Honiton - then and now

Roger Marks

Why would anyone, with a choice of living almost anywhere in England, Wales, Scotland, Europe even, opt to live in Honiton? Well, for me it wasn’t to be Bournemouth, Barnstaple or Berlin but rather a return to my home town of Honiton – as I love to say, the centre of the known universe. (OK, slightly biased there, I must admit!)

Honiton is now, I contend, far superior to the town it was 50 years ago, when I left. I wonder if folks agree.

These days it boasts a theatre, an indoor heated swimming pool, an art gallery, a ballet school, football/cricket clubhouse and grounds, golf course and clubhouse, rugby clubhouse and pitches, new hospital, new surgery, two first-rate gymnasiums, a museum and a library.

There is an ever-expanding industrial estate creating employment opportunities, and many of the big players in retail are present including Tesco, Lidl, Aldi, Marks & Spencer, Co-op and Spar supermarkets. There are motor-car sales franchises for Vauxhall, Toyota, Peugeot and Renault in the town, so perhaps no need to go to Exeter to buy a car.

On the leisure side, we have a developing ‘café culture’, with tables and chairs flowing out on to the pavements and giving a welcoming, continental feel to the place.

We have a Wetherspoons, which makes life tough for our pubs, and a Premier Inn, which makes it tough for our hotels. Many pubs and hotels had already withered away, but the fittest survive.

Other major pluses, I feel, are that we have kept our railway station, where others have closed. Our bypass (which I worked on as a 16-year-old) and A30 dual carriageway link to the M5 have improved communication.

Perhaps best of all, we have the new headquarters for the East Devon District Council. This seems only right to me, as Honiton has long been an important borough and parliamentary constituency, and is the natural centre of East Devon.

The population of Honiton has increased roughly threefold since I left. I believe it was about 4,000 then and is around 12,000 now. This dynamic of growth is the magnet that attracts businesses to establish themselves here and I guess this is why we can enjoy the presence of the likes of Homebase, Greggs, The Factory Shop, Superdrug, Specsavers, WH Smith and many others.

If I may indulge my particular interest, rugby, I have to say that Honiton RFC winning the national knock-out competition at their level, known as the RFU Senior Vase, in 2019 was astonishing.

In so doing, they brought huge credit to the town, beating the likes of Penryn, Chesham and Portsmouth and others on their way to defeating Northallerton (the champions of the North) in the final at Twickenham.

This is the kind of thing that really puts a town on the map. They often run several age-group-based youth teams – great for character-building and team spirit among the young.

The reduced number of public houses is noticeable, but it can be attributed to the evacuation of the army battalions that were based at Heathfield Camp. I confess that I was not displeased about that because, as a long-haired teenager, I was beaten up by groups of inebriated soldiers on more than one occasion.

I think that their departure made the town infinitely more attractive to incoming homesteaders and businesses. There was suddenly an enormous increase in speculative house-building where, prior to 1960, there had been only council-house schemes initiated by the then Borough Council.

As a town, we have held our own, even stolen a march on our neighbours, over the last few decades – we are the centre for a large area, and people that I know from towns like Ottery St Mary, Sidmouth and Axminster come here to shop.

So, to summarise, let’s keep pushing, let’s build and keep growing as a commercial and cultural provider, with all the activity and vibrancy that go with it.