Tower and Town, December 2020

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The Marlborough High Street Project

A major national u3a research project has been launched, aimed at finding out how Covid-19 has changed the shops in our high streets. The project was initiated by Peter Cox of North London u3a who was interested in comparing today’s high streets with those of the past. The coronavirus pandemic caused a refocus and a need to gather information as soon as possible to include what was there before the pandemic.

Project teams from across the country are recording today’s details of properties along their local high street including photographs of shop fronts, pubs, restaurants and other premises. The intention is to visit the same high streets in 18 months to note what changes have taken place.

The results will form a landmark report for publication to coincide with the 40th anniversary of the U3A Trust in 2022. u3a in Kennet has registered for the project and a small study team has recently completed the baseline survey. The team have collected details of each building in Marlborough High Street and have fed them into the national survey. 

Having supplied information to the national survey, a small group is currently considering how to extend the work to form the basis of a locally-led project specifically for Marlborough.  The scope for this is currently being decided.  Ideas include expanding the study to include all the town centre, publishing a guide to Marlborough, or linking with other projects like the currently suspended Oral History project or working with other local groups.

If you are interested in local places and would like to get involved in this very interesting project, more information can be found at www.u3ainkennet.org.uk/marlborough-high-street-project-launched/.

David Hammond