Photo by Miriam Fleming
LOCAL ISSUES
Seaside town going places I wanted to write an article with a view of explaining why I appreciate being part of the Southend community, both in terms of specialist retail and as a resident. Many years of living within easy reach of London, the beach and open countryside have been a joy. We are lucky to have these amazing individual geographical advantages to reside. After travelling to Epping for my business for 14 years, I decided to bring the retail experience to Southend. At first, I was hesitant of the marketplace, for contemporary solutions that I have been selling for years, to another marketplace. I have been incredibly surprised by the talent, skills and expertise of our local community.
Our determined businesspeople There are many younger determined businesspeople building exciting businesses in our area and continue to harness the knowledge and wisdom of the older business generation. As retail is forever changing which has its own challenges, I have been humbled by the sheer determination our local entrepreneurs to succeed and develop. March 2020
In my view, our Council needs to connect more with the business community with a true consultative approach, to bring back much of which is evidently missing in our town.
Potential to develop
Imagine flying in from an amazing city like Amsterdam to reach the Kursaal, an amazing building with much history, languishing unloved on the seafront. We have so much potential to develop into a cultural hub which could bring our tourism into another dimension. Just the other day, I really took notice of how many tourists I could spot, who were either day trippers or over for the weekend from abroad, far more than I first thought. From that my focus changed to where are they going, what is available for them and why? Obviously, the seafront is an absolute destination, our amusements are an institution, Adventure Island and the various cafes and eating establishments are different to other parts of Essex. We should consider making the seafront area more like a cool artisan area for food and retail for craft people, galleries etc. this would add to our already brilliant
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