I assume these are colliers at Margate harbour
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I periodically go to Northdown Road and take some pictures as it gives a fair indicator of how the small independent shop world is changing.
Here are the links to pictures I took in 2009
http://www.michaelsbookshop.com/northdownroad
http://www.michaelsbookshop.com/northdownroad/id3.htm
http://www.michaelsbookshop.com/northdownroad/id4.htm
http://www.michaelsbookshop.com/northdownroad/id5.htm
I think the main reason that most small shops selling new non food goods have closed is due to expenses with wages topping the bill.
Nowadays our main reason for visiting Northdown Road is the secondhand book and record shop Ghost Papa. And of course the interesting purpose built shop architecture most of it dating from around 1900 to 1920 I think.
Shops and the way they impact on our communities fascinates me and I have been actively involved with bookshops since the 1960s. Just what impact the decline of the shop has on our society is now becoming evident.
That said here at Michaels Bookshop where I work in Ramsgate, there hasn't really been been a significant change in sales since I opened here in 1987. In an overall sense secondhand book prices haven't changed much in that time. On the whole non fiction has got a bit cheaper and paperback fiction a bit dearer, but there is very little in it. I would say the main reason that Thanet has lost its other secondhand bookshops is that expenses have risen.
Bookshops selling new books is another matter and since 1987 I think the amount of bookshop space in Thanet stayed stable, with Waterstones replacing Albion Bookshops, recently however the closure of the WH Smiths in Ramsgate and Margate has had a considerable impact.
