Totnes: the town that declared war on global capitalism
The “Peak Oil” Burghers of Totnes are now taking on Costa for having the temerity to seek to open up in their town. This article tells us:
“Welcome, then, to another chapter in the ongoing battle between places that pride themselves on their local character, and the great stomping boot of multinational capitalism. That it is happening in Totnes (population: 7,500) is hardly surprising: long renowned as a byword for sustainable living and imaginative local politics, it also the home of the Transition Towns movement, focused not just on the way that people and places use fossil fuels, but how to make local economies more resilient by encouraging independent business, and fighting the kind of big interests that tend to take out more than they put in. Their most famous innovation is the Totnes Pound, a home-grown currency that is accepted by more than 70 local businesses.
Totnes’s local economy looks to be in reasonable health, which is surely down to the fact that it is about as far from being what we now call a “clone town” as could be imagined. The local record shop, Drift, is mind-bogglingly great: the kind of place that you’d think was amazing if you found it in New York. The quality and diversity of restaurants is amazing. Most pertinently, the town has 42 independently run outlets that serve coffee, and – so far – not a single branch of any of the big caffeine-selling multiples”
I still wonder just how widely embedded in all sections of the community the transition town movement is, where do its leaders at the local level come from and who are they accountable to? Sounds however, if this article is true, that they may provide, perhaps a more potent impetus towards small town retail character than the inimitable Ms Portas!