CHAIN REACTION!

There's nothing new about struggling high streets or large brands breaking links between communities and their independent sellers... unless you happen to live in Bridport, where centuries-old businesses flourish alongside retail giants. So, how do they do it?

- By Toby Codd

LOCATED a mile and a half from the glorious Jurassic Coast is a high street scene that inspires delight rather than despair among locals. “If you can’t get it in Bridport, then you probably don’t need it,” Ian Bark beams, as he proudly shows us round the beloved town where he used to be mayor.

While struggling shop after struggling shop closes on high streets up and down the UK, this little market town in Dorset is somehow bucking the trend. And in an age of the same big brands — from Greggs and Costa to Nando’s and McDonald’s — seemingly staking out every town centre from Inverness to Penzance, in Bridport it is independent businesses in particular that continue to thrive.

Independent businesses made up 7,800 of the 13,500 stores that closed down in the UK in 2024. A further 15,000 are projected to shut this year as retailers struggle with increasing costs.

But in Bridport the picture is far more rosy. More than 200 independent shops cater for its 8,000-strong population — and even the competition from 35 national chains hasn’t proved detrimental.

On South Street in the vibrant town centre is the Bridport Tourist Information Centre. It’s here, on Bucky Doo Square, that we meet Councillor Ian Bark, who was the town’s mayor four years ago.

“In 1253, the town was given its Market Charter,” he explains. “Before that, King John commissioned Bridport to create as much rope and net as it could for his navy.”

Ever since, Bridport has had a long association with ropemaking. The first football net, invented by John Brodie in 1889, was made in the town. Wembley’s goal nets used during England’s 1966 World Cup victory were also made in Bridport, as are the nets currently used in the Premier League and the Wimbledon tennis tournament. Today, there are still nine businesses in Bridport that make rope and nets.