Even on a sunny Tuesday when nearby beaches fight for locals’ attention, the quaint streets of Chichester are bustling. And in an age when boarded up shops and eerily empty high streets appear to be more and more common, this little city is bucking the trend.
“Chichester is a wonderful place to live and work,” says Dan Roe, the general manager of Timothy Roe jewellers.
“We’re lucky to have beautiful beaches at West Wittering [a few miles south], the canal, marina and harbour and the South Downs. I often forget it’s all here. Working here, you can become a bit blinkered to it. The city centre is improving too.
“For a while, there were a lot of empty units, but they’re filling up again, and more independent shops are returning, which is great to see.”
So many independent shops have returned, in fact, that there’s now an estimated 240 in the city, making it arguably one of Britain’s best high streets for those who have tired of copycat towns stuffed full of the same big names.
Unlike some other towns and cities there’s not a feeling either that Chichester can’t cope. More tourists please appears to be the message.
Dan says his family jewellers has been in the city centre since 1996 with many customers now travelling from outside of Chichester to buy from the shop. Shops like his have become “destination businesses” he believes, bringing extra people into the city.
Sarah Collins, the owner of Jam Cafe, says it can be financially hard to run her business but the passion she has for making a success of it is clear.
She says: “It’s a really varied high street we have here. We have a lot more independent shops than I think people realise within Chichester, we’re quite lucky in that respect.
“It’s tough – times are really tough at the moment for businesses in general but for indies in particular, it’s really, really hard. If you walk up a hundred metre stretch of this street you’ll go past more indies than you will chains, which is quite nice for us.”
Sarah says there are still plenty of chains in the city but there are also a lot of big empty shops which everyone is keen to ensure doesn’t become a more common theme.
She continues: “I would love to see more tourists in Chichester. We’ve got the cathedral, we’ve got the theatre, there’s so many things that you can do. I love Chichester, it’s got real potential – the amount of creativity in the city is huge.”
One of the great well-preserved Georgian cities in the UK, Chichester has played a key role in the affairs of Sussex since at least the Roman times.
Julia Grant, owner of craft store Winter’s Moon, which has been open for five years, says she doesn’t think more visitors in Chichester would ever be a bad thing. She says: “I feel that Chichester has a pretty good reputation outside of the city for independents.
“We have sadly lost a couple in the past six months, which is really sad. But I am always optimistic that new businesses will come, and I hope that there is a good foundation for them to be able to get their roots down.”
Julia says there have recently been some big chain closures in the city, such as House of Fraser and Debenhams, and she says that the mix between chains and independents is key for ensuring the city’s appeal endures.
She believes there’s a healthy level of tourism and the city doesn’t feel swamped.
For those looking to visit the city, she reccomends visiting Bishop’s Palace Gardens which she calls “a little oasis”, and a visit to Pallant House Gallery.
The mix between the old and the new in Chichester is clear on almost every corner. Maintaining that balance could be key to ensuring it only becomes more popular.