First of all, two apologies:
1. Sorry for using this blog for advertising.
2. Sorry for exploiting the squirrel.
But, since the poor animal died there has been a lot of interest and I notice the local paper has a photo special. A friend rang me to tell me it was discussed on the Wright Stuff. And then I saw on here lots of people posting about it.
So... I have commissioned 6 squirrel memorial shopping bags and 3 mugs. We put these in our window mid-afternoon yesterday (10 Nov) and they started selling straight away. So I have commissioned another 12 bags, but I can't get any more mugs.
If anyone wants any, we have them.
Again, sorry for using the blog for commercial purposes, but I saw a couple of people have seen our stuff and commented under "Sad news".
Jim, The Lemon Tree.
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Very Shrewd Jim :)
ReplyDeleteSonja
Thank you Sonja.
ReplyDeleteI have just been interviewed and photographed for the local paper about the bags and mugs! Look out for me next Thursday!
Jim
Publicity seeking businesses - and very good luck to them too!
ReplyDeleteHave just read on the Dorking Advertiser website (www.thisissurreytoday.co.uk) that the Natwest Bank in the High Street was raided yesterday (Thursday) afternoon at 2pm. There is absolutely nothing on the Surrey Ad, BBC and Surrey Police websites. Did it actually happen or was it a figment of the Dorking Advertiser's imagination?? As you might expect, the comments have been less than complementary about the police and how they have an innate ability to hide most crimes away from the public eye.
ReplyDeleteJuliet Bravo:(
Jim can we reserve these? I want one for my sisters Xmas present but can't pick it up till next Thursday.
ReplyDeleteAssuming the bank raid did happen is anyone else worried about how much crime is happening in dorking at the moment? Apart from the high profile stuff, the shops are reporting a massive increase in shoplifting according to the pcso's. I am feeling less and less safe in our town. Is anyone doing anything?
ReplyDeleteMore squirrel comment. Even in death the albino squirrel has attracted national media comment. In a slightly tongue in cheek manner it's untimely death was covered on the BBC's "Have I Got News For You" last night (Friday). They do say that all publicity eventually proves to be good, for Dorking's sake let's hope this is true.
ReplyDeletePepin
To the anonymous poster wanting one for his/her sister: yes we will be happy to reserve one for you, but I don't know who you are! Please call the shop on 888800 and let us know what you want. We now have the mugs back in stock as well as the canvas shopping bags. The shop is open 10-3.30 on Sundays as well.
ReplyDeleteJim
I've been in twice and there's never any bags or mugs in!
ReplyDeleteWe have been struggling a little to guage the quantities needed, but we have some of each in at present and have re-ordered (again), but without the R.I.P. on them, following customer requests.
ReplyDeleteSorry for any inconvenience!
Jim
Rumour has it that we are to get a replacement White squirrel from America!!
ReplyDeleteMore shop closures for Dorking:
ReplyDelete1) Bookends on the High Street is going to close are 28 years trading in Dorking. According to the piece of paper on the window, The Quilt Room is relocating to this unit from West Street.
2) Mitchells Fabrics on South Street is closing in the New Year as their lease in up on the shop.
3) Flavour (the newest coffee shop on the High Street) looks like it will be closing. Checked out the Martin Brown window and there it was. It is up for let and is the flat above.
4) Wine Rack on the eastern end of the High Street. First Quench has gone into administration and it looks like Wine Rack in Dorking will be no more!
5) The Quilt Room on West Street. Another empty unit on West Street as they relocate to the High Street.
6) Hasketts Tea Shop on South Street is up for sale. Shame the owners cannot spell 'Business.'
Still nothing happening with ex-FW Mays garage, Woolworths and the former Harley Davidsons Garage!!
Little Dudley House (ex-Pizza Piazza) is now open for business - looks very nice but it is very pricey! Blink (ladies clothing retailer) and Dare Hairdressing have recently opened and something appears to happening with the fire ravaged Ceylon Tavern on South Street. It has been cleared out and a planning application has been made to extend the restaurant into next door (number 53) which has been empty for years! A planning application has also been made for the former South Street post office to turn it into a 'upmarket takeaway.' What on earth does that mean? A kebab on a plate with a knive and fork perhaps...?
Any other news would be welcome.
DORKING Dave
Dorking Dave...remember the 'Dorking SOS Group' (sos being save our shops) formed to stop Sainburys relocating in the town to Mill Lane?
ReplyDeleteWell they did a pretty rotten job saving the shops which have been closing in droves ever since.
Now there is a proposal for another supermarket site on the edge of town and no doubt they will start protesting again - what planet are these idiots living on who claim Dorking will die if a supermarket (pretty small by modern standards) is built on the edge of the town?
