Here’s an article on the BBC news site about Mary Portas’ report into UK High Streets. She has outlined 28 ideas to help combat the decline of retail, including the cutting of regulation for shops and market traders. As Fakenham’s a market town with retailers who, like the majority others all over the UK, are fighting to survive, you might want to take a look.

The comments on the article are as varied and entertaining as usual. The first ones I read seemed to be pointing out the role that convenient car parking (or the lack of it) and its cost are playing in keeping people from shopping in town centres. It’s a point of view I’ve read recently expressed by local people too.

I’m involved, via Kick Start Fakenham, with a new local business group we’re just starting to organise. One of our ideas is to run a Fakenham shop promotion in 2012. I thought it might be a good idea if we could arrange for free parking in the town while it’s running, as an added incentive to bring in shoppers. What do you think? Is parking in Fakenham still a problem? Does it put you off coming into town to buy locally? Do you use the free parking at Tesco or the Pay & Display? Your views are sought!

It’s tomorrow!!! Saturday 26th November sees the annual switch on of the Christmas lights in Fakenham town centre. Lots of things going on during the day, with the regular Farmers’ Market from 8.30am to 12.30pm coinciding with a Christmas Market being held at the Fakenham Community Centre from 10am to 4.30pm (with Santa’s Grotto open from 2.30pm to 4.30pm).

Santa & Guests will be leading a procession at 4.45pm, from the Community Centre to the lights switch-on ceremony at 5.00pm.

The event is organised with the help of Fakenham Area Partnership, the Kick Start Fakenham community group and Fakenham Lions.

So before, we all used to visit the library and borrow a book. Contrary to popular belief, I have actually done this in the past (or was it all just a crazy dream?). The library service had bought the book with the intention of lending it to us. It worked well.

Now, we have e-books and readers too. We download our books from a retailer like Amazon (or free source, in the case of books in the public domain) and store them on our Kindles, Sonys and whatever so we can read them.

What about libraries lending out e-books? Does that happen in the UK? Could it even work as a process, or does an e-book just get ‘licensed’  for single-person usage? What I’m getting at is… is it even legal for a library to buy an e-book and lend it to somebody?

I just read something on the web, where an American librarian was complaining about how a scheme to do this had been implemented in the States. Amazon seems to be the provider of an e-book lending service which works in conjunction with the reader’s library. The librarian was saying she disagreed with the fact that the user details which the library service used to be responsible for and guard are now shared with a commercial company (as well as details of their reading habits) as the process now uses the retailer instead of the public service.

OK, I’ll admin I haven’t used a library (or even read a book, come to that)  for years. I need re-educating. Do you use the local library? Do they lend e-books?

There are lots of plans being hatched for the improvement of our town and as Hannibal Smith used to say, “I love it when a plan comes together”. That’s not to say that all the plans for Fakenham are as perfect in their execution as The A Team’s – that would be asking too much. However, it’s the cooperation I’m seeing which pleases me most, as it makes possible a greater level of achievement and success.

Having had an insider’s view of what’s being done via the community group Kick Start Fakenham, as well as The Chamber of Trade, I can see the cooperation between the various town organisations and businesses starting to pay dividends. Fakenham Fair week was a good example – expertise from The Fakenham Area Partnership, contributions by local businesses, organisation and manpower from Kick Start, The Lions, Ospreys Canoe Club atc and finally participation by the public – all combining to make for a successful project.

Although The Fakenham Pub & Club Festival (Plubfest) was a bit of a ‘curate’s egg’, all the landlords we spoke to after the event were positive about the aims of the scheme and said they’d definitely join in again next year. There’s even talk of getting them together on a slightly more formal basis so they can pool their own ideas for the next one.  That’s a spirit of cooperation that I like to see and it’ll definitely improve next year’s event.

Now that The Fakenham Community Centre has fully reopened after their repairs and refurbishment, it’s great to see new life being breathed into the facility. With enthusiastic and innovative management, bookings are on a bit of a high and there are plans afoot for further new facilities and events. Even more exciting is the scheme to develop the site into a ‘Community Campus’, with new buildings for youth facilities, an outdoor event space and more – including office space, a bar and cafe. As long as its (presumably subsidised) facilities are put to use for community purposes rather than competing with town businesses which are already struggling (meaning more cooperative spirit between Fakenham’s authorities and its business), I think it’ll be a really fantastic new addition to the town.

What a brilliant turnout at Goggs Mill yesterday, for Kick Start Fakenham’s Great Duck Race. The guys did some absolutely sterling work, with extra promotion coming via Radio Norfolk’s Sunday morning ‘Treasure Quest’ show (one of their clues was hidden at the site) and an interview with Kick Start’s Mark live on air just before the race.

Kick Start raised £456, with prizes totalling £175 going to the first, second and third placed ‘duck owners’. Lovely weather, everybody smiling and joining in the spirit of the day and really good attendance. Result!

As you may know, I’ve been involved with Kick Start Fakenham in organizing this week’s pub & social club festival, ‘Plubfest’. Today marks the ‘official’ start of the week-long festival, where lots of pubs and clubs in the town have created one or more events to showcase their venue and to get Fakenham into carnival mood in preparation for next weekend’s Fakenham Fair.

