AN EVENT designed to reveal the history of shops and their buildings in the city will take place next month.
The 2023 Heritage Open Days has been organised by the Salisbury Civic Society and takes place on Thursday, September 7 and finishes on Sunday, September 10 building upon the successful open day which took place in 2011.
The open days will offer self-guided walks around 20 shops and each shop will have a poster indicating its participation and providing insights into the history of the building and its changes in use over time.
One of the event organisers at the Salisbury Civic Centre, Janet Draper said: "We chose the title "All Change" because often people feel the high street is dying, but we should expect things to change and that is what the shops are illustrating to us."
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Salisbury’s Market Place was laid out in the initial town ‘plan’ and was originally much larger than the centre known today. Shops moved from stalls to more permanent buildings and some people lived ‘above the shop’, and businesses encroached upon the market space.
The development of specific areas for goods and services reflects this – consider Fish Row and Butcher Row.
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By generating awareness of the historic shops, Janet hopes it will help to highlight changes in shopping habits and economic activity while encouraging people to come along and see how Salisbury businesses have changed over time.
The map can be downloaded from the Civic Society website but is available in hard copy from the Library, the Tourist Centre, and the Museum. Each shop will have a more detailed story of its past which will be available in hard copy and is also available to download via a QR copy at the shop itself.
There will also be a talk by local historian and former Mayor, John Abbott on Thursday, September 7 at 6.30pm at the Methodist Church on St Edmunds Church Street.
The talk is entitled ‘All Change on the High Street: Glimpses of Salisbury’s Past' and there is no need to book.
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