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Volume 47 | Issue 2
Includes puzzles! Tuesday 29th October 2024
Film | 29 Sport | 37
Leamington Spa a student ‘ghost town’
The terrifying effects of Halloween
Inflation has been hitting chocolate hard this year Finance | 14 » Image: Flickr / Leo Reynolds
US election Boarlletin
“I view Harris as a little smarter than I used to” — Ben, swing-state student voter
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» Image: Flickr / Vince Reinhart
Beyond the finish line:
Black athletes who changed the game and the world Sport | 38 » Image: Martin Day / The Boar
Decisions by Warwick District Council have sparked concerns from students and residents oyal Leamington Spa, with
Sebastian Smith, he/him Head of Business & Sales
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its regency architecture, the 19th century bathhouse, museums, and quaint little parks, has enjoyed a steady history of curious visitors. It is home to many a Warwick University student, Warwickshire locals and business owners, and 10 different high streets that, like many similar parishes, represent the lifelines of the Warwickshire town. But with the ebb and flow of tourism and funds in the post-COVID tumult, the high streets now, for some, represent a new, sobering reality. What exactly Leamington can do about
this new reality still appears to be up for discussion. Seventy-one. That amount represents the total number of closures seen in Leamington between 2020 and 2022 as COVID gripped the UK, noted by the Leamington Observer. Despite a small boom in beauty-related services, Leamington lost 18 retail outlets and 34 clothes shops, the latter of which represents an 18% fall. There was even a 9% drop in food service businesses, going against the 4% rise seen nationally. That’s 71 altogether – all for a town not even
one-third the population of Kensington and Chelsea, the smallest borough in London.
“There’s nothing that really makes Leamington unique”
— Dhruv, third year student
Some locals have been particularly sensitive to the symptoms of high street decay. A recent Daily
Express article by Alycia McNamara featured Elaine Fitzpatrick, who runs a local flower shop in Leamington. She echoed the dire sentiment, referencing the boarded-up shops on the high street as taking the blame for what appears to be a large cut in tourist traffic, and as a result, the shop’s earnings. “There’s nothing to entice everybody into Leamington anymore.” A third year Warwick student, Dhruv, who spoke to The Boar agrees. “I agree with [Alycia]. There’s nothing that really makes Leamington unique.” And in dis-
cussing with him the presence of the chains such as H&M and Starbucks, he sees them as counter-productive to what has generated Leamington’s organic appeal. “You can’t rely on these chains and a sort of ‘Londonisation’. Lean into the small-town selling point.” What’s more, the tourists that do end up coming, writes McNamara, reportedly ask what exactly in Leamington there is to do. Other than have a gander and a trip to the park, Elaine and her sister Linda don’t have much to recommend.
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