County town of Suffolk, population roughly 134,000, one of the oldest established towns in England and somewhere I've been going for shopping a few times a year since I was small. We always took the bus there with Mum in the school holidays and it was once full of department stores and really busy all the time.
Now like so many other towns it has many, many empty shops. This was the Co-op, huge store over two floors but has now been empty for many years.
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Every now and again the Borough Council spend money on various bits of the town.
This is The Giles Statue . Giles was a cartoonist from Ipswich and his statue was on the other side of the road but money was spent moving it across the road to make "Giles Circus"
I didn't go in all the charity shops in town but in the Salvation Army shop found this little bit of Poole Pottery in the shape of a buoy, it's actually a bell, and just appealed to me for my Summer Seasonal display.
Finally found a ring bound diary for next year for not too much money. I've been looking in The Works in Stowmarket for weeks but the Ipswich shop is bigger and had this. I like a ring bound one because it will keep open and lay flat.
There's a bargain Cancer Research Charity shop in town where they sell off leftover things from their other shops (I think) and they had lots of last years packs of Christmas cards. I really didn't need any Christmas cards but these were rather nice so they've been added to my Christmas drawer.
Below is the result of another bit of "tidying and tarting up" - a photo from summer a few years ago. Now Debenhams is also closed after being the biggest department store in Suffolk.
The Town Hall
With so many empty premises the town seems to consist of coffee shops and charity shops. I avoid Costa, Café Nero and all the rest and always go for a cuppa in the old St Lawrence's Church. The staff are people being helped into work after mental health problems or learning difficulties. There is always plenty of space .
On the way home I called in to the out of town shopping centre to look for some lampshades for the bedroom. The Range, Dunelm and B&M all had nothing suitable.
I wonder which shops will still be open next time I venture to town.
Back Tomorrow
Sue
I’m enjoying your Alphabet series. Here in New Zealand it is much the same with city centres becoming decimated and derelict from Covid.
ReplyDeleteIt's really sad to see.
DeleteSorry that Anonymous was me
ReplyDeleteMany, many small towns are empty shopfronts here, too.
ReplyDeleteSeems the same world wide - very sad
DeleteSorry to see how depressed Ipswich is. That Giles sculpture looks like Grandma and the aunt who's always taking aspirin, forget her name. You can still find him online, still funny after all this time. He was a wonderful draftsman.
ReplyDeleteI missed out on seeing Giles cartoons
DeleteI have to wonder where families shop with so many stores going out of business. It is horrible to see vacant buildings.
ReplyDeleteOnline shopping is just so simple and of course big edge of town supermarkets have everything too
DeleteIt is always sad to see shops closing down and nothing taking their place. The whole town suffers because it becomes a downward spiral unless something drastic is done to change things around. Times are not easy for a lot of businesses these days, but hopefully that pendulum will swing and these towns will recover and become prosperous again.
ReplyDeleteIt's the big department stores that leave such a big hole - there is no more use for them how they are and no money to change them
DeleteMy hometown. I love the photos. They make me a little homesick. When I was growing up The Ancient House was a bookshop. I spent ages in there as a teen. There were little rooms, nooks and crannies and I remember a teenage reading section in a small room where I would sometimes sit on the floor and just read. Brings back great memories.
ReplyDeleteThe Co-Op was huge. There was even a little enclosed walkway over to another part of the shop. I remember we used to go and see Father Christmas there.
I remember the Ancient House as a bookshop too and then it was empty and it was really good to have Lakeland there.
DeleteIt's so sad to see all the empty shops - and each time I go - which is not so frequently now - more have closed
I remember being very taken with the pargetting on the Ancient House. Too bad the council can't use it for something instead of standing empty. Giles made me smile, immediately thought of Grandma, what a character she was.
ReplyDeleteThe Ancient House is such a beautiful building and it's so sad to see it empty.
DeleteI remember shopping at Debenhams store years ago when living in UK 🇬🇧 for 2 years. Alot of nice things I still have including 2 bowls I use for soup or cereal and a scale for food. Sorry the town has lost stores. Some are gone at the outlet mall close to where we live. Covid hasn't been helpful at all around thr world. I buy boots and a pr of shoe from Hotter shoe Co online. Comfortable 👢. Iike your alphabetical stories and photos. There was a nice restaurant we liked there as well. Have a good week.
ReplyDeleteHeidelberg restaurant is where we liked to eat at.
DeleteWhen I was small the Debenhams store was very smart, soft carpets upstairs and a huge Food Hall and very posh toilets!
DeleteIpswich brings back memories of visits with parents in the 1960s to an aunt and uncle who lived there, and riding on the trolley buses out from the centre back to where they lived. Also swimming in the outdoor pool at Broomhall (I think?). It was the big town that my other aunts used to go to from Stowmarket, Bacton and Great Finborough.
ReplyDeleteBroomhill was the pool - still empty and falling apart - and still people are trying to raise funds to re-open it. I wrote about visiting on one of the Heritage Open Days before Covid.
DeleteThere used to be regular buses to Ipswich from all the villages years ago. It's so sad to see all the empty shops
It is very sad to see so many lovely building lying empty and lonely, isn't it?
