Some shop fronts in Holmfirth got colourized...

RickAns

RickAns

Dedicated Member
I saw this article the other day and meant to post it sooner.

http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/78...he-Summer-Wine-town-war-colourful-shop-fronts

Not sure what to think on this. The colours seem nice, a little on the bright side. Not thrilled that they are painting on the stonework. Maybe if they only painted on non stone bits it might be fine. I can also see why some would want to keep the look more in keeping with the natural, traditional theme of the place.

Some nice pics in the article of the trio and Nora.
 
My two cents, for what it's worth: Holmfirth isn't the sunny Caribbean, where those colors would be in keeping with the intense natural light. They look garish in cloudy Holmfirth, where the natural light is much more gentle. I wouldn't have done more than clean the stonework, if it could be done without causing damage, followed up with fresh paint on the wood trims in historically accurate colors.
 
I agree keep it traditional , I don't quite see how painting shops bright colours helps the business , if the Old Bridge Bakery sells great cakes , bread and pastries then people will queue up to get their hands on the produce regardless what colour the shop front is , if the quality is naff the most avant garde colour on the Dulux colour card isn't going to attract people into the store.
 
The big city know-it-alls wishing to attract a certain clientele and maybe wishing to discourage other clientele have brought out the paint cans and are trying to erase the settled "feel" of Holmefirth. Eventually, the paint will peel and the expected clientele will not show up. It will just takes the tincture of time for things to revert to normal.

In my town, they just spent 3 million to update a library. Prior to the update, it was comfortable, quiet, and full of books. They did the update to make the library more attractive to the younger set. Stripped of carpets and plants, ordinary speech is amplified; the number of books has been reduced; the garden with lots of plants is gone; and the whole place decorated in steel grays seems very sterile.
 
Ok...my 2 cents worth, serious for a change.!

I am visiting Holmfirth in a few months SIMPLY because of LOTSW. If it wasn't for the show I probably wouldn't go anywhere near the area. Naturally I want things to be the same as seen on the screen as the "scenery" is a big part of the appeal of the show.
There are plenty of others who have/will visit the area because of LOTSW. I don't have any other interest in the area really and don't know of any other reason to go there...like a great number of other places!

BUT!!!

I am a "specialised" VISITOR attending for a specific reason based on a FICTIONAL (No matter how much we might want it to be real) television comedy series and no other reason.
I do not live, work, play or have to survive in the area on a daily basis. While I have my own opinion on how things "should" be, they have NO validity over that of the locals and I accept that quite happily.

IF LOTSW is the BIG drawcard for visitors to the area, it makes sense to cater for that demographic. If however it isn't, or the focus of visitors is changing then it makes sense to follow the trend.
Very little remains static in life and change is inevitable. Not all change is good however and mistakes get made, this is the nature of things. If the changes don't work they will be reversed quite quickly, particularly in a business environment!

I too despair of some of the modern "improvements" being made in traditional settings (Like the library Adanor describes) but I also know "my" era is past. It is time others had their time, just like we did. While I have a lot of the same values etc. of my parents, I have/ had quite different views to them on lots of topics. My sons are the same, they disagree with some of my ideas....and so they should.(Don't tell them I said that though) Change is inevitable, good or bad is a matter of individual preference.
(Broadly speaking, lets not nit-pick here)

The painting of shop fronts is a small, non destructive change. If it works...great. If it doesn't then some stripper and elbow grease will fix the problem quite easily.

Did ANY of that make sense??????

Basically I am saying it is none of my business what the locals do! I will make up my own mind and attend or not attend the area as I see fit. At this time a bit of paint is not a deal breaker. At least it is not graffiti (like what is/was?? at "The Monkey", THAT I definitely HATE!)
 
Personally I will go to a shop because I want to buy something they sell not because of the colour of the shop front . I just don't get how painting the shop front is the magic spell to attract Customers [do Dulux or Crown make a Harry Potter range?] . If the Old Bakery sells inferior products no matter how attractive the shop front is it won't attract customers back and given the impact of social media word of their inferior products will spread like wildfire.

