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!

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.

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.

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?

The Morning Advertiser, a pub trade news website, is running this story about the recent spate of ‘new build’ pubs Marstons are opening. The article states that Fakenham’s Running Horse is one of those already open, which I don’t think is actually true, but the pub will be trading soon enough.

The new pub, near the football ground and therefore set to become ‘my local’, will probably be hoping to take custom from Fakenham’s Hungry Horse - a similar kind of pub in that it sells cheapish mass-market food to families (possibly one difference is the Marstons pub will sell cask ale where the Henry IV didn’t the last time I looked). I guess Marstons’ long-term plan takes into account the fact that the town’s population will be increasing due to the number of new houses which will be built over the next few years. However, I’m also guessing that they’ll need to work hard to attract custom at the start – Fakenham’s pubs already struggle to attract people, especially early in the week. One more pub in the town means that punters will be spread even more thinly than they are at the moment.

So, this is how all my new clients will go about ordering a new website this month, in line with Visa’s UK Olympic ticket policy…

1. Indicate the kind of website(s) you would like. There will be a choice of single page, medium size or “like Amazon’s”
2. Choose where you want the site to be hosted. Options will be “on a server in a UK datacentre”  or “on a random person’s home PC somewhere in a former Baltic state”
3. State your first, second and third etc. choice of website subject. Examples are, “Plumber’s website”, “Solicitor’s site” or “Genealogy for Beginners”.
4. Provide your Visa card details (NB. other cards not allowed)
5. Wait until May 2011
6. Have an unknown sum of  money deducted from your account according to the final cost of the website you have been allocated.
7. Wait until the end of June 2011
8. Be told what kind of website you’ve been allocated and how much you ended up paying.
9. Wait until summer 2012
10. Get what you paid for a year ago (but not neccesarily what you originally wanted)

Think it’ll work?

First, the Spalding estate agents has moved across Oak street to the premises formerly occupied by Pearce Electrical. Bigger, more modern and more impressive shop front – it looks really good.

Second, the old Fakenham Learning Centre building, which has been unnoccupied and extremely dowdy for ages now, has some stickers in the window announcing that Hughes Electrical will be opening there in May. Well done Hughes – that’ll make a massive improvement to the shopfronts in Norwich Street.

The meeting will start between 6.15 and 6.30, with the formalities of a standard Chamber commitee meeting. After that an informal session between committee and members where you’ll get a chance to pose questions and put your ideas across.

During the evening a presentation will be made with the donation to Help for Heroes and the five local charities supported by the Chamber’s 2010 Fireworks event.

To end the evening, a hog roast and drinks will be available. The Chamber committee hopes to see as many members as possible at the event!

The Crown Hotel, Fakenham

Remember when this was a thriving pub? Remember when it was a positive focal point in the town centre?

The Crown has been closed for a long time now. It’s arguably the best recognised building in the Market Square and it’s got to be the prime location for a pub in Fakenham, yet it remains empty. The Crown continues to project an appallingly negative image on a town whose residents and representatives are fighting to improve and promote it. For an important building like this to remain closed just looks bad and if it could be reopened might start to paint a more positive picture of the town. Maybe that would in turn start to attract more and better shops – nothing breeds success like success, as they say.

What can be done?

I was talking  the other day to a Wells resident about a similar situation in his town. There’s a prominent building – now an eyesore – on the Quay which has been empty for a long time due to a fire. The community there have called on the council to investigate issuing a compulsory purchase order. It makes sense. They’ve spent shedloads of money in the area and want to promote Wells, as we want to for Fakenham, but the eyesore is a blot on the landscape which is holding them back. ‘Spoiling the ship for a ha’porth of tar’ is the old saying.

I wonder if something like that’s a possibility for The Crown? The owners don’t seem to be doing anything to actively sell the place or get new tenants in. I have a client who tells me he produced an outline business plan for joint ownership of the place as a pub/restaurant/hotel but despite contacting the owners with it he was completely ignored.

What do you think? Do you have any ideas? Please leave a comment.

If you fancy a quick preview, click on the picture on the right. It should take you to the new Fakenham shop at Spreadshirt, where you can browse through the selection of tees, hoodies and other Fakenham-branded stuff.

It’s all very tongue-in-cheek and I think it’ll strike a chord with Fakenham folk. Let me know what you think so far.