At one time, going back over fifty years, the expression 'closed shop' was used to describe the situation in an industry or profession where workers had to be members of a trade union. My father was made redundant on the day I was born because of his refusal to join a trade union on conscience grounds. He was a printer and the printing industry operated a closed shop policy for the most part at that time. I admire him for standing his ground when he had a wife and three children to feed and little prospect of finding alternative employment. He eventually secured a printing job which entailed weekly commuting and involved a very low wage.
Yesterday we drove from Eastbourne to Hailsham, a small country town about 5 miles inland from Eastbourne. The objective was to pay some money I had earned into a cash point at Nationwide Building Society, one of the only financial institutions where it is possible to pay in cash as well as to take it out. We were surprised to find that we could take money out, get statements and even change our PIN numbers, but were unable to pay money in via this machine, which he had managed to do a few week previously. In the current economic climate I would have thought that anyone wanting to pay in money to a bank or building society would be welcomed with open arms!
The other thing that we noticed during our travelling through the town was the large number of closed shops. An estate agent and several charity shops were closed and a number of other places were boarded up. We used to go to Hailsham to visit Woolworths and of course their large premises lie empty, still sporting the Woolworths sign with a few letters missing. I heard on Sky News this morning that a further 140,000 shops could be closed by the end of the year and looking at the current situation I think this could be a conservative estimate.
What will our high streets, shopping malls and out of town shopping centres look like a year from now? It's hard to imagine a nation who may do nearly all their shopping via the internet and consider a trip into town a waste of time and petrol and parking fees. This, however, seems the direction in which we are heading unless the banks and other financial institutions start treating their customers (who have bailed them out over and over again!) favourably and create a normal climate in which businesses, especially retail and manufacturing can operate normally.
Yes, my trip to Hailsham was a sad one as I thought about the possible future for the town and many others like it, but I was also reminded of the post-war austerity in which my father was caught up trying to raise a family on a very low income and without any real prospects. Yet there was a recovery and increasing prosperity which followed even if it was slow and steady in the beginning. I hope that the recovery begins soon and that we will learn lessons from the unfolding events that will help us to move forward with confidence and pride in what we can achieve as a nation of shopkeepers.