If they have an attractive window display with well laid out presentation of their wares then people are likely to go in . Please see the butcher's shop of the year for the North of England surprisingly the produce and service level not the shop front won the Gentleman the prize . As Brian will do when he reaches the check-in desk "I rest my case"

butcher.jpg
 
You mean the quality of the product is more important than the packaging???
Now THAT is counter productive revolutionist propaganda in today's society where appearance is everything!:08::cheek:
 
I agree it is not the Caribbean or the Mediterranean or some other place where bright colors are the norm and they look nice in that setting. Maybe the shopkeepers think their shops will be overlooked without some kind of color splash to help them stand out from a non business doorstep.

Times like this I usually think back to an episode of Vicar of Dibley. Where some of the locals, I think Owen, Letitia and Jim are standing by a fence discussing the arrival of the new female vicar. They talk about stop lights, gravity, prawn-flavored crisps... good change and bad change.
 
RickAns said:
Where some of the locals, I think Owen, Letitia and Jim are standing by a fence
Click to expand...

No No No No Yes Rick I think you are correct but yes yes yes yes yes yes no need to paint shop fronts if your Produce and Service is of the utmost quality and no no no no no yes I promise not to mention the quality angle again:08:
 
Some colors, like the magenta on the Occasions shop make such a strong attempt to attract attention that I had avoided going in because I wondered from what deficiencies they were trying to distract us. I was shopping for a calendar for the next year with photos of local scenes, so the first place I looked was the Tourist Information Centre. They didn't have any, but they directed me to that shop. The calendars were hanging on a rack in the doorway, so I grabbed the only local one, took it to the cashier just inside the door and walked out without even glancing at the rest of the stock. I still don't know whether or not the stock is just tat.
 
We visited the J Brindon Addey butchers the other week, it is a fantastic shop, well worth a visit. Last Friday we spent a few hours in Holmfirth, had a brew outside Sids cafe . It's covered in scaffolding at the mo', looks like the roof is being repaired. The tour bus was tootling about and i had a nice chat with the yokel locals.
I'm ashamed to say i didn't notice the new shop fronts :(.
 
Some rules on colours used for shops can be weird.

In Silsden near me there was a case a few years ago when a cafe was banned from having varnished wood and told to paint the wood green or red or blue. All this despite the fact that paint does not stick very well to varnish anyway so would rapidly peel.

Painting timber or false frontages is not irreversible but if you paint stonework the paint can last a very long time; not overall but enough to let you know it has been there. Thirty years or more for all traces of paint to be erased from rough ashlar blocks. You see it on window sills many of which are painted where I live. Mine is the only unpainted one.
 
Probably need to remove the varnish by sanding or a varnish remover prior to painting. I can remember that the doors on my elementary school building were kind of a dark solid green, the same green found on steam locomotives. So perhaps in Silsden, they were aiming for that sort of effect -- a steam engine green, a barn red, and a Navy blue. Deep settled shades that wouldn't startle the senses.
 
Any glossy surface has to have the gloss removed, either chemically or by sanding, before painting over it. I'm still unhappy with the folks who first painted the varnished wood trim in my house, probably about 50 years ago, without cutting the gloss. Of course, the first coat failed, causing all subsequent coats to fail, too. The paint is still falling off in noticeable chunks. Of course, I wish the varnished oak with its, at that time, 40 years of accumulated patina had never been painted, so I plan to have it stripped, stained to match the tone of the remaining few inches of the original finish, then re-coated with varnish. Even if I wanted to repaint, it would have to be stripped first because the chipped spots are so deep that their edges can never be satisfactorily feathered to make them inconspicuous, and new chips fall off on a regular basis.
 
Have to agree with the naysayers, it looks horrible. Where I live we have some great architecture from Roman to Gothic to Saxon and medieval but it's spoilt by so called "Modern architecture" horrible buildings in bright greens and blues that look totally out of place. Prince Charles was right when he called it a carbuncle on our landscape. A shop being painted pink wouldn't inspire me to shop there in fact it would probably make me avoid the place. ( I hate pink by the way)
 
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