A Study of the Development of Urban Spheres of Influence in Leicestershire
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SECTION FOUR CONTEMPORARY URBAN SPHERES OP INFLUENCE University of Birmingham Research Archive e-theses repository This unpublished thesis/dissertation is copyright of the author and/or third parties. The intellectual property rights of the author or third parties in respect of this work are as defined by The Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988 or as modified by any successor legislation. Any use made of information contained in this thesis/dissertation must be in accordance with that legislation and must be properly acknowledged. Further distribution or reproduction in any format is prohibited without the permission of the copyright holder. 348. CHAPTER ONE A REVOLUTION IN TOWN-COUNTRY RELATIONS A 'revolution 1 implies changes both rapid and fundamental; the changes which have taken place in the relations between towns and their spheres of influence between the period of the last analysis> at the beginning of the 20th century, and the present day may most certainly be described in these terms. In earlier sections of this thesis we have seen how for many centuries the relations between town and country remained essentially the same, based on the facilities and services offered by the market towns,to the inhabitants of the surrounding rural areas. In the 19th century, the structure of many of the towns changed and often their primary functions became industrial; service function to the hinterland being relegated to a secondary aspect of their life. In parts of Leicestershire the nature of the hinterlands also changed under the impulse of industrialisation^and facilities for marketing in the towns became of less relative importance. However, these changes did not bring about a fundamental alteration in the contacts between town and village. Slow moving, cumbersome road transport restricted the volume of exchange which could take place, and, for the great majority of the population lack of surplus spending powe^after the basic 349. necessities of life had been purchased.made the question of accessibility to the market town a matter of little more than academic interest, except on infrequent, special occasions. The facilities which the 19th century towns had to offer were of little concern to the mass of the population. Even in those places where rail facilities existed little use could be made of them because of the low standard of living enjoyed. In talking to the older generation the writer has learned that a journey by train from Coalville to Leicester - involving a journey of from 15 to 30 minutes duration - was in the nature of an annual^ or even less frequent^ 'treat 1 5 and that; at the turn of the century, the majority of the inhabitants of Moira and nearby settlements, by that time industrial villages dependent on the local coal mines, had never been further afield than Ashby-de-la-Zouoh, the local market town only three to four miles distant; yet Leicester was less than 20 miles away, and to which place there was a speedy, frequent train service. Today, for the inhabitants of both Coalville and Moira, and for those of places even more distant, daily journeys to Leicester are commonplace, and weekly, fortnightly, or monthly visits for shopping or entertainment purposes are within the economic reach of the greatest majority of the population. The revolution has depended most specifically on two 350. major causes; firstly, the invention and application of the internal combustion engine to the process of trans portation; and secondly, as suggested in the previous paragraph, to the rapidly rising standard of living of the population. Thus,the revolution dates from the post- 1914-18 war era,but,in many instances, it is only since the 1939-45 war that the opportunities offered by modern transport have become available to large sections of the population, Before 1939, for example, a farmworker earned about 30/- per week on which to maintain his wife and family. Having paid for food, clothes, fuel and other necessities, purchased most likely from the village trader or the travelling stores, the surplus available for other purposes would not often be sufficient to provide the families 1 bus fare of 3/~ to 4/~ to the local market town* and even when this could be managed then a visit to the cinema) or tea at a cafe would most probably be out of the question. Since 1939, however, conditions have changed. The farmworker's wage is nearer £6; the rent of his cottage has remained static; free,or cheap,milk and other payments in kind are still allowed; and hence the surplus available for non-necessities of life has grown. In addition,the bus fare into town will absorb a relatively lower proportion of this surplus as costs of transport have not Increased at the same rate as costs In other fields. 351. Indeed, until a year or two ago bus fares were virtually the same as pre-war in monetary terms and, therefore, less than half as expensive in real costs. These facts have led to a greater use of the towns by the rural population^ andjin Leicestershirej this feature in nowhere better illustrated than in the case of Melton Mowbray. Time and time again,in conversation with traders and other citizens of the town,the contrast between pre-war and post-war conditions have been vividly portrayed* Before 1939 the town was 'dead 1 except on Tuesday (the market day), when farmers and their wives paid their visits. Today, however, there is a 'steady stream' of customers into the shops on every day of the week,and the town, although quiet when compared with Tuesday traffic, is certainly not without life. Fridays and Saturdays, in addition to Tuesdays, have become of increasing importance as visiting days for customers from the hinterland. On Fridays, many of the farmers pay a return visit to the town (possession of a car making the journey far easier and of much shorter duration) in order to collect their worker's wages from the bank and to deal with other official business; for example, the purchase of insurance stamps, to settle business with the Melton Farmers Association or with the Auctioneers, The Secretary of the local branch of the National Farmers' Union reported that she now had almost 352. aa many visitors on Fridays as on Tuesdays. And the Saturday trade of the town has increased by virtue of the higher standard of living of the farmworkers and their families. In addition to their higher real wages,the farmworker now finishes his work at nonn on Saturdays (compared with a full day before the war); and henoe; a Saturday afternoon visit to Melton is a regular feature of their way of life. In response to this demand a second street market is now held in the town on Saturday - normally with about half the number of stalls when compared with the Tuesday market - and this, together with the shops of the town, the sporting fixtures held there, and an early evening visit to one of the cinemas provide the attractions for the 'country 1 visitors. These recent developments in the trading activities of Melton Mowbray have been used to illustrate the Inter dependence of the improvement of transport facilities and the rising standard of living in bringing about a closer contact between a town and its hinterland. In some cases, however, the post-war cheapening of transport costs haa led to a development injurious to the smaller market towna. In the case of Coalville, for example, a large percentage of the population of the hinterland is now prepared, and can afford, to visit a settlement further afleld^whose A facilities are more attractive. Hence*from places suoh 353. as Ibstock, Heather, Whitwick, and Elllstown, all within four miles of Coalville, but up to 15 miles distant from Leicester, a greater proportion of their custom is being diverted to the latter settlement with its far superior department stores, first class entertainment, and the like* And from the smaller market towns themselves, the looal facilities are now insufficiently attractive to keep trade within the towns, when the county centre can be visited at a maximum transport cost of 2/8dj a cost only about 40j£ greater than pre-war,whereas wages over the same period have increased from 200$ to 400^6. Hence, in Coal ville, the local Chamber of Trade organises 'shop in Coalville 1 weeks, with apparently but little effect, and in Melton Mowbray,traders hope that Saturday morning will be wet so as to deter prospective visitors to Leicester from making the journey; a wet Saturday morning followed by a fine afternoon stimulates local trade. Thus,town and country have been brought into closer contact for purposes of shopping and associated activities. The importance of these developments on the towns will be considered later in the section. In the case of Hertford the effect was described as follows: "It is still the market town for a hinterland of much the same extent as 40 years ago....The centralisation of the omnibus system on the town now brings in a 354. very considerable number of visitors who a generation ago would have visited the town but two or three times a year. This new trade has come to take the place of the declining country house trade, and the change is exemplified by the many empty shops in those streets which once solicited the custom of the nobility, clergy, and gentry, while the large multiple shops in the back streets secure a considerable portion of the new working class trade." The sum total of the results of the revolution has not yet been examined, however, for many other factors have been involved; apart from the changes in the regularity of visits to the town.