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The Sun
04-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Sun
We live on hill made famous by iconic advert – but it's flooded by tourists playing theme tune… they think we're actors
RESIDENTS living on a hill made famous by an iconic advert have described how tourists have flooded the area, playing the ad's theme. Locals living along the cobbled Gold Hill in Shaftesbury, Dorset, made famous in a beloved 1973 Hovis advert, say visitors even peer into their homes, thinking the residents are actors. 6 6 6 The ad, which has been voted the nation's all-time favourite in the past, has lent its name to the street, which is sometimes still referred to as "Hovis Hill". Thousands of tourists flock to the famous spot each year, but some locals have had to deal with peculiar interactions. Visitors have been said to come up the hill whistling the theme tune from the advert, or even play it on their phones, with some pushing a bike too in order to recreate the ad. Retired GP Nigel McKee, 67, has had his cottage on the street since 2013, saying he bought the property for its location. While he says there's a "fantastic view" living on the hill, he admitted that tourists were "a bit annoying" at first, when he moved in. He said: "At first people looking in the window was a bit annoying but you get used to it after a while. "It is romantic - and everyday you hear somebody coming up the hill whistling the tune from the advert. "People seem surprised that people do live here. There was a German tourist once who said 'do you live here?' and I said 'yes' and he said 'in Germany you'd get paid to live in a house in a tourist brochure'." Tristan Greatrex and his partner Melanie Fontana moved to Gold Hill over five years ago after finding the setting "jaw-dropping". He said that tourists don't believe they live there, adding: "They often ask if we have got gas and electricity - they must think we live in the dark ages, it is just amusing. Anti-tourist mob attacks holidaymakers with water guns as they vow Spain faces 'long hot summer' of protest carnage "You see the tourists walking up the hill looking down the advert to Hovis on their phone and recreating it - it is nice that people do that." Melanie, in her 60s, said that tourists must think that the houses are either "empty or staged". The couple own two cottages, one being their home and the other a recently set up holiday house. Despite the strange interactions with some visitors, the couple still enjoy living there. Melanie explained how respectful tourists are at the site, adding that she wanted other people to have "the joy" of discovering Gold Hill. Hovis' advert, which featured 13-year-old child actor Carl Barlow pushing a bread-laden bicycle up the hill, was recreated 44 years later in 2017 by the same actor. The ad was voted the nation's favourite of all time, even being spoofed by The Two Ronnies five years later. Director Ridley Scott oversaw the ad, which sees the bakery boy free-wheeling down the steep hill after making his delivery. While some residents are annoyed by the tourists, many others have embraced the hill's rich history. One local in the past even set up a bike outside his home for tourists to use as a photo prop, or to recreate the advert. 6 6 6
The Herald Scotland
28-04-2025
- Entertainment
- The Herald Scotland
The BBC, bias, and what happens next with the licence fee
However, the bigger picture with shows like The Apprentice is that, even though they're still being made, the viewing figures are nowhere near what they were. Partly, it's because more people catch up on iPlayer, but even when that's taken into account, people just aren't watching terrestrial TV as much as they did. It was starting to change in 2010, but even so those shows were still a big shared experience for a lot of us. Not any more. You'll know the reason if you have anyone under 30 in your life: they don't watch telly. A YouGov survey in 2022 found fewer than one in 20 of 18-30s watch live BBC on a daily basis and more than a third never watch it and I know this from my own experience: my god kids would no more think of watching a programme live on the BBC than they would think of putting a 33RPM on the gramophone. They're on their phones and their computers. The BBC in particular knows this puts its future at risk which is why they've been particularly targeting the 18-30s. The writer Russell T Davies was recently brought back to Doctor Who to attract a younger audience and one of the ways he's tried to do it is by foregrounding progressive politics and messages. The problem is it hasn't built the bigger audience: the viewing figures have continued to fall and it matters because Doctor Who is a very expensive programme to make. The other issue is that it's not just the young ones whose habits are changing. I grew up in the 70s and 80s and am very much a child of the BBC: Blue Peter taught me how to make things, John Craven told me what was happening in the world, Doctor Who made me scared and The Two Ronnies made me laugh; about 90% or more of my cultural life was the BBC and that continued into my forties. Other than newspapers, I got all my news from the Beeb. But just like the youngsters, the phone has changed my habits. In the old days, I would stick on Radio 4 all day; now it's more likely to be a podcast. As the BBC has tried to attract a younger audience, the subject and tone of a lot of its programmes has also stopped appealing to me. What do I still watch? The Apprentice, as I said. Have I Got News For You. QI. And it's no coincidence that those shows are all more than 20 years old. On news, it's the same: my days used to start with Today on Radio 4 and end with Newsnight on BBC2; now I dip into various other places all day on my phone and computer instead. Whenever I do catch the TV news, it looks terribly old-fashioned and clunky. The BBC has also suffered in the age of programmes and podcasts that are much more open about their views. You may remember Scottish nationalists gathering at the BBC in Glasgow to protest against what they saw as anti-SNP bias; Question Time also regularly attracts nationalist anger based on a suspicion the audience doesn't reflect the 'real' Scotland or is packed with unionists. What helps the BBC is that you're just as likely to find angry viewers who think it's too soft on nationalism. The bias is in the eye of the beholder. Read more None of this is new of course: the BBC has always been accused of bias of one form or another. But it matters more now because viewers who are fed up can go elsewhere and find some sort of media that gives them what they want; media that aligns with their values to use that awful phrase. It reminds me of the woman I saw on Twitter complaining that she was so sick of right-wing bias in the BBC she was going to subscribe to The Morning Star. In other words, it wasn't objectivity she wanted, it was bias that was the same as hers. What all of of these factors have done is they've created a pincer movement on the BBC and started to make it look very old-fashioned, and the BBC knows it, and the politicians know it. You may have seen the Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy saying this week that the licence fee was unenforceable and no option was off the table on a possible replacement. 