Keswick

KESWICK THROUGH THE SEASONS
I've lived In Cumbria for nearly 11 years, and I've been visiting Keswick on and off for more like 18, so I'm pretty familiar with the place by now. One of the things you notice is that during the tourist season all the shops are occupied with some business or other - some old, long-established ones (those these, sadly, are dwindling) and others belonging to optimistic enterprising souls hoping to start up the next Big Thing in town. A few of these survive but most vanish as soon as the tourists do.

When you visit Keswick in the winter there are always a number of empty retail premises, but in summer they're always in use. The only exception was 2001 during the nightmare year of Foot & Mouth disease, when visitors had to be discouraged from coming to the Lake District in case they spread the disease across the bare, sheep-free landscape.

EMPTY SHOPS?
OK. I've set the scene. Now, it's July, surely one of the busiest months for a town like Keswick. All the shops will be occupied, won't they? But they're not. Shop after shop is empty, with a 'To Let' sign on the window. It's eerie. There are plenty of visitors strolling around the market place with its fancy new tented stalls, but fewer shops for them to spend their money in. I wonder what's going on?