Westminster Diary (Kenilworth) - 15th December 2005

Thursday, 15th December 2005

I have a confession to make. I hate Christmas shopping. I enjoy giving and receiving Christmas presents, but the process of obtaining them fills me with dread. It may be my imagination, but the major shopping centres seem more crowded every year and the browsing and buying is therefore progressively less pleasant.

Our ever more commercialised Christmas has its dangers too, quite apart from the risk of overlooking the point of the holiday in the first place. The pressure to buy more and more for Christmas is as great on those who cannot afford it as on those who can. For some, a happy Christmas may be followed by a miserable New Year when credit card bills for presents they could ill afford arrive on the doormat.

However, the purpose of this article is not to deter you from spending money. In a sense, just the opposite. As I have said before on these pages, I believe that thriving shops, particularly smaller independent retailers, are vital in improving Kenilworth town centre. A good and seasonal example of this is the High Street Christmas lights we all enjoy, which would not be there without the support of the shops in that area. New civic buildings will help, but the main reason people will want to come to Kenilworth and spend time here all year round will be inviting shops, cafes and restaurants. If the local economy is doing well, the town looks better and feels a nicer place to live, so we all have an interest in supporting it. To that end, I have a suggestion. We are all going to be buying a number of Christmas presents in the next few days. If every one of the 23,000 residents of Kenilworth bought one of those presents in Kenilworth, the town’s economy would receive a huge boost and traders, on whom we rely to keep the town centre attractive, will have a happy Christmas themselves. What I am really suggesting is that when we consider a Christmas present, we also consider a better future for those who buy and those who sell in Kenilworth.

So why not buy one of your presents in Kenilworth this year? I know that Kenilworth shops will be pleased to see you.

To those of you organised enough to have done all your Christmas shopping already, I congratulate you, I envy you and ask you to bear my suggestion in mind for next year. Finally, I wish you all a Happy Christmas and hope that you like what Santa brings you, wherever he bought it.

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Updated on Thursday, 15th December 2005