Monday 15th October - public private spaces

Work done and I head off on my travels. First stop Derby. There is the usual wide ring road and standing above everything else, a Westfield shopping centre. The town centre has plenty of people but many of the shops are closed. The Westfield Centre seems to be in a different town. Within the walls of the fortress everything is shiny and bright and new. The famous brands are here, there is a cinema and ‘food courts’ with places to eat and drink. Escalators sweep up and down; it all looks like an architect’s drawing. On the high street life is a little less shiny and bright. A few years ago there was talk of ‘clone towns’; towns where there were no independent shops, only the same national brands. Now many of the brands have disappeared or reduced the number of stores and there are few things more plaintive than empty shops. (There are empty shops at the edges of the shopping centres too but the centre managers are better at disguising their emptiness. Bright posters talking of ‘opportunities’ mask the fact that the shop behind is empty). Now, towns are smarting when dismissed by the big brands. Derby’s shopping centre at least links to the high street and so the high street still has life. When the shopping centre is apart from the high street, or the main shopping opportunities are on a ‘retail park’ then there is a sharp division between the car owners and those who don’t or can’t drive. Everywhere I go I hear older people talking about the places they can’t go unless someone is willing to take them. It’s probably the same among the young, but parents may be more likely to take their kids places, than take their parents out shopping. It’s easy to see why people choose to spend their time and money in the shopping centres. Parking is easy and secure (if not cheap). The space is bright and warm. There are delights all around. The brands are familiar. You can look even if you don’t want to buy. There are lots of places to eat and drink. There are security staff to keep you safe. For those intimidated by groups of high spirited youths, beggars, drunks and other social disruption this is reassuring. The security staff are largely invisible until you break the rules (I take photographs, this is not allowed, I am deemed a rule breaker). I’m disconcerted that so many of these apparently public spaces are, in fact, private spaces and the rules set by the management companies. But despite the dent to my liberal tendencies, the shopping centres are more relaxed than many high streets (so long as you stick to the rules). After Derby I head towards the hills of the Peak District. Hotels in cities tend to be expensive and so I often visit cities during the day and head out to the countryside in the hope of finding a room in a pub for the evening. The Peak District is looking very lovely. I am slightly ahead of the rush hour and so the traffic is not too intense although there are a lot of large lorries travelling at speed on modest and quite twisty roads. There is rain around and so dramatic cloud formations, but there are also bouts of sunshine that highlight the clouds and the trees autumn leaves. I’m heading towards Buxton but intimidated by a lorry that appears to be in my back seat I turn off the main road and risk single track roads for the view and hope of a pub. I drive through Dove Dale which is breathtakingly pretty. There’s a youth hostel but this is filled with hordes of school parties and all the staff have disappeared. I try a rather smart hotel which is full and then find another hotel which has one room left. Everyone else is here on an activity holiday – most are walkers, some are here to paint, some may be learning bridge. But everyone else is sitting on social tables of ten and I am sitting alone. People are intrigued by my separation. They smile, by breakfast the next morning they want to know who I am and why so separate? They head off for walking and I am going to Stoke-on-Trent.