A Salcombe for All...

Happy New Year to you all…I hope this year brings above all else, a summer!

There seems to be a lot going on in Salcombe at the moment; new builds around every corner, a new business going into the old HSBC site and a building site where the Marine used to be. Let’s hope most of these are finished for summer, I can’t stand looking across to Salcombe and seeing the mess that is the Marine hotel.

It’s been an interesting couple of weeks on Facebook and in particular in a Facebook group dedicated to Salcombe. The group is represented by locals, incomers and visitors and to say there are some lively discussions would be under statement! The general theme being discussed is how all parties can make Salcombe a better place. There seems to be a mix of views about the development of Salcombe from “leave it alone” to “it’s improved”. I think I sit somewhere in the middle on this one. If it wasn’t for the money coming into Salcombe in the form of regeneration of housing stock and other second home owners who spruce up the houses they buy I think Salcombe would have died a long time ago. We may not all agree with some of the architecture that has been approved by SHDC and subsequently built, however many of the houses that were demolished were pretty down trodden and tired. Let’s face it if houses were not replaced we would all still be living in mud huts, it’s all about balance.

We can’t underestimate the importance of the second home owners, visitors and the money they spend locally; it’s what keeps Salcombe going. We need to build on this and ensure it keeps coming. What we don’t want is a situation whereby the locals resent the incomers and visitors and tensions rise. I was reminded recently of a pretty sad episode in Salcombe when a visitor renting Custom House had arranged a Tesco delivery on the day he arrived so he had all the basics stocked ready for a week in Salcombe rather than facing a trip to Tesco in KB. The Tesco man reversed along Fore St towards Union St only to receive some unwanted attention from local shop keepers...the Tesco guy (who was only doing his job) said it happens all too often when delivering in Salcombe and he hates coming here. I can quite understand local shop keepers wanting visitors to spend locally but how many of the locals buy 100% of their food and goods from Salcombe?? I am sure many use the supermarkets in KB too! The visitor in question also spends a fair few quid in Salcombe every year outside of the school holidays…which we all know is very much needed.

Personally I think the mix of locals, incomers and visitors is what makes Salcombe special. Take any one set away and Salcombe would be a different and less interesting place. The weather aside there is nowhere better to be in summer than Salcombe, you can take your foreign holidays and Cornwall and shove them where the sun don’t shine…it simply has to be Salcombe!

Salcombe Planning Madness

I'm presuming that I am not the only one who has noticed the huge amount of rebuilds going on in Salcombe? Every time you look around a house has disappeared...then slowly a modern architectural wonder/carbuncle (delete as appropriate) appears in it's place. The most astonishing creation to date seems to be the house at the top of Newton Road, what's that all about?

Some are a triumph and sit harmlessly alongside existing buildings, such as the new build at the top of the Yacht Club steps; looks good form the road and looks good from the water. The other house that appears to be fitting in well is the nigh on 6 year build on Allenhayes Road, looks like a couple of semi's, from Devon Road looking up towards the plot the house sits nicely in the gap.

And then we have...the house being built into the hillside below Cliff Road, this may well be an architectural and structural wonder but really...what were the planners thinking...how does that fit in? I hate to think what the final build costs on that will be!

The question that needs to be asked is what policies are the planners following, what guidelines are there to keep in check this modernisation of Salcombe to ensure it is sympathetic and will enable our town to retain its charm and uniqueness whilst ensuring we don't get left behind??

Or does MONEY trump all policy???

Coffee Wars!

I thought this was interesting and potentially very relevant to Salcombe...we have covered this subject before when the business rates rises were talked about...did they ever happen?

Kingsbridge has a Costa and it always seems busy; I suspect tourists and some locals don't give it much thought as they just want a coffee and the continual advertising and hence front of mind presence make it very easy to walk into a "chain" shop as you know what you are going to get; and let's face it some independent coffee shops don't help themselves by serving up very poor quality coffee. Do you risk a poor coffee or just go to a chain??

The Salcombe Coffee Co serves up some very decent stuff, The Winking Prawn is pretty poor on the coffee front but the food and location make up for it, The Wardroom is passable and I haven't tried the Basham's new place as yet...

Lets hope the Salcombe planners don't take the same approach they do to granting planning permission for new builds as these national coffee companies have very deep pockets!

Thanks to BBC News for the report:

"A very British insurrection is under way over plans to bring the first branch of a major coffee chain to a small  Devon town. But why are coffee chains such a battleground? At half nine on a bright morning the aroma of Arabica gently percolates through Totnes's narrow lanes and alleys. That smell of roasting beans is difficult to escape. In this settlement of fewer than 8,000 souls there are 41 different places to buy a hot cup of the stuff.

And yet plans to open just one more coffee outlet have provoked fury - opening up a dispute as bitter as the darkest espresso.

The latest addition to the town's High Street will be a branch of Costa - the first coffee chain to breach the citadel of a community fiercely proud of its independently owned outlets. So far 5,749 people - equivalent to three-quarters of the town's population - have signed an anti-Costa petition and pledged to boycott the new branch. Its approval by South Hams District Council was greeted by a 150-strong group of placard-wielding demonstrators who marched through Totnes's streets in protest.

Though they have no recourse to appeal, the campaigners stubbornly refuse to give in amid apocalyptic warnings that Totnes risks becoming a "clone town". Posters bearing the legend Clonestopping - featuring local baristas posing in the style of the film Trainspotting - adorn windows of homes and commercial premises. A glance at the Yellow Pages might have given the council warning. With names like Totnes People's Cafe, Food For Thought and The Curator Cafe, many of the coffee shops share an aesthetic of nonconformism. Totnes is not exactly typical of a small British town. Like Hebden Bridge or Glastonbury, it has long hosted incomers attracted by its eco-friendly and New Age reputation."

Hello...

Been a long time no post! I'm back to stay this time and would love to get some activity going again on this blog, your comments made it worth blogging (even the abuse)...

Anyway as a first post of the new era I wondered if you had all joined this group on Facebook: Salcombe Old Locals and Yokels...

Also, great feature on Salcombe in Conde Nast Traveller this month as one of the places in the "Best of Britain". It's not online yet but there are other Salcombe articles on the site.