14th April audio transcriptions

Pedlar's

I'm Nick Pedlar, I'm a partner in business of Chas N Pedlar Son in Ilfracombe who have been established for 150 years nearly, and we've been in the same position here since 1880. I've been in business now in Ilfracombe for over 50 years, personally, and I’ve lived here all my life, so that tells you how old I am!

[BACKGROUND NOISE: OTHER CONVERSATIONS] I just love living here: sun, clean air, lovely buildings, and much loved by those who are still about. Now we're seeing many new people coming, and they're coming just because of the area and enjoying that as well.

Favourite thing about Ilfracombe? The scenery, the hillsides, the sea, wonderful countryside around us as well, but it still has a busy community, very much involved in many things as well, as a community it comes together extremely well.

Are there any improvements? Yes. Ilfracombe, certainly, in this day of the motorcar, more and more, we could, parking in Ilfracombe needs to be improved, and with that would come a 20% increase I think in our footfall in the high street. The town which has got, which is still a seaside town, has got very good shops and a very good high street, certainly from my point of view when I’ve looked around other parts of the country, Ilfracombe stands out as being quite a good area for shops.

What do I think of Damien Hirst's Verity? I think the workmanship on it is quite brilliant. I like the statue for what it is, I don’t necessarily think I approve of the content, however, as far as Ilfracombe is concerned, she's brought a lot of people here, [PHONE RINGS] and it is certainly changed the type of holiday-maker that has come to Ilfracombe as well.

Arabesque Dance Boutique (sneaky recording)

… just before easter, this year they opened three weeks before Easter, it says everything. And there's new businesses opening up down there all the time. All the galleries in Ilfracombe have opened, well most of them have opened since Verity went up. It had an effect.

DAD: I did hear the parking was up 30% during the winter months.

Oh it was, almost immediately. I mean, when they took her down overnight and she was led down on her back in the car park with a barrier around her and her legs sticking out of a tent, drew more visitors than I’d ever seen down there, taking photographs of her legs. Some people knock it, but it's had a positive effect. I've never heard anyone say “ooh I’m not coming because there's a naked woman!” Did you get all that?

Big Apple

My name's Philip Charaland (sp), I'm over 60, I've lived in Ilfracombe for 30 years, I'm not just a visitor.

What's my favourite part of Ilfracombe? It's the harbour, a historic place, very beautiful.

Are there any improvements? Yeah. We could sort of have some all-weather facilities, that would help holiday makers, because it's just impossible here during the uh, if it rains, there's nothing to do at all.

What do I think of Verity? I think it's great! It's contemporary of course, and it's topical, controversial, but it's um, Damien Hirst has made a valuable contribution to Ilfracombe and this statue is actually very stunning, it puts us on a par with the colossus of Rhodes. There's nothing quite like it is there?

Butcher [backGROUND noise, cars passing by]

Gay Lugsdun. I'm aged between 50 and 59, I’ve lived here all my life, born and bred here as well. Well, like you say, lot of people come in here visiting because of the actual scenery, the walks, the people, the pier, it's a beautiful place to come to, so relaxing.

About Ilfracombe, my favourite part, are the town, the tours – where you go walking – the harbour, just beautiful in the summer, in the winter it's just awesome.

There is a lot of improvements that could be made, hensely once again with the parking, its always a bugbear that is parking for holiday-makers, for people who come into town shopping themselves. There should be more bins here, collection should be made better. The shop fronts should be made to be cleaned up properly, its left a little bit tacky sometimes.

Personally my view is I don't find it attractive at all, Verity, but it is a fantastic thing for Ilfracombe, because its brought in customers and bought in holiday-makers, out of season times, a lot of the restaurants and guest houses and cafés have stayed open right through to November because of people coming here visiting, so whatever you think, whether its ugly or not, its brought a lot of people here to Ilfracombe, so it's fantastic it really is. So come visit 'combe, it's lovely!

Cinema [BACKGROUND NOISE – slushy machine]

I'm Emma Shawney, I'm 31. Yes I do live in Ilfracombe since the age of 12, I don't know how many years that is. It's peaceful in the winter, it can be quite boring but it's very peaceful in the winter. It's got gorgeous beaches and scenery. There's a hell of a lot of improvements, but the list is well too long in my head... there's a hell of a lot of things that can be improved with Ilfracombe.

I like Verity, I just think she's in the wrong place! I think she could do with being up on Hillborough, I think it's Hillsborough, by the swimming pool area, she would have been a good beacon thing up there, but I don’t think she'd be visited as much but she would be a really good thing in that area instead of down by the pier.

Estate agent

“Please circle your age” 50-59! “Do you live in Ilfracombe” Yes. “how long for?” 12 years. “What do you like about Ilfracombe?” It's a beautiful town, lots of friendly people, and a nice place to work. “Are there any improvements you think could be made?” Not really, there's the place is as it is, there's holiday season and a quiet season, and I don’t think there’s any improvements that need to be made. The Wetherspoons I suppose is an improvement but it wouldn't affect us as a business. “What do you think of Verity?” I haven't really got any views on that, it doesn't affect us and I think it looks hideous on the harbour, I think it actually ruins the view of the harbour.

