- Saturday 11th June – Garforth In Bloom Summer Fair and Coffee morning from 10.00 -12.00 at The Welfare Hall – https://www.facebook.com/groups/36364579376/permalink/10154887886549377/
- Sunday 12th June from 10am – Pride and Produce are open, there first Sunday with a great Brunch menu – https://www.facebook.com/GarforthDeli/?fref=ts
- Sunday 12th June from 12.00 – THE BIG LUNCH at Kippax Welfare Sports & Social Club, Garforth Community Choir are also performing https://www.facebook.com/events/838148102955976/
- 13th-17th June -Scribblers Preschool in Garforth Squash Club have their open week read more- https://www.facebook.com/144842406026/photos/a.10150327313211027.345503.144842406026/10153628686551027/?type=3&theater
- Friday 17th June – August Court, Meridian Care home after a fabulous Blooming Great Tea Party in aid of Marie Curie and #carehomeopenday across the country from 2.00pm https://www.facebook.com/events/118941105194300/
- Sunday 19th June – Father’s Day – book in with our great local favourite http://www.la-bella-vita.co.uk/ From lunch time onwards, #lunch menu avilable
- Sunday 26th June from 2.00p, Leeds Central Corps of the Salvation Army will be playing at Lotherton Hall in front of the house, take a hair and a picnic and relax fort the afternoon until 4.00pm
- Saturday 2nd July – As there is no Garforth Arts Festival playground party this year, Garforth Main Street are putting on a festival – check out all the details from 9.30am – https://www.facebook.com/events/1601375280175860/
- Saturday evening 2nd July sees Three Sisters Supperclub come to Cielo again, want a ticket or two – https://www.facebook.com/TheThreeSisterspopup/posts/551143455057522
- Saturday 9th July – Pease are putting on a BBQ demonstration with Calor gas, giving out tasters supplied by Firth’s Butchers
There were a few interesting comments or themes from my first blog where, amongst other things, I asked ‘what would people like to see set up in Garforth?’.
Do residents of Garforth and the surrounding villages
· know what Garforth has to offer already?
· like what is already there?
· have a voice or say in what goes on?
As Rebecca from Dumouchel mentioned, I am a proud regular of their excellent (and internationally well-respected) patisserie. I made a conscious decision or commitment to support local businesses where I can, so no longer buying supermarket processed ‘bread’ was a logical place to start. It’s brilliant that we have such a special bakery/patisserie on our doorsteps, and I wonder how many people haven’t come across it yet (they’re in for a treat when they do).
The wide array of independent shops in Garforth is promising and there is huge potential for the town by attracting independent businesses to the area. For those that have seen Chapel Allerton and more recently Meanwood transform themselves into thriving local economies, I want this, if not better, for Garforth. Now Meanwood had the ‘Waitrose effect’ and whilst I’m sure lots of people don’t like nor wish to shop at Waitrose, it is like putting a huge set of floodlights around the town and saying move and invest here, and boy has it worked. There are restaurants, nice bars, pubs and shops (all independent) and 10 years ago, I don’t think you’d hear a soul saying should we go out for an evening in Meanwood, but that’s exactly what’s happening now.
Susan Taylor raised a very valid point in her comment about having a Wetherspoons potentially opening in Garforth. As a resident of Garforth I think this is a really bad idea and a worrying sign for our town. Cheap alcohol does, in this country go hand in hand with drinking to excess and attracting trouble. Along with alcohol, Wetherspoons also does coffee and food – all stacked up high and sold cheap, undercutting and damaging independent local businesses where there is perhaps a greater emphasis on quality. If Meanwood had ‘the Waitrose effect’, what ‘effect’ will Lidl and/or Wetherspoons have on Garforth?
I think that location on Main Street is prime, and if a great independent bar/ food business set up selling quality products, perhaps at a slight premium, it would complement Main Street rather than aggressively compete. Strong Leeds independents such as North Bar and Friends of Ham are spotting this same trend that casual out of city drinking and eating has potential. So rather than accepting whatever company takes out the lease, shouldn’t we as a community be working with our local councillors and become more proactive in identifying what we want across all business sectors? We’ve already seen multinationals take a hold with supermarkets and we’ve got a Subway and potentially a Wetherspoons, is this really how we want things to be in Garforth? What can we do to make Garforth more of a ‘destination’ and an even better place to live?
Prime locations on Main Street, perhaps unsurprisingly, mean high rents. This must undoubtedly stop several small enterprises setting up here especially when you add business rates into the mix (e.g. when combined, this can be in excess of £3k per month). I think that if we as a community had a vision for Garforth on how we’d like it to be in 10 years say and a plan to get there, we could, with the support of our councillors look to get discounted rates. Also if the community had a plan, we should be pushing landlords for perhaps more flexible leases, to ease businesses in and make that first leap perhaps not as daunting. Ultimately if the businesses that we want, come to Garforth, they’ll succeed, so it’s a smaller risk for the landlords and businesses alike.
Feel free to post if you have any comments on the above, it’s great to hear other views and if you’d like some extra ‘homework’ get your thinking caps on, as I ask “what’s your favourite pub in Leeds and why?”
Cheers, Phil
Until Next week….
Do it local in June.
Recent Comments