In October 2015, I wrote this article 1 hour? 3 hours? Parking Rules at Co-operative Food and Fryern Arcade in Chandler’s Ford.
Today I’m going to talk about parking in Hiltingbury.
We visited the bakery in Hiltingbury on Hiltingbury Road two days ago and saw these signs:
“Thank you for understanding and appreciating that the spaces outside the Bakery are for customers. Thanks.” This sign with a rather cute handwriting is stuck in the bush.
Two more formal signs are on the walls, one to the side of the shop, and one at the back of the bakery. I understood that these signs have been put up quite recently.
I came home and read the sign more carefully. This sign about parking enforcement is linked to a company called Parking Awareness Services Ltd.
Yesterday morning we went to The Picture Framing Shop further up the road, and before we parked, we saw a few signs, which were pinned to the yew tree. This tree has been famously mentioned in this article by Rick Goater about the journal of his grandmother, Joan Adelaide Goater: Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 3).
These signs have been there for quite some time. According to the signs, the parking is managed by UK Car Park Management.
There must be some reasons why traders put up signs like these. I believe they want customers to park there, and shop there. Imagine if many people park their car there at the few precious spaces, and then cross the road and take their dogs for a long walk around the lakes for hours. This misuse of the parking space is not going to help the local businesses there.
However there might also be negative impacts if these signs are interpreted differently by customers. Many local people visit the Hiltingbury shops to do a range of things, for example, to get newspapers from Andersons News, to get prescription from Day Lewis Pharmacy, or to get fresh produce from Bay Leaves Larder, or buy some bread and cakes from Marshalls Bakery and coffee shop. Customers might find it easier if they could park at any spare spaces available as the shops there are connected as a community in a way.
There are many cars in Chandler’s Ford, but parking spaces are always limited, and sometimes parking can be very stressful. I found parking at Tesco on Ashdown Road extremely challenging because I can’t park very well in tight spaces. I tend to walk whenever possible.
Finally I hope all of us continue to support our local shops and local businesses.
Do we need a parking permit to park outside the bakery in Hiltingbury?
Jocelyne,
I walked there the other day so I didn’t know if you need a parking ticket to park there, though the sign carries these words, ‘fully display a valid permit’. My understanding is that the parking spaces are for the bakery’s customers.
There has been quite a ot of negative response to Marshall’s parking signs……”I’ve been here 29 years….blah blah blah!” And on Facebook. I feel some sympathy for him, and the other shops. They are dependant on people being able to park, to pop in to get a loaf, or a prescription, or a paper. On many occaisions, there have been no spaces, and I’ve just driven on. I might go to Fryern Hill, or Asda. That will put Hiltingbury shops out of business eventually. And if the owners of the parked cars have gone off somewhere else, that’s really not fair.
Caroline,
Very well said, Caroline. Like you, there were a few times I couldn’t find a parking space and just had to turn back. I don’t know you could park behind the shops (or are the spaces behind the shops just for the owners?). It is important to strike a balance but it is not always easy – businesses need customers; people need parking spaces; parking spaces should not be misused; businesses should make people feel welcomed and shouldn’t put up barriers…… I don’t have a solution, and I may just try to walk more if I need to visit the shops there.
I hate to see the Yew tree covered in signs, which have been nailed to the tree – and which appear to be pretty unfriendly and not community spirited. That particular tree is such an icon of past Chandler’s Ford, that to me it seems sacrilegious to treat it so. It’s as bad as fly-tipping.