programme for independent businesses, including mentoring, training and practical advice".

Griffiths added the council was taking part in a pilot project with the government to "reduce the number of empty retail units" and said further details would be revealed later this year.