What the loss of GBK reminds us
LAST week's closure of the Gourmet Burger Kitchen – although many older islanders will wonder how 'gourmet' can possibly be applied to a minced beef patty – has raised questions about the future of this important part of Town.
LAST week's closure of the Gourmet Burger Kitchen – although many older islanders will wonder how 'gourmet' can possibly be applied to a minced beef patty – has raised questions about the future of this important part of Town.
As the St Peter Port junior constable put it, 'It doesn't seem to be a good spot. That particular area needs to be reevaluated as to what business could go in there.'
The problems of GBK, however, appear symptomatic of the wider issue of the entire Town Markets. As a property restoration project, it has been a big success. Much of the historic building has been preserved and the steps and area outside HMV plus the pedestrianised Market Square itself are a handsome addition to St Peter Port.
But as an attempt to restore Guernsey's traditional covered market, it has been a disaster.
At a time when there is, rightly, growing interest in local produce and much more sustainable forms of food production, this island has engineered a situation where a once-thriving centre for the sale of fresh meats, fish and vegetables – and what was also a visible statement of the civic pride people had in local commerce – is now just a parody.
The keynote supermarket, music and clothing businesses that are there are good operations and Guernsey is pleased to have them – but they do not sit well in something called a market.
Anyone visiting Jersey's, a thriving Victorian building, will immediately, if they are above a certain age, feel a pang for what this island has lost.
And if busy, amply-supermarketed Jersey can sustain a plethora of stalls selling fresh produce, then surely Guernsey can.
The point here, of course, is that what happened to our market was nothing to do with trying to preserve the small-scale retailing of fresh foodstuffs. It was all about stopping an expensive and poorly maintained historic building from being a continuing drain on the budget of the then Board of Administration.
In other words, it was a property development answer to the wrong question.
And as a result, the loss of GBK reminds us that we have actually lost a great deal more.
