'Preserve Pulborough's identity!'

A number of organisations are in an on-going struggle to preserve the character and appeal of the village against a background of supermarket dominance, shifting traditional businesses and the loss of historic buildings.

Many local stores have closed over the past few years and two supermarkets on the outskirts of the village are threatening the viability of those that remain.

Corden's Pharmacy is moving from Lower Street in the heart of the village to the new Health Centre next to Tesco's and Pulborough Medical Group's decision to move has caused anger and concern.

The elderly are especially worried about how they will make the long trip on foot up Church Hill to the new premises.

Chairman of the Pulborough Society, Anne Ball, has lived in Pulborough for more than 25 years, but said: "In many ways I am still a newcomer.

"There are people living here whose families go back many generations.

"A handful are left who have vivid memories of Pulborough supporting an almost entirely rural way of life with shops and merchants providing everything people needed."

When Mrs Ball first moved to the village, she said, Pulborough retained something of that way of life.

"Lower Street was thriving; it included a general store, a hardware store, a pharmacy, two butchers' shops, a greengrocer, a wet fish shop, a bakery, a laundrette, an old fashioned sweet shop and newsagents, a traditional cobblers, flower shop, a hotel, two pubs and a travel agency."

The village also hosted an annual carnival which helped bring the whole community together.

Today , however, the picture is very different, and, while change may be inevitable, it does not mean that local communities can have no say in that change or that the pendulum will not swing back to a more locally-centred way of life.

A recent Government-commissioned report said that "Local, independent stores are the glue that holds communities together".

Pulborough is embracing this ethos. The village, through the efforts of many, is fighting back.

To find out more, don't miss the February 21 edition of the West Sussex Gazette. This also includes a 'My Pulborough Then and Now' bygones feature.