Making the most of the gateway to the Lakes

That town is Kendal, which attracts high praise for its proximity to the Lake District, artisan businesses, cultural offer and ease of access to the rest of the UK.  

A survey carried out by Westmorland and Furness Council this year of 234 Kendal businesses found that two thirds felt fairly or very confident about the next 12 months, while figures from the council also show the number of empty shops has dropped to 15 per cent from 18 per cent last year.  

However, it is taking time to recover from the pandemic, with footfall figures for 2023 topping 2019 for the first time at 1,997,000 but still lower than 2018 when they were over two million. 

Those who live and work in Kendal also have a wish list of improvements they would like to make to secure its future. 

As in-Cumbria went to press people in the area were being given the chance to put their views directly to Westmorland and Furness Council as it conducts an early consultation on its first Local Plan, which will attempt to look ahead to understand the needs of the area and its people over the coming 20 years and allocate sites for housing and other developments. 

"It's such an important process and it will help shape the future of what the town looks like in 15 to 20 years so it's an exciting time,” says economic development officer Ruth Leahy.  

"We want to speak to the bigger businesses, we want to speak to traders, we want to speak to shop owners, we want to speak to residents and visitors are welcome to engage as well.” 

One of the groups which will no doubt have an opinion on what should feature in the Local Plan is Kendal Futures, a private and public sector partnership founded to act as a conduit connecting businesses with the local authority so they can work together. 

In 2019 the organisation carried out a series of public meetings before publishing its Kendal Vision in 2022, which is intended to be a high-level document which can inspire and guide local authorities and others in their decision making.  

Ideas included reconfiguring the one-way system and creating the much-discussed northern access route from the A6 to the A591 to remove traffic from the town centre.  

This is alongside ideas to improve the public realm, such as bringing more trees and greenery into the town centre, the introduction of more cycling routes and reorganising the public transport network.  

The latter could include moving the bus depot out of town to reduce its impact on traffic, integrating Kendal train station with the bus station to create a transport hub and even adding railway halts on the existing Lakes Line from Oxenholme to Windermere to give people easier access to the centre from outer suburbs. 

"The simple mantra for me is that if you want to make a place better, you make it better,” says Kendal Futures chair Mark Cropper. 

“You don't just draft a plan to make it better, you actually physically change it one stone at a time.” 

As well as his work with Kendal Futures, Mark is chair of James Cropper Plc, in nearby Burneside, one of the area’s biggest employers, which is mainly known for making luxury papers, as well as fibre products for myriad applications. 

The Vision played an important part in a joint application from Kendal Town Council, Kendal Futures and Westmorland and Furness Council, which attracted a provisional award of £13.5m from the previous government’s Levelling Up fund.  

This money is earmarked for projects including regenerating the Market Hall, Market Place and Kent Street as well as repurposing the Westmorland Shopping Centre to create a third campus for Kendal College. 

The college completed the purchase of the upper mall in the shopping centre in January this year, bringing 400 students and staff into the town centre on a daily basis. 

As the chair of one of the town’s largest employers, Mark says the most pressing issue is maintaining a working age population. 

“The average age of population in Kendal is 10 years above the national average,” he says.  “Public and private sector employers are already finding huge issues to fill vacancies to the point where some are saying they are not going to grow their business in Kendal. 

"I don't think we need to be afraid that some of our youth wants to go away and work elsewhere but we need to have an offer that attracts youth from elsewhere in return.” 

He says part of this attraction needs to come in the form of affordable housing. 

"If you follow a chain of logic, the best way to provide affordable housing is actually to have that in town centres, not detached houses or semi-detached houses that require cars.” 

In common with other Cumbrian towns, Kendal puts great stock in its regular festivals, the most famous of which is Kendal Mountain Festival, which takes place each year in November. 
However, Kendal Business Improvement District is also hard at work organising its own festivals throughout the year, which include Kendal Music Festival, in October, and its Family Festival, which took place last month.  

The latter involved activities like crazy golf taking place in the town’s famous yards.  

The BID also helps other festivals with administrative tasks such as supporting road closures.  

BID manager Peter Brendling is a local businessman himself, having owned and run the Bakehouse bakery in Blackhall Yard before closing the town centre premises to run it as a mobile operation selling baked goods at events, a decision he made in order to better balance work and family life. 

He says one of the BID’s aims for the future is to continue to help businesses work more closely together.  

"We appreciate it is a difficult thing to do because everyone gets their heads down and thinks about their own business, but the more businesses network together and work together, it's going to help everyone," he says. 

This could be particularly effective regarding supplying events, where a number of high street businesses could collaborate. 

"Rather than seeing everyone else as competition it's about seeing them as people that can actually help your business and work with you,” he says. 

Ultimately, he says the BID would like to see a visitor centre established in the town, telling the story of the town’s culture and history to act as an attraction to tourists travelling to the Lakes. 

(Image: Geri Ward)

One business owner who has made a major investment in the future of the town centre is Geri Ward, the owner of the Spinning Jennies collection of business units, which opened on the corner of Finkle Street this year. 
Part-Cumbrian Geri, a former captain in the Army, worked across the Middle East, Africa and Europe training leadership skills before returning to the UK where she has been involved in various ventures, including running a hotel in the Western Lake District. 
“My inner core is in retail and if my middle name was anything it would be Selfridges,” she says.  
Geri and partner William were on the lookout for a project when they came across the opportunity to buy the former Beales department store, which closed in 2020. 
“Gradually the idea formed of making it into smaller units for independent shops selling predominantly Cumbrian products so it became a destination experience to eat, meet and shop in the South Lakes’ principal town,” she says.  
A year ago, Geri was joined in her mission by Paul Tidswell, who previously worked for Booths supermarkets and then ran operations for the Westmorland Family group of businesses, which includes Tebay Services. 
The Spinning Jennies project is intended to be a sustainable destination where local businesses can operate retail or hospitality ventures, or outlets which can be run directly by Paul and Geri to showcase Cumbrian products for makers who benefit from being surrounded by others. 
It consists of nine shop units at street level, three of which are currently in use, one being houseplant and pots shop POW Plants with FETTLE Body and Soul next door selling a locally made range of skin and hair care products as well as scented candles and other items.  
Wine bar 5 O’Clock Somewhere operates at one end of the site and in May farm shop A Day’s Walk opened, selling a range of Cumbrian food and drink.  
POW Plants is due to move into one of the larger units with the space it currently occupies being taken over by another trader. 
There will also be a Cumbrian lifestyle shop, PENN, selling clothing and accessories from over 35 local makers. 
The team are planning to open a champagne bar with a food offering on street level and then a food hall on the upper floor.