'We recognise there are problems with the licence fee,' she said. 'Fewer and fewer people are paying it.' Ms Nandy's particular concern is that action to enforce the licence fee seems to disproportionately target women, particularly vulnerable women, and it's borne out by the figures and it's troubling. But increasingly, in the age of Netflix and other streaming sites, the whole idea that you must pay the licence fee and you might go to prison if you don't has started to look like something from a previous age because it is. Even in 2010, when I was writing reviews of I'm A Celebrity and Britain's Got Talent, it was starting to look unsustainable. (Image: Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy) Now 15 years on, the pressure is almost overwhelming. A number of my friends and family have told me they've stopped paying the licence fee, in some cases because they've got young kids who don't watch, in other cases because they prefer media that feels closer to their own worldview. And I must say it's crossed my mind as well: I've gone from someone who watched little else but the BBC to someone who watches hardly any of it, so why am I still paying? These shifts are fundamental, and the point for the BBC is that they aren't going to turn around. Russell T Davies, who's a brilliant writer, is doing his best to get the 20somethings interested in Doctor Who but they've glanced up from their phones and said: nah. Older people have also embraced other media and are drifting away too. Ironically, the only part of the audience that's stayed loyal are the over-75s and a lot of them don't have to pay the licence fee. So we know where this is heading, right? The previous Tory government grumbled about the licence fee but did nothing. Now the current government is muttering about no options being off the table. Meanwhile, viewing figures continue to fall, demographics continue to change, and the time that the licence fee has left continues to run out. Just for your information, I do still pay mine because, for now, I want to watch The Apprentice and Have I Got News for You and QI. But £174 for the privilege has started to feel like a lot, and I don't know how much longer it will go on. Will I stop paying the licence fee in the end? Yes, because we all will.
New European
28-01-2025
- Business
- New European
A nation of shoplifters
'Or maybe the thieves need padlocks to secure all the stuff they've stolen?', quips one of his workers from the other side of the shop. Padlocking the padlocks is just one of many measures Mackay has had to take in the wake of fairly relentless attacks by criminals in the last couple of years. He refuses to call them shoplifters. 'It's a word that makes it sound as though it's a lesser crime,' he says firmly. He prefers 'shop theft'. At first sight, this may look like a genteel ironmonger of the type immortalised by The Two Ronnies ' 'Four Candles' sketch of the 1970s – indeed Ronnie Barker was a customer of Mackay's – selling balls of twine, dustpan and brushes and 3p nuts. But it also sells serious and expensive kit, including £450 drilling machines and £541 ladders. Power tools were stolen in the most costly recent raid, with £4,000 worth of kit taken from near the front of the shop by a team of three men, who used pliers to cut through the security wiring attaching them to a display stand. 'They probably stole the cutters from us,' Mackay says wryly. His humour fails him, however, when he explains the financial and wider impact the crimes have on his business. 'They are professional thieves, who are organised and determined. And on average you have to sell another 12 of those items just to make your money back.' That's because profit margins are low in hardware, as in most retail. 'It's just a massive additional cost to business and a huge disincentive to trade in the way we do.' A lot of stock, even basic screwdrivers, are now security locked to the shelves, other products are stored in closed cabinets, and some of the most expensive items, such as power tools, have been moved to behind a counter. All of this means the traditional experience of wandering around a shop and discovering a great little tool or gadget is fading. 'The whole atmosphere and ambience of what we are offering is diminished. It's very sad,' he says. Mackay's despair is shared by many shopkeepers up and down Britain – from those running their own corner shops to those in charge of large chains. A House of Lords inquiry in November found that shoplifting is at 'unacceptable' levels nationally. The crime is vastly under-reported and the problem is so urgent that police forces need to take 'immediate action', the House of Lords Justice and Home Affairs Committee concluded. How bad is it? The British Retail Consortium is due to release its annual retail crime report on January 30, and the figures are likely to show 'a dramatic worsening on last year', according to a source. A year ago, it reported the overall cost of retail crime had almost doubled to £3.3bn. This included £1.8bn of goods stolen and £1.2bn spent on crime prevention measures, such as increased security guards, body-worn cameras for staff or reinforced glass around the tills. Shopkeepers have always had to contend with a bit of stealing – what the trade euphemistically calls 'shrinkage'. But nearly all retail bosses say it has become significantly worse in the last couple of years. 'When we first came here, we had four or five incidents a week, now we're finding it can be as many as four or five incidents a day,' says Benedict Selvaratnam, 40, who has been a shopkeeper for 20 years and has run his family business, Freshfields