Barnard Castle independents - My Generation (From Living Northeast)

Barnard Castle independents - My Generation

1:41pm Monday 16th August 2010 in

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At the beginning of the year, the high street in Barnard Castle, Teesdale, was looking a bit sad – Shop For Rent signs and empty retail units were everywhere.

Now, with the opening of a wide variety of independent shops, it’s buzzing again.

Jenny Needham has a browse around.

OF the many new shops that have opened in Barnard Castle recently, the most unusual is probably My Generation. It’s a two-in-one business, Suzanne Thomas and her retro treasure chest at the front of the premises, young entrepreneur Emma Hedley and her Aladdin’s cave of jewellery and arty gifts at the back.

For years this was an electrical shop, and Suzanne and Emma hope they can plug into the current move towards more individuality and away from the dull sameness of today’s high streets.

Suzanne ran the Montalbo Hotel in town for six years, as well as having four children to look after. One of her daughters had severe ME and she was looking for something they could do together and not have to travel.

“We decided to focus on items from the Fifties, Sixties, Seventies and Eighties. Barnard Castle already has antique shops, but these are the antiques of the future,” says Suzanne. “People who have been buying stuff are people setting up home, teenagers who have seen things like these in magazines, and then there are the people who choose an era and furnish their whole house with items from it.”

Suzanne is keen that we should treasure our belongings more and is happy that there seems to be a definite move away from the throwaway society.

“Some of these designs are truly iconic designs that came out of that time. We need to get away from the habit of buying something from a big chain and replacing it when it falls to pieces after few years.” She points to a 1948 Bush radio in the window.

“I plugged it in and it worked straight away. There’s not a piece of modern equipment that you could turn on 60 years later that will still be working."

mirrors, crockery and pictures, the middle room is lined with vintage clothes. Suzanne will also sell clothes on commission. “The ladies of Teesdale have been clearing out their attics and bringing us in favourite pieces.

They even remember where they have bought them from which shows just how valued these pieces have been, and the kids are wearing them, which is lovely.

They just update them with a glass brooch or corsage or something.”

Suzanne also wants to teach the new generation new skills through workshops. “They took needlework out of schools, but we want to make it relevant to them. We thought, let’s get them knitting, let’s get them crocheting, let’s get them revamping their own clothes, but something that’s appropriate to them, something that’s a bit of fun.”

Customer feedback so far has been good – “people say they love coming into a shop where they can really browse – and Suzanne has nothing but praise for The Vision, the town’s controversial regeneration group, who have provided grants for shop fronts and other items. “Everyone thinks this has just happened and it hasn’t. In 2006 they produced a report called the Return to Distinctiveness and there’s no doubt the town did need changing. When I did my research for the shop, there were 12 empty units on the high street. That had never happened before. The Vision were there to turn to every step of the way.”

EMMA HEDLEY

EMMA Hedley met Suzanne when, quite independently, the two of themwere sorting out their business plans.

And if enthusiasm equalled profit, Emma would be raking it in. Fortunately, she also has a wonderful array of gift items to offer her customers.

“Everything you see in here is eco, vintage, handmade or fabulous,” she says. She sells jewellery, bags, purses, glass brooches, fairy lights and children’s play kits, some made by Emma herself, others by friends from university or local artists, “people I have met along the way”.

She must have met a lot of talented people as the array of gifts is stunning and unusual. For example, you can take in a pair of shoes and have them revamped to order to go with anything.

The price depends on the fabric. “They are going down a treat,” says Emma. Caroline Robson, from Bishop Auckland, who does the shoes, also makes Them Darn Things, cute little knitted animals.

Emma stocks Boho Raspberry bags and purses (made by a friend of her sister), sterling silver jewellery by American Rachel Hearne, wacky Hazel Bee cards and Mia Hague and Gus Little T-shirts, all artists Emma met at university. There are Eve organic body products, Cable and Cotton fairy lights – you get the cable, choose 20 coloured baubles and make it up yourself – and T-shirts you can have hand-painted or screen printed in a design of your choice. “People are also bringing in little dresses for their children and having them done,” says Emma.

There’s crystal jewellery by Barney girl Verity Naseby and – “oh, my God, you have just got to see these” – stunning necklaces by Irene Hoyles. “She makes them out of fimo. It’s like play-doh – you put it oven and goes hard. It takes a week to make a necklace like this, the patterns are so intricate,” says Emma. “She is going to come in and run a workshop. I can’t wait!”

Emma’s sister Joanna Hedley is also planning to do some workshops. She is a stained glass artist and has done windows around the area but also does cute little glass brooches and glass pictures of Marilyn Monroe and other stars. For upwards of £22, you can also take in your own photograph and have it crafted in glass.

Emma’s own jewellery is very eye-catching. One of her rings featured in Vogue in April and Lady Gaga has been spotted wearing one. And they’re only £12. Emma also makes thin silver bangles, from christening to adult size, which can be supplied with any message. “Dream big, little star” says the one in the display cabinet.

“I was always picking up bits off the beach and making things when I was little,” says Emma, who grew up in Barnard Castle. After university she worked for a high end jeweller in Manchester for three years, before moving back to the town to set up her own business.

“We are doing very well,” she says. “Everyone is so excited to have something really different in town.”

Emmahedley.com