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I know that it is a real shame that Dover was not awarded the money, but I personally see this as a positive thing. As I said on one of the original threads about the Portas bid, this money is little more than a gesture, allowing Ms Portas to make yet another mind numbing 9pm series for C4.
The bottom line is 'does it make good TV?'. I honestly think if the videos had included some made hair-brained, ill-conceived ideas that had the potential to meet C4's 'good TV' criteria, then we might have got it.
I also feel (as said before) that Dover's problems are more than the superficial issue of empty shops. A fine example of our problems is embodied in the shop shown in our bid, the one that used to be The school uniform shop. The team talk about a dialogue between street market and shop and how these could mingle into one. This is (in principle) a wonderful idea. However in reality this shop is on the other side of a road and a heavy wall of permanent planters. This kind of break in dialogue happens all over our town and this is where efforts should be focused. Maybe we should not be asking 'what do we need?' instead asking 'what don't we need?'. Perhaps this would lead to a more coherent place.
Incidentally the idea of trade spilling to and from the market square used to happen in the days of the covered market. All that is now left is the building's facade, now that of the museum. Can anyone tell me who decided this should be demolished?
On a positive note, why do we want Mary Portas anyway? She has made her name working for big shops and brands, the types that have been the death of many of our high streets. The likes of topshop, once on most high streets, is now only interested in out of town facilities. Such outlets have just left large holes in high streets, unfeasible to fill with any kind of start up business. Portas and her type are the enemy, mass consumerism and high street brands killing the quaint grain of our retail habits. You only have to look to towns with a lack of 'big name stores' to see successful, functioning towns.
What this farcical bid has done is actually far better than it's original intention, and that is to bring together a focused group of business people to think about how our town can improve. The Town Team should be proud and also be supported to achieve their future goals.
One last thing: why does Mr Elphicke say 'o clocks' in the video and not 'o clock'?