ReplyDeleteHowever, I LOVE that Giles statue. Whenever we went to stay with my grandparents as children, we always headed for their collecting of Giles cartoons, going back almost to when the annuals were first published. We didn't fully understand the complexity and cleverness of the meaning behind the cartoons but I just lovely pouring over each cartoon, enjoying all the funny little off centre details. So, so clever, a very gifted cartoonist. xx
I missed out on Giles cartoons and don't really know much about them or the man himself
DeleteThe Ancient House is beautiful in its craftmanship. Ipswich town seems a memorial to a lost century. Keep the faces of the shops but build living accommodation behind maybe an answer.
ReplyDeleteThey turned some of the old factories in town into flats many years ago and doing the same with the shops would be a good use.
DeleteI do hope they can find a proper use for the Ancient House. So sad to see all those empty shopfronts.
ReplyDeleteIt's a vicious circle as there are fewer reasons to go to Ipswich with the shops closed. So sad to see it getting worse each time I go
DeleteI used to love going to Lakeland in the Ancient House. One of my favourite shops, in a fascinating building - a very happy shopping experience for someone who doesn't like shopping. I really hope they find someone good for it. Not an easy store to use as there are so many tiny rooms and so many features that need to be protected from damage.
ReplyDeleteI used to always ask where things were in Lakeland as it was possible to go in and out of all the little rooms and up and down stairs and still not find what I was looking for!
DeleteLincoln is much the same , lots of twaddle shops for the students and overpriced coffee shops , everything is geared to students or tourists . the parking is dreadful and very expensive. we venture in maybe once a year now . nothing is cheap they have done away with market to bring in a cafe living space ?
ReplyDeleteParking is expensive in Ipswich too and fewer buses running in from the countryside around - I used to go regularly but perhaps now only a couple of times a year
DeleteWhenever I pop across the water to visit family I am struck by the number of empty shop premises in the towns. Some places look decidedly scruffy and unappealing. It is sad to see the places from my childhood becoming so run down.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the look around Ipswich Sue. Like you, I found it so sad to see the empty shops. These buildings are beautiful. Ipswich is somewhere where I've never been to, but it always reminds me of a lad I went to Primary School with because for some reason - he was mad about Ipswich Town football club - maybe an older relative or something.
ReplyDeleteMy letter I would be for Ink.
At my secondary school which was a Grammar school, we had to write in pen and ink. At first I had a cartrigde that pulled up the ink from an inkwell at school. A messy business. SWe also had squares of pink blotting paper that we wasted said ink by soaking our pen nib onto it to make pretty patterns! My fingers were pretty much ink stained for 7 years.
IKEA is a good place to look for lampshades.
ReplyDeleteIt is sad that so many places have closed. That Ancient House is certainly eye-catching, hopefully it can find a new tenant eventually. I find your little Poole bell enchanting - does it have a nice tone to its tinkle?
ReplyDeleteIt's so sad that so many of the big-name shops have left the high streets, I am really grateful that we have a high street of little independents that get really well supported. That ex-Lakeland building is magnificent, what a shame they moved out.
ReplyDeleteHow sad that all those lovely stores are gone now. Beautiful buildings too.
ReplyDeleteCathy
I love that Christmas card! We have a mall here that is pretty much empty. So much has changed...and so quickly too.
ReplyDeleteWhat will happen to the Ancient House if the shops aren't used and cared for? If I was the Council, I would give them to shop keepers for a tiny rent, just to see them thrive again.
ReplyDeleteHels
Art and Architecture, mainly
I was surprised to see so many empty stores in that big town. Where do the people go to shop? Our downtown is still very busy as there are lots of independent stores and lots of restaurants. The city has built up a nice park on the river that is called the "Riverwalk" and people come from the surrounding areas to eat, shop, and explore the area.
ReplyDeleteThe city rejuvenated an old dying downtown and have taken away business from the big shopping malls which are now losing stores.
You could gave been posting pictures of Hamilton once the county town. M and S leaving earlier this year was the death knell for the town centre. There are coffee shops, beauty shops and many charity shops. the rest of the shops are in the two retail parks that have killed off the centre. It’s so depressing that I only go if I have to. Like you, we don’t support the chain coffee shops and use the cafe in the museum or country park where possible. Catriona
ReplyDeleteThank you for the tour of Ipswich. Our bigger mall here has many an empty spot which the new owners are trying to fill.
ReplyDeleteGod bless.
I grew up near Ipswich in the 80s and 90s so I’ve many memories of shopping trips there. Both my Mum and Aunt were saying how empty the town centre is there since the pandemic, but seeing your photos has made me realise just how different it is from the Ipswich that I remember. As others have said, it’s particularly sad to see the Ancient House empty and I hope some use can be found for it again.
ReplyDeleteI can remember the old BHS store (my Mum used to like shopping in there), the Co-Op department store and also the old Woolworths. The Buttermarket shopping centre used to have a department store (Alldreds?).
I used to go to Tower Ramparts lots as a teenager in the 90s first for Tammy Girl (on the top floor of Etam) and then Topshop when I was older. My Dad’s old high school was on the site of Tower Ramparts, but the last I heard that shopping centre was going/has been demolished for housing.