Friday 11 May 2012

Town of Books

Hay-on-Wye is a small town in Wales, close to the border with England.  It is probably best known for the number of second hand book shops that occupy many of the shops, hence it is popularly known as the  'Town of Books', the largest of the shops is Richard Booth's, which is a wondrous place to visit if, firstly you love books and secondly if you love old buildings with squeaky floor boards.

So, you have a town with lots of second hand book shops and more than that, it is set in the beautiful Welsh countryside; which makes it a perfect location for the Hay Festival of Literature and Art .  The festival is held every year around the Spring Bank Holiday (end of May beginning of June).

I have been visiting Hay all my life, it is just a 40 min drive from my home; recently I heard some news that saddened me and made me think about the invasion of supermarkets into our communities and the changing face of our high streets in recent years.

The reason for this little introduction is to tell you about  Plan B for Hay - it is a campaign to stop a major Supermarket coming to the town which you can also follow on Twitter @PlanBforHay.

The people of Hay recognise that they need a new school but not are not willing to accept the trade off - a Supermarket which will fund the building of a school along with other projects.  If it goes ahead it will, without question have an adverse effect on the independent traders of the town and the unique way of life that exists in Hay.

I encourage you to read about Hay-on-Wye and Plan B for Hay and sign the petition if you think that there has to be a Plan B for Hay.


2 comments:

Anonymous said...

You are attempting to protect the "independent traders" of this town. One would think that in return, these merchants would do something to improve/fund the school system.

MJcee said...

That might well be the Plan B, Anon, this is what the residents/independent traders are campaigning for, the opportunity.