It’s become obvious during the preparations that some venues have really latched onto the idea and pulled out all the stops to make sure they join in and promote their place (and the town) as well as possible. I’d like to thank all the pubs and clubs who’ve done something for Plubfest but, strictly in my opinion, of extra special note are…

The Oak Inn – Pete at The Oak has not only organized a charity quiz with a brilliant first prize (£80 smackers!) but has laid on a special menu during the whole week. The ‘Steak & Shellfish Celebration’, with Lakes Butchers Steaks, Cromer Crab, Lobster, Crayfish & Langoustines sounds like something just a little bit special! He donated a great prize for the draw too.

Ian at The Bull has ‘gone the extra mile’ by running a week-long Mini Beer & Cider Festival. I popped in yesterday to drop off their Prize Draw stamp and the impressive rack of barrels they have in the bar shows exactly what the pub has invested into it. They’ve advertised in the local press as well – the only venue to have done that, as far as I know. Brilliant.

Steve down at The Henry IV (Hungry Horse) has sorted out loads of events during the week. They’ve really got their promotional activities going these days and it’s a good thing to see. Janine at The Star has also joined in with real gusto and we’ll be seeing both those pubs entering groups into the Fakenham Fair procession next Saturday too. Well done you guys!

The social club which stands out from the crowd, for me, is The General Townshend (British Legion). Angela has put on four sets of events during the week, including a music night, a quiz, a karaoke and a Family Fun Day in their garden. I reckon she’ll be shattered by next weekend!

So to all the pubs and clubs that joined in with the festival, but especially the ones which have obviously devoted extra time, effort and money, ‘Thankyou!’.  I hope it proves worthwhile and you enjoy lots of extra custom during the week.You’ve certainly ‘got the idea’ regarding promoting your venue and therefore deserve to do really well.

As for you, readers, I hope you’ll SHOW YOUR SUPPORT for them, your town and the hardworking folks at Kick Start Fakenham by popping in for a taste of lipsmacking local real ale, a nice family meal or  an afternoon or evening’s fun at AT LEAST ONE of the venues running a Plubfest event this week. You’ll enjoy it! If we can report a successful festival, it will provide a springboard for similar events (plus events unrelated to pubs & clubs) already being planned for the town in the very near future.

Do you recognize this derelict Fakenham building? Bit of a disgrace, isn’t it? It has apparently looked like that for around 20 years and it’s one of two in Oak Street and nearby Star Yard, under the same ownership, which are in a similar state of disrepair.

A local resident has set up a petition on the NNDC website to determine whether the full council should be obliged to discuss these buildings. In order for them to do that, it will require 1500 signatures within three months (I wonder if any previous petitions have actually met these seemingly high criteria?). If you think that this matter should be dealt with by the District Council, you should add your signature to the petition.

It won’t be long now. Fakenham Plubfest, Fakenham Fair and the associated carnival procession are happening in August. It’s going to be ‘fun times’ all the way.

What’s your local pub or social club doing for Plubfest? If you can’t see one of the bright orange posters up in the bar, ask the owner/manager about it. If your pub/club hasn’t organised anything yet, it’s time to do just that – ASAP. Deadlines for the local press are looming and if we can’t tell the public what’s happening they won’t turn up!

Bridge Street, Downham Market. Picture: Ian Burt. EDP website

Here’s an EDP article about Norfolk and North Suffolk’s market towns.

It reports a study carried out by Norwich Business School at the UEA which looked into the public’s view of these towns – what the shops are like, whether they were just ‘clone towns’ with the same old choice of retailers or had independent shops and where they were lacking.

One section about Fakenham says that it isn’t looked on as a clone, that part of our town’s charm is the ‘old fashioned feel’ and that the ratio of chain stores compared to independent stores seemed to be 50-50.

“People feel, however, that Fakenham could be updated a bit with a wider choice of shops as most people end up going to King’s Lynn or Norwich to shop for clothes etc.”

I reckon that’s probably right. Fakenham needs more clothes retailers. Which clothes shops, if they opened in Fakenham, would keep you from travelling to Lynn or Norwich for your duds?

We’re fast approching July. Fakenham Fair and the associated Pub & Club Festival are at the end of August. Won’t be long now!

I recently created a couple of websites for those two ‘happenings’ - pop along to www.fakenhamfair.co.uk and www.plubfest.co.uk to keep up to speed with what’s being planned.

If you’re a trader who’d like a stall at Fakenham Fair, you’d better book up now – I’ve been reliably informed that the number of booked stalls has already reached last year’s total. The Carnival Procession is being planned as we speak and bookings are being taken for that too. Get in quick if you’re a business or local organization who wants to be in the procession. You’ll find the appropriate entry documents for download on the site.

As for Fakenham Plubfest, we’ve had a pretty good response from the town’s ‘boozers’ – there are just two or three pubs who haven’t quite made up their minds yet, and just one social club which is yet to respond – I’d class that as a bit of a success. We have the Prize Draw all but sorted – the ticksheets are on the website to download, the venues’ ink and stamps are ready to go and some nice prizes have already been donated. Almost good to go!