Dear Sir
The loss of Johnson’s greengrocers from the High Street is going to be keenly felt. It was a good shop with friendly staff, selling a lot of local, high quality produce. It will be added to the list of “dearly departed” along with the bakery and Ashbees.
Is there anything left being sold in the street that a local shopper might actually need? Or is the High Street now solely there to serve well-heeled tourists in search of expensive novelties?
Whatever the reason, the decline of the street is socially significant and makes Rye a less attractive place to live in.
Gary Cooper
Regarding Rye High St: for an interesting article, why not print a list of shops operating in the 1950s or even 1960s. I think it would amaze many readers.
The loss of these shops is for the simple reason of lack of support from locals, Its all well and good saying how sad it is that they have been lost and how they where well supported yet if they where so well supported they wouldn’t have closed! Rye still has lots of these local amenities yet they are located either in new locations or other shops have expanded there ranges to cover the losses.
The simple answer to the more tourist based shops is the lack of support by locals for the shops and business owners diversifying to meet the needs of the tourists and to survive.