Situated on the boundary between Nottinghamshire and South Yorkshire, Worksop has seen its tradition of heavy industry disappear in recent decades. The coalmines and mills have been replaced by jobs in manufacturing and logistics, including the headquarters of household names such as Wilko’s, Premier Foods and Scania buses and coaches.
The political landscape has changed too, after Bassetlaw – where Worksop is the biggest town – elected its first Conservative MP in almost a century in December’s general election. The vote ended Labour’s 90-year hold on the seat with an 18-point swing to the Tories – the biggest of the night.
Like many of Britain’s high streets, Worksop has struggled against the rise of internet shopping and out-of-town mega-malls such as Meadowhall, a 25-minute drive away. The town centre was dealt another blow in November when the River Ryton burst its banks and flooded scores of shops, the library and about 200 homes.
Median pay is £550 a week – £30 below the UK average – for residents of Bassetlaw. The 40,000 people who live in Worksop may have long felt distant from and ignored by Westminster but after the election result they have more political leverage than ever.
The Guardian asked shoppers and traders in the town what they wanted from Rishi Sunak’s budget – and what they thought of the measures he announced.
Angela Smith, 57, card stall trader on the high street
“I’d like the government to do something about high streets in the north and the Midlands. I’d like to see all the closed-down shops in Worksop opened back up. Shops around here are closing right, left and centre. When I first opened the stall 12 years ago, business was very good, and it’s only the last three or four years that it’s gone down. It means we can’t afford to open the stall as often, so we’re only doing three days now and I’ve just got a part-time job to supplement my income.
“It’s all this internet buying – but the lack of decent shops to go to doesn’t help us with customers much either. I think reduced business rates for retailers will mean the stores will be occupied all the time and more people will come to Worksop. In the past, I think we’ve been ignored a bit in public spending budgets because we don’t make as much money for the country as nearby cities like Sheffield.”
David Swain, 43, manager of Cockney Rebel clothes shop
“I’d like the government to give an incentive to new startup businesses, to allow them to come into the town centre and fill the empty shops, so it gives a more vibrant, flourishing business environment for customers to be able to come into town and spend their money. Without them, we’re not going to survive. Any relief that’s coming from the government would be very welcome, [but] it’s the internet that’s killing high streets and the fact we’re still paying our rents and rates and overheads – that’s the biggest outlay other than staff wages.
“We’ve been closed twice due to flooding – 12 years ago and again in November when we were closed for 10 days, at the worst possible time of the year just before Christmas. Just building [flood defence] walls isn’t the answer. They build higher walls but all that ends up doing is further downstream getting the brunt of it, as we saw in Doncaster [in November]. In Worksop, the amount of debris and reed beds in the river at the moment has been noted by the Environment Agency as needing removal. We need a mixture of flood defences and the regular maintaining and proper inspecting of rivers to allow the water to pass through.”
Johnathan Stiff, 54, manager at Top Locks salon
“I would have liked to have seen more done to help people in towns that have flooded in recent months. We were flooded back in November, and although I got a £2,500 small businesses grant, I soon found out we weren’t covered by our insurance. There’s a clause that says the property has to be 250 metres away from a watercourse, but we’re not just near the River Ryton, we’re directly next to it. So now we’re having to spend thousands of pounds on things like having three feet of the exterior rendered in cement, painting brickwork with tar, and tiling the interior.”
“We’ve been offered another grant of £5,000, for helping to protect the property for further flood damage, but £500 would go on a surveyor, and the rest wouldn’t cover flood defences for a property of this size. If I hadn’t been able to rely on friends and family for financial support, I might have had to close like the Crusty Cob shop, the carpet shop and the bookmakers down the street. I’m glad the Conservatives won the election, because I wanted to keep Labour out. But, I’ll have to see if the money allocated to ‘levelling up’ the country changes anything before I believe it.”
Marcus Kissane, 28, landlord of the Queen’s Head pub
“The beer duty [freeze] is brilliant. I was worried about the price of beer going up: it’s £2.80 for a pint of Carling here but we’ve got a Wetherspoons across the road and another large chain opposite. I’m just a small, independent landlord and I can’t barter my prices as much as my competitors can. At the moment I’m more expensive than them and that’s not good. The business rate discount [being raised to £5,000 from £1,000] is great: I’m paying £53,000 a year and that’s far too high for this building. Even with the £5,000 coming off that’s £48,000 and it’s still too high but I’m appealing against that at the minute. I’m not worried at all about the coronavirus – we’re not fazed in Worksop.”
Simon Greaves, Labour leader of Bassetlaw district council
“The level of expectation is incredibly high among local people who voted in good faith. On the ground, I’m still waiting for any smoke signals or any real genuine announcements about what is going to be done to deliver for this community. Some of the budget announcements were very practical and need to happen, but I think there’s missed opportunities as well, for example there’s a stony silence when it comes to new infrastructure in places like Worksop and Bassetlaw. The revision on business rates has been needed for years now and will I’m sure be welcomed by a lot of businesses, but the fact is it’s just a one-year settlement. There needs to be a bigger question about the future of business rates.”
Joel Kirk, 32, valuation manager at Burrell’s estate agency
“There are quite a few big developments happening around Worksop, totalling thousands of new homes, so that’s promising – and it’s great to hear that there will be infrastructure [spending] to go with it. It’s a very busy housing market at the minute and Worksop seems to be a hub because we’ve got the big B&Q and Wilko’s head offices, so that’s increasing the activity levels. There is a need for more housing – and more affordable housing – in Worksop, so anything that can be done to help is going to help the economy and encourage businesses to come into the town centre. Towns like Worksop are the ones that get forgotten. City centres get a lot of infrastructure and spending whereas towns seem to get the rough end of the deal. Any improvement is encouraging but as much as can be put in is always going to help the town to grow.”
Doris Oden-Walder, 73, retired charity shop volunteer
“I’m sceptical about the £6bn that’s been announced for the NHS. I’ll believe that when I see it, and I hope I’m alive long enough to see the 40 hospitals being built. I voted Conservative in the election, but I wasn’t a swing voter – I stopped voting for Labour a long time ago. But I don’t trust the government any more, they just lie. I’ve had cancer four times and I’m very pleased with what the health service did for me, but it needs a lot more funding.
“The other thing that’s important to me is trying to bring the shops back to this area. Abolishing business rates for retailers this year will help, but it shouldn’t be just because of coronavirus concerns. They should scrap business rates altogether so the high street can slowly build back up. We don’t need any more nail shops, hairdressers or vape stores in Worksop. Pledging to get rid of potholes is also a good thing, but the problem I’ve noticed is that when the council do fix them, they just fill the hole in rather than redoing the road. So when it rains heavily or there’s a frost, they just crack again.”
