My Opinion by Matlock reader Gemma Richmond
I’d like to start by saying that I love where I live. After university I moved away for all of five months before realising that Matlock is exactly where I want to be. It’s beautiful; a town with the community feel of a village and I am extremely lucky to have grown up here.
However, the recent outrage in Bakewell about the proposed Costa got me thinking. In Matlock we have a Costa. We also have a Greggs, a Co-op and even a very large Sainsbury’s.
Should I be unhappy about this? Because I’m really not. In fact, quite the opposite.
I understand people’s fears. A loss of the town’s character as independent, much-loved stores close down. And yes, I’m young, on a low income, so of course I will support places offering a cheaper alternative.
But I like that I can get a yummy Greggs doughnut in my own town. Or a Costa coffee to take-away. I don’t see Hambridges or The Greedy Pig struggling with the introduction of these big names.
Of course, this Bakewell Road development is a slightly different matter; I’ll reserve judgement on that until we know exactly what ‘supermarket’ is being planned. But still, that building definitely needs an upgrade, which can only benefit our town centre.
Perhaps we could start seeing ‘development’ as a positive rather than a negative and see where it gets us?
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Weather for Chesterfield
Monday 20 May 2013
Today
Light showers
Temperature: 10 C to 18 C
Wind Speed: 10 mph
Wind direction: North
Tomorrow
Cloudy
Temperature: 7 C to 14 C
Wind Speed: 12 mph
Wind direction: North