Horsham, Cobham, Horley, Guildford, etc. etc. all have really big edge of town supermarkets and thrive by comparison with Dorking. Our town was once a superb place in which to shop, today it is declining rapidly, partly because of some very inept MVDC councillors who should get off the council as soon as possible - resignations would be welcome.
Care.about.dorking/Pepin, one and the same I believe.
ReplyDeleteI thought our thinking was together pretty much but, whilst a small supermkt on the fringe probably wouldn't make any difference, the only size that the companies will want is at least 2500sqm (L'head Sainsbury's size) which will be a certain drain on the centre. Why do that when an 'anchor store' of that size in the centre would revitalise the place, which you profess to want.
Comparing Dorking with Guildford and Horsham is useless because of the size and different/regional 'retail offer' of those places. Cobham likewise because the Sainsbury's there is a separate entity relying on the A3/M25 proximity and the village's shops cater for a more economically 'up-market' population area which is more able to support the type of shop there. Horley's supermkts are also based on motorway/dual carriageway access. I can't comment on its central area shops, not knowing what's there nor the nature of the area served.
It seems that SOS aren't the only ones to bury heads in the sand. It's the traffic issue which needs to be sorted out in Dorking to allow that centre regeneration and I do think there is a possible, indeed 'imperative', answer to that.
Ceebie...absolutely correct, I usually add Pepin at the end but forgot on that occassion.
ReplyDeleteI would love to see a Leatherhead sized Sainsburys in the middle of the town and that was precisely what Sainsburys were trying to do at St Martin's Walk - look what happened, every doom-monger came crawling to the surface to oppose them. Add to that the fact that SCC's highways department (the very people who seem to be trying to close Dorking down via traffic mis-management)killed it stone dead by claiming Mill Lane would be an insurmountable problem. I find this strange, the same Sainsbury lorries that currently service the existing store have to use Marlborough Road and Dene Street - are those people at SCC mad or what? Mill Lane is Dorking's own equivalent of a motorway by comparison.
You most certainly can compare the towns I mentioned, motorway proximity has little to do with it (if it did the you could equally argue that Dorking is at the intersection of the A25/A24 - pergect location. The Cobham Sainsburys, for example, was originally built because Sainsburys store at Burpham was being 'over-shopped' and they had to effectively split their own market. If you like I can provide a list of various other towns in the UK where edge of town works well with town centre - it would be a very long list with Stowmarket in Suffolk heading it - a similar town to Dorking (significant rural community) with giant Tesco/Sainsburys/Lidle/Aldi and Co-Op all serving the town and community which includes a thriving town centre.
Even Horsham is an interesting comparison to Dorking. 30 years ago Dorking was a larger town than Horsham. Today Horsham is far larger than Dorking yet retains all the charm of a one-time market town.
We can't go back to the days when there was a Dorking Urban District Council and Dorking & Horley Rural District Council which is a great pity - both were far better run than today's unified body and the councillors were far more knowledgable and willing to work for the area than the present crew, who are no doubt well meaning but pretty ineffective.
If Dorking wants a new supermarket (and I believe people do) then everyone is going to have to wake-up to the fact that a store the size of Sainsburys in Leatherhead is the absolute smallest they would even begin to consider constructing. Asthings stand at the moment that means either St Martin's Walk, and edge of town site or (and this is almost impossible to contemplate) you start knocking down houses in the middle of the town and have a total re-development.
Pepin
Hi Pepin, et al of course,
ReplyDeleteSteady on. Talk about knocking down houses in the middle of town and you'll have every worm out of the woodwork! Apart from which it's not at all necessary; see later.
The vast majority of people do know/appreciate that a 'Sainsbury's L'head size store' is needed; why others may protest is hard to fathom when the objective and professional studies all endorse the anecdotal evidence. And that's without even considering its massively beneficial effect on the central retail situation as a whole.
One could argue with points raised in your comparisons with other places; OK there are lots of differing factors involved, but we agree on the need and why it has to be in the centre. Also, of course, your first para is spot on.
(Pepin, is there any chance of discussing with you my 'solution' (would love it if it was) to the traffic issues? I think you'll know who I am through things I've put on here(and 'Cockerels'). If not check out dorkingabout.com and let's arrange 'a pint' somewhere.)
can someone remind me of the way into this blog - password etc? Obviously I can post a comment but it has nothing to do with white squirrels and I cannot start another thread without more access information.
ReplyDeleteThanks David N
Could this be why few people are using this blog? How do they know how?
ReplyDeletesign-in name is peopleofdorking@hotmail.com and password is blogblog
ReplyDelete