Estate Agent

Right, well my name is Patsy Knott, my age is 60+, yes I do live in Ilfracombe and I’ve lived here for 44 years. “What is my favourite part of Ilfracombe and why?” I think Ilfracombe s a beautiful place to live, the scenery is fantastic, the people are really friendly and nice and to be honest I wouldn't want to live anywhere else!

I think there's certain parts of the town that could do with a bit of improvement. For example, I think the high street, you get one end where all the shops are occupied – fine – then you get another little but where they become vacant, and it just makes the town... not sort of flow, if you know what I mean. We are actually having Wetherspoons built now down on the front, which is fantastic because the Collinwood hotel was a bit of an eyesore. The council are now, or have demolished the bus station in ilfracombe which was another really bad part of Ilfracombe and that's all being done, so I think, you know, they're doing their best to bring the town up to a certain standard.

With regards to Verity, I think she's been amazing to the town. My daughter's father-in-law, he's on the council, and he is saying how much the car parking fees have increased, and I know from walking down the pier myself, there's always people down looking at Verity. When I’m doing my job as an estate agent I’m out around with people and it's quite interesting when you're in some properties that look down onto the harbour how amazing she actually looks. So, yeah, I think she's a good thing to have in the town, it's certainly brought a lot of tourism in and, you know, everybody knows about her.

I'll just tell you a little story: I was in America last year in a pub, as you do, and we've been talking about Verity to some friends we'd met on holiday, and the barman in the bar was doing an art degree and he knew all about Damien Hirst , and these people said to him “Patsy, she knows Verity because she comes from the town where she is”, and he could just not believe that I come from the town where Verity was and where Damien Hirst lives, so I thought that was quite interesting. So it is a world, well-known all over the world about Verity, so yeah, I think it's great.

Alan Jackson [MUMBLY, BACKGROUND NOISE]

Alan Jackson, my name. Uh, 60+ I’m afraid. “How long have I lived in Ilfracombe?” 35 years. Lets put it this way, I wouldn't live anywhere else. I can't put my finger on what it is, but it's just a lovely place to live. Any improvements? Yes, lots, lots and lots, but... Need things for people to do in the winter, long, long winters, quite a lot of young people around, nothing to do. There needs to be something more in the town for them, I don’t know what, but something. “What do I think of Verity?” I think it's the best thing that's happened to the town, really, to be quite honest. It's certainly done it no harm anyway.

Estate agent

I am 21 and I currently don't live in Ilfracombe, I live in Combe Martin. I've worked in Ilfracombe and been to school in Ilfracombe since I was about 11. favourite part about ilfracombe – not too sure about that one. The walks up around the hills are nice but Ilfracombe town needs a lot of work doing on it, it's looking a bit tired. I like Verity and Damien Hirst it's really good, a lot of people don't like it [PHONE RINGS] but I think it's definitely worthwhile.

[SNEAKY RECORDING]

I think it's very rough on the high street still, it looks really rough now, which is a shame, compared to what it used to be.

Dad: cos there's a lot of pound, charity-type shops isn't there, it could do with a bit of...

21: uplift

Other: some money spending on it.

Dad: Well, I suppose if he's investing down at the harbour, hopefully it'll have a knock-on effect.

Other: we'd like to think so.

21: we do have some smart galleries and that opening up now, haven't we? Which are nice, and shabby-chic shops, which I like. But a lot of them are complete and utter rubbish!

Charity books [BACKGROUND MUSIC]

Certainly 60+, try 84. I've lived in Ilfracombe 15 years, so came here to live. There are many things that are favourite parts of Ilfracombe, mainly the serenity, it's much quieter, we originally came from Birmingham – terrible place. So it's a much pleasanter place to live. Yes there are a lot of improvements that could be made, mainly the infrastructure of roads, predominately roads is one of the problems, and of course parking, which is a summer problem, basically.

I personally think Verity is an insult to Ilfracombe, because it's got nothing to do with Ilfracombe as a fishing town that it was. As an architectural piece of work it's very good, an artistic piece of work it's good, but totally in the wrong place, totally in the wrong town, and I wish it wasn’t there. It does obviously get a lot of money as far as I can see from car parking, people come and park, look at it and go, whether it helps the town financially, I’m not sure.

Shabby-chic shop

I'm Jade Chaper, and I'm 18. I do live in Ilfracombe and I've lived here for about 13 years. What my favourite part of Ilfracombe is... the scenery, there's nice views, but there's a lot of improvements that could be done, it could be a lot cleaner. And my opinions of Verity is it's quite nice, but I don't see the point of it being there, but it's something else for the visitors to look at.

Dad: do you think it's made a boost to tourism or anything like that?

Yeah, a lot of people come here to look at Verity. It's alright, I don't really see the point but it does bring a lot more people here, it's something to come here to look at.