THE END OF OUR CITY’S INDIVIDUALITY? EVERY LITTLE HELPS…

On the day that The Freebutt closed its doors to amplified live music we heard more shocking news. The Providence, longtime jumping off point for new BIMM bands, was closing and re-opening as Brighton’s 12th Tesco. This, added to the rumour that Wetherspoons had its eye on the large venue at the start of the North Laine, had us furious. Is Brighton replacing its culture with big business? Who’s actually looking after the city?

In order to attract visitors with bulging wallets from outside of town, the city obviously needs to punch a decent weight with its retail offerings. That’s why Churchill Square was built – a day’s shopping under one roof with an obvious chain store overspill into Western Road. That’s kind of fair enough, 250,000 people live here and even we need label goods from time to time. But when it starts to encroach on the areas whose individuality helped make the city’s reputation, well, we start to get upset. ‘Metro’ and ‘Local’-brand supermarkets, the high street enclaves of the out-of-town superstores, have long been making a march on the local retailer. The buying power of the PLC simply pummels the family-run corner shop into submission. This is a national disease of course, but Brighton’s culture and quirky outlets are as much a part of its character as dirty weekends, and we don’t think enough’s being done to halt this so-called progress.

As rates and rents rise, the inexorable rise of inter-city homogenisation threatens every shop, cafe and pub on our streets. And with a supermarket on every corner, who’s even going to bother going out to drink anymore? Venues such as the Pressure Point, Providence and Barfly could certainly be said to have suffered from the change in licensing laws, while a perceived lack of council support for the Ocean Rooms and the Freebutt certainly didn’t help their particular fates. So venues close and shops fail, all parts of the Brighton landscape gone forever. And queuing up to fill their boots is an endless supply of big name retailers, sometimes so eager to snap up the local trade that they don’t even wait for proper planning permission before they open their doors. This is why Starbucks on St James’s Street is apparently officially a ‘shop’ rather than a café – council usage regulations for the premises protecting the street’s other cafés seemingly meaning nothing.

But not everyone just lies down and takes it. Facebook has proved an invaluable tool in gathering support for protests against development, their organisers making impassioned pleas for reason on the TV news. The most vocal in recent times have been the urban gardeners on the proposed plot of Brighton’s 13th Tesco on Lewes Road. Despite Quaker covenants stipulating no alcohol could be sold or gambling take place upon it, in place since the land was first sold, planning permission for yet another Tesco (which would be literally next door to a Co-Op and opposite a Spar) and a betting shop seem to be railroading through local opposition. This is happening all over, of course. Brighton shares many shops with Birmingham, Hove many with Huddersfield. But our charm as a city lies firmly in our diversity. We’re unique and we want to stay that way. It’s what brings people in from outside – not the fact that we’ve got a couple of cheap Wetherspoons or a well-stocked Gap. Some sort of legislative line in the sand clearly needs to be drawn, a line that the tide of corporate retail can’t simply wash away. And this is where you come in. In researching this issue we went to great pains to get some solutions from the council.

Try as we might we just couldn’t get answers from Brighton’s councillors, our questions proving either too vague or too specific depending on whom we asked. We know who our MPs are – Caroline Lucas was busy with the impending summer recess of Parliament and we kind of assumed we’d get no joy from the Tories. But these are issues more pertinent to our ward councillors. Know who they are? Nor did we. In fact Brighton and Hove has 54 ward councillors, spread across the major political parties, and they’re elected to look after your interests. In fact, they’re all hoping to get re-elected next May, and will presumably be doing all they can to end their anonymity with the electorate to get your cross on the ballot paper.

As a local magazine with Brighton and Hove at the heart of every word we print, SOURCE is making it our business to get some proper answers. We admittedly didn’t get very far with our questions, but we’re on a massive mission to change that. Voter apathy simply won’t wash anymore. We want the young people of Brighton to help influence the outcome of these elections, and we want you to form the discussions on which they’re fought. This is our city by the sea, and the people in charge of it are about to come out of the woodwork, sniffing about for your vote. Let’s make it a vote for Brighton, a vote for real, unique, diverse and proper fucking amazing Brighton. You run this city – it’s time to step up.

Find out which councillor to shout at: www.writetothem.com

On the flip side:

With a savvy understanding of our Regency heritage and unique sense of style, here’s a hats off to our top six Tesco stores in Brighton & Hove.

BRIGHTON QUEENS ROAD EXPRESS
Shipped-in vegetables in hygienic plastic cladding, factory-fresh ready meals and loads of sugary treats mean you’ll never need to book a table in the area again. Late night alcohol vending neatly sidesteps the need to drink in one of the city’s tiresome pubs or bars. All this and Club Card points too.

BRIGHTON JUBILEE STREET EXPRESS
Shipped-in vegetables in hygienic plastic cladding, factory-fresh ready meals and loads of sugary treats mean you’ll never need to book a table in the area again. Late night alcohol vending neatly sidesteps the need to drink in one of the city’s tiresome pubs or bars. All this and Club Card points too.

BRIGHTON ST JAMES’S STREET EXPRESS
Shipped-in vegetables in hygienic plastic cladding, factory-fresh ready meals and loads of sugary treats mean you’ll never need to book a table in the area again. Late night alcohol vending neatly sidesteps the need to drink in one of the city’s tiresome pubs or bars. All this and Club Card points too.

HOVE DROVEWAY EXPRESS
Shipped-in vegetables in hygienic plastic cladding, factory-fresh ready meals and loads of sugary treats mean you’ll never need to book a table in the area again. Late night alcohol vending neatly sidesteps the need to drink in one of the city’s tiresome pubs or bars. All this and Club Card points too.

HOVE WESTERN ROAD EXPRESS
Shipped-in vegetables in hygienic plastic cladding, factory-fresh ready meals and loads of sugary treats mean you’ll never need to book a table in the area again. Late night alcohol vending neatly sidesteps the need to drink in one of the city’s tiresome pubs or bars. All this and Club Card points too.

PORTSLADE METRO
Shipped-in vegetables in hygienic plastic cladding, factory-fresh ready meals and loads of sugary treats mean you’ll never need to book a table in the area again. Late night alcohol vending neatly sidesteps the need to drink in one of the city’s tiresome pubs or bars. All this and Club Card points too.

Not enough? Relax! Aside from the five other branches throughout the city, there are two brand new Tesco stores opening, on the site of The Providence and on the Lewes Road urban garden. And not a moment too soon!