The town of Fakenham seems to be in a bit of a state of flux right now – at least the shops in the town centre are. That shop next to our town sign which I originally described as a ‘bathroom shop’ and which then morphed quietly into a clothes shop is now on the march. A bright yellow display of balloons adorns the windows, with posters stating that the shop will be moving (see photo inset). It all seems very strange. Anybody care to start a conspiracy theory?

Local shoppers love bargains, but local business owners don’t go for them!

In the past, I’ve talked to somebody at Fakenham Chamber of Commerce as well as Kick Start Fakenham about a local shopper loyalty scheme, but nothing has so far become of it.  I think the Chamber has also recently and independently discussed an idea like this, but maybe somebody needs to give it a nudge and/or get some feedback from the local public…

I think the town’s traders could do with some kind of mutually-beneficial loyalty scheme. Something which would reward local shoppers by giving discounts or special offers and which would, in turn, keep some of their trade in the town rather than see them shop further afield.

I have had some ideas already, having mulled it over for the best part of a year. What has rekindled my ideas now? Well, I was speaking to another business owner from this area yesterday and we were comparing notes about local advertising and promotion. His thoughts were (and my past experiences bear this out) that local businesses are usually very reluctant to promote themselves – even if the method offered is extremely inexpensive or even free! They’re not at all pro-active when it comes to publicity and many smaller businesses in the area will happily admit to being complete technophobes – not at all helpful when somebody like me is trying to convince them to promote their businesses online!

We came to the conclusion that if local businesses could be shown an obviously consumer-driven scheme, they’d be more likely to see the advantage of promoting themselves through it. Our reasoning was that they’re historically used to being consumer-led and would react to a more traditional idea that shoppers would want to use.

So… I’d like your ideas. If you’re a shopper, what would convince you to use a local business rather than one from Norwich or Lynn? If you’re a Fakenham trader or shop owner, do you have any ideas to make a scheme like this work?

You can leave comments here on my blog or email me via steve (at) wensum.net. Alternatively, feel free to give me a ring at the office on 01328 856688.

This is a very interesting variant on Virtual reality – an artificial character relating to a ‘player’ and being able to ‘see’ objects the player has used. The creator describes it as technology which hasn’t even been described yet in science fiction.

The designer, Peter Molyneux, is a veteran of the computer game industry. He was responsible for Populous and Theme Park (and many many more, as they say).

Although the filmed ‘demo’ may be a bit staged to show off its best features, it’s still seriously impressive.

BBC News – ‘Virtual human’ Milo comes out to play at TED in Oxford.

Oh look. The BBC news website has had a makeover. More white space. More images. Larger text. More sample items in each section. Looks OK.

I use it all the time, so if anything I spot puts me into ‘grumpy old man wearing trousers up to his chin’ mode, I’ll let you know!

You see, I used to like it, back when Christopher Eccleston reintroduced the character with Billie Piper as his sidekick. It was a bit edgy, fresh and intriguing, with clever twisting plot patterns being woven in the background.

Since then, it has decended into a typical ‘BBC-fest’ of  special guest stars & self-congratulation and has become a back-patting excercise for the Beeb and the writers and producers who are involved. The first series’ success became the actual focus, much to the detriment of the subsequent programme content.

When I went to see Miss Jenkins in an outdoor concert a couple of years back (see – I don’t just like rock music), she seemed to concentrate on her name-dropping and dress-changing rather than the actual content of her repertoire. It was all a big PR excercise rather than for the sake of the music. Style over content. No wonder she’s been signed up for this…

 BBC News – Katherine Jenkins to star in Christmas Doctor Who.

Oh, and did I mention the music in Doctor Who is still way too loud?

There’s been a spate of smartening-up in the town centre. It started with work on Benbow’s Greengrocers on the corner of Norwich Street and Bridge Street, then seemed to migrate to the cafe next door and has now spread to Clive’s tattoo shop downstairs from my office. I must say, I like the new look of Clive’s place now – its olive and black livery looks classy.

The new shop in Norwich Street, Fakenham – on the site of the toyshop which only recently closed. Apparently (and hopefully somebody in the know will correct me if I’m wrong) they’ll be selling army surplus gear, which sounds a tad obvious being as they’re called ‘Quartermasters’. Well, that’s a bit different anyway and better than having yet another baker/butcher/optician in the town centre. I hope they do well.

I know – I didn’t have to go far to take this snap as it’s right opposite my office door!

You know that little park by the river path? Yes, just down Hall Staithe (corrected: cheers, Mark) - that’s the one. Well, there’s a project underway to freshen it up a tad. It was looking a bit run down, so an organisation from Norwich is organising (what else would they do?) a bunch of long-term unemployed youngsters to give it a lick of paint and add some sparkle. Apparently, it gives them a bit of work experience and adds a project to their CV. No doubt it gives them a bit of confidence-building too – that can’t do any harm. Anyway, they were all busy down there today when I popped out for a walk, so I took the opportunity to poke my nose, have a quick natter and take a snap.

Nice to see youngsters doing community projects like this. Thanks. Well done, guys!

The Air Ambulance hovering over town centre rooftops this afternoon, attending a casualty in the market square.

This EDP article look interesting. I think it marries up with the plans for walking and cycling routes around the town which were published in the Council’s Local Development Framework document.

I reckon it’s a great long-term idea which would enhance the area and prove to be an attraction for tourism. Here’s the article link:

Wensum Valley Trust  Bid to create long distance riverside path in Norfolk – Norfolk News – EDP24.