Cockermouth in a class of its own
Last updated 17:23, Friday, 21 March 2008
THE WIDE, tree-lined boulevard, the pretty painted buildings, riverside walks and a kaleidoscope of small, independent shops... is this small-town France? Hidden Austria? Forgotten Italy?
There’s even an imposing statue in the middle of the main street, just like a European town you visit on holiday and return home raving about.
On a blue sky morning with sunshine glinting off the hills, you feel as though you’re on holiday in Cockermouth.
The broad sweep of Main Street is striking for its neat Georgian buildings.
Raise your eyes and the rooftops jag like uneven teeth, while towers and domes spike the skyline.
Narrow alleyways open into courtyard areas with more shops and eating places.
But another key thing about the town takes a while to sink in and realise... it is the lack of High Street store names that make Luton, Swindon, Preston and Sunderland interchangeable and forgettable.
This is no ‘clone town’.
Sure, there’s a Boots chemist, a Greggs bakery, Wilkinson home store and a Sainsbury supermarket – but that’s it.
There was a WH Smith, for a time, but it closed. Perhaps it couldn’t keep up with the pace.
There’s a bustle, but it’s an easy-going sense of business that allows knots of people to stand about chatting.
That easy going attitude extends to the Jennings Brewery HQ.
Youngsters from the nearby secondary school fizz and bubble along the footpath that cuts through the brewery grounds as they pour home.
Many businesses would have changed the path, but that doesn’t seem to be the Cockermouth way.
The stone inscription on the clock tower of the old courthouse near the River Cocker reads Tempus Fugit (time flies) and you wonder if the builder, or the local council, was having a sly joke.
Time here doesn’t fly, it flows, like the rivers Derwent and Cocker that cut through the town, ensuring that waterside walks and views are never far away.
You get the sense that the people of Cockermouth appreciate the good things in life – like a choice of butchers and bakers, cafes and craft shops, art galleries, restaurants and pubs and personal service and the time to chat to shopkeepers and staff who are friends rather than servers.
It’s because of this attitude and approach – ambience if you want to go continental – that Cockermouth has been named as only the seventh town in the UK to be named as a 'Cittaslow'.
Cittaslow – ‘citta’ is the Italian for town – is an international network of towns working towards improving the quality of life of inhabitants and visitors.
Assessors visited the town in November and judged it against 60 criteria, looking in particular at the environment, high quality local goods and produce and the town’s uniqueness, particularly its heritage and culture.
Colin Graham knows a bit about heritage and culture, he’s surrounded by decades of it in his store – CGs Curiosity Shop, just by the bridge.
“I think the new title will do the town good in time, it just won’t happen overnight.
“But if Cockermouth is promoted as a nice, slow, easy-going, friendly town, it will drag people here.
“I have been here 18 years, I opened because I thought it was a nice, up and coming town – it still is.
“It has a few failings, but it has a future and will be improved when work on the Market Place is finished.”
Gazing across to Market Place is the glorious ironmonger’s emporium that is JB Banks.
The beaten metal weatherbeaten sign hanging outside proclaims that it has traded here since 1836.
Ken Day has worked behind its counter for just 44 years and lived in town all his 59 years.
He has no doubt why Cockermouth should be picked out for international recognition: “Well, it is ‘gem town’ to start with, and is on a par with York and all the other old towns.
“It has lovely Georgian architecture, it was home to William Wordsworth, John Dalton , and Fletcher Christian and it has always been a desirable place to live.”
Award-winning bed and breakfast landlady Anita de la Riviere hears the town winning approval from outsiders every week.
“My visitors come back here because they love the town and some even want to move to live here.
“I think it is a super town and I always have,” she added.
The fantastic toy museum may have closed, but Cockermouth can still boast brewery tours, the house of Wordsworth’s birth, a print museum, the castle, the Kirkgate centre and a host of different galleries to visit.
Justine Lamb and Eileen Cairns are newcomers to the town. Justine opened the Aroma cafe opposite the library on Main Street six months ago at about the same time that Eileen took over a town landmark – Hartley’s Ice Cream Parlour.
Eileen lives in Aspatria but has been a regular visitor to Cockermouth all her life.
“I like the town, it is a nice town with friendly people and visitors are made to feel very welcome,” she said.
“Working here has opened my eyes to the friendliness of the town and I enjoy working here more than I thought.”
Justine is originally from Egremont but has moved back to the area after working away in Manchester.
She misses the shopping of the big city but says Cockermouth has its compensations: “It is a town for locals, it’s not touristy, and it is that which makes it grounded and a nice, friendly place.
“I wanted to have a business in a market town with local residents rather than tourism-based and this is perfect for me.
“Hopefully the regeneration will help Market Place.
“The town went through a phase of neglect, but it is coming into its own a lot more now.”
But the Cocker does not run with milk and the Derwent isn’t flowing with honey.
Businesses in the building site that is Market Place are struggling to survive the revamp.
Cockermouth has lost three shops since the turn of the year and the Edge clothes shop is closing.
Long-standing Morgan’s sweet shop recently shut, but it is due to reopen in the coming months.
Change and churn of shop ownership is only natural, according to Tony Harrison, one of three butchers in the town.
He has worked in his Main Street shop for 23 years and says business has never been better, despite having Sainsbury’s as a near neighbour.
He puts the award and the appeal of the town down to attitude.
“It is not a town with hustle and bustle and not caring for people,” he explained.
“If people come to the town and visit the shops they will get treated better than elsewhere and buy produce that is local and made in an old-fashioned, slow way.
“Shops close and change and there are a lot of cafes, but that means that a lot of people must be visiting.
“I have been here 23 years and it has changed a lot, but we have never been busier.
“I think Sainsbury’s moving into town has helped, it is better to have a supermarket in the town centre drawing people in than on the outskirts, enticing people away.”
Paul Carr at Firns Home Hardware store in Station Street is less bullish.
Established in 1939 by George Edwin Firn and run today by his daughter Hilary and husband Paul, it’s the type of store where you ask for a what’s-its-name to fit on the thingummy and a smiley person in a neat overall whisks you to a far-off shelf and provides the precise thing you are looking for.
But the business is feeling the competition of Wilkinsons and Sainsbury’s.
And Paul says the town itself is battling hard to maintain its character and sense of place.
“Cittaslow is an international recognition for what is, at the moment, a very special town.
“The people here have a hell of a lot to do with that, they are friendly and helpful and we have that all the time.
“But Cockermouth needs all the help it can get, some traders in the town are struggling to make ends meet.
“The small shops are part and parcel of the character of the town, national chainstores tend not to take so much interest in the people side of the enterprise.
“It is a question of whether customers want to retain the town as it is, or go with the supermarkets.
“We feel we are part of the town, we are a family business, our customers become friends and we see our customers’ families grow up.
“Perhaps it will be a case of you don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone...”
The shopkeepers, cafe owners, restaurateurs and B&B owners realise what they have got, the question is whether the rest of the town and north Cumbria does.
Cockermouth deserves its Cittaslow title; it may be a little slower than some other towns, but it works at a pace that is dictated by care, not apathy.
