Editorial
They paved paradise and put up a parking lot With a pink hotel , a boutique , and a swinging hot spot Don ’ t it always seem to go That you don ’ t know what you got ‘ til it ’ s gone They paved paradise and put up a parking lot
We all know that song . Big Yellow Taxi . It ’ s a great song , and we ’ ve probably all sung it and quoted it and … And it ’ s a bit confusing . Thing is , I ’ d quite like to be where there ’ s a pink hotel , a boutique and a swinging hot spot . And I guess , if we ’ re honest , sometimes a parking lot is useful too .
But here ’ s the other thing , and this isn ’ t confusing . What I don ’ t want is another big Co-op . We ’ ve got a big Co-op . And we ’ ve got a little Co-op . And now what the Co-op want to do is turn the little Co-op into another big Co-op and … And no . Just no . They want to expand the Co-op by the roundabout , and that means taking over and taking out Latina and Seven Cellars . Do we want that to happen ?
The Co-op ’ s OK , but places like Latina and Seven Cellars are our community . I ’ m not going to use words like “ individual ” and “ quirky ” and “ independent ”. They ’ re more than that . They ’ re our community . They ’ re what makes where we live ours . Not only are they our community . Those buildings have been there since 1841 - and that ’ s extraordinary . That ’ s history .
Here ’ s another thing ; unless something or someone stops it , it will happen . The Co-op will take over Latina and Seven Cellars , take over the buildings and knock them down and
make a big , new shiny supermarket . And unless something or someone stops it , it ’ ll happen . And that someone is us .
I ’ m not advocating a boycott , I wouldn ’ t do that . I ’ m not going to shop there anymore , but that ’ s just my choice .
What can we do ? We can write letters . We can create a hashtag # stopsevendialscoop . We can Tweet The Co-operative Group . We can get some posters made - and we will . We can get some flyers made . We ’ ve got a voice . Let ’ s make it heard .
For more information , see the Whistler website - www . westhillwhistler . com
View From The Hill ... Nicholas Lezard
I
sometimes feel a bit of a fraud , writing for The Whistler , because I don ’ t live in West Hill any more . And even then I lived on its Western frontier , Dyke Road . I now live about ten minutes ’ walk away , off Montpelier Road . It is a testament to the editor ’ s commitment to free speech that he lets me write for this publication at all .
Life on the frontier was hard in those days , it ’ s why I moved . The worst thing was the regular incursions of raiding parties from Hove , who ’ d turn up in Mad-Max style customised Nissan Leafs and pinch all the best olives from Ricci ’ s Italian Deli without so much as a by-your-leave . Or should that be Nissan Leaves ?
I campaigned strenuously for armed border guards and tank-proof barriers , but you know what councils are like . They drag their feet until the problem sort of goes away . ( The last time I was up that way , the Seven Dials Co-op had been gutted . This completely freaked me out . The Co-op may not have been the loveliest supermarket in town , but it was very much the nearest , and the idea of having to another quarter mile down the road to the next one made me come over all faint . I hope it ’ s back to normal now .)
Hey , but we ’ re all still in the BN1 gang , right ? Well , I ’ m not so sure . BN1 is a funny old postal district , extending like a fan ( the kind you hold in your hand and flap to look coquettish , not the kind that goes on the ceiling ) from its southern border , a strip of land on the seafront that is many , many times smaller than the arc of its northern border . And it goes on for ages .
You ’ d think that everyone who lived in the same postcode would have a pretty common identity , but no . I remember looking for a flat when on the run from the maniacs in Hove – I ’ d crossed one of their warlords in a Nocarello olive deal gone wrong – and going miles up the Dyke Road on foot in awe at how suburban it became , and how quickly , when compared to the image of itself that Brighton likes to portray . A trip to Devil ’ s Dyke last summer really brought home to me how big , and how various , BN1 is .
I looked on the internet for a bit to see if anyone had anything to say about this unusual situation . I didn ’ t find anything pertinent , but I did notice on the Zoopla website that it pointed out that Brighton is in the county of Sussex , which is not news to me , and that Sussex has a population of 0 , which is .
I haven ’ t gone outside today so I can ’ t check whether this is true , or whether this is a cock-up from the website people at Zoopla . I hope it ’ s the latter because the editor is taking me to the Regency for lunch . ( The Editor also has a commitment to lunch ). If it ’ s the former , at least the pirates of Hove are no longer a worry .