In his latest column for Radstock Nub News the Mayor, Rupert Bevan writes:

Whilst many of us are 'confined to barracks' awaiting the next development in the complex Covid-19 saga, time we have, thrust upon us, to consider many things. Unlike Lewis Carroll's walrus, our thoughts won't be turning to cabbages and kings and whether pigs have wings, but the more prosaic questions concerning Radstock and our future in the town.

For one thing, the townscape is going to look somewhat different. The demolition of the old Co-op is scheduled for early in the New Year, so the first glimpse of Radstock that motorists catch will not be the tired old store which looks as if it has been filched from some American Cotton Belt township, but the generously wooded scenery concealing the Wellow Brook and landscape beyond. The planned new buildings are much more in keeping with the architecture of the old town.

For better or worse the new surgery will grace the open ground in Waterloo Road. So many people will benefit from the services on offer that it will serve to give the town greater significance at a time when it has suffered somewhat from declining patronage.

Here now comes the much-needed impetus to inject life and love into the town. Wouldn't it be good to see some useful businesses opening up such as an artisan bakery - and a butchery to fill the vacuum left by the impending departure of the existing one? Even a sensible clothes shop would be welcomed. Why travel all the way to Bath to buy a pair of socks?

I believe that Radstock should aim for self-sufficiency and that we should encourage neighbourhood enterprise by shopping locally when we can.

Rupert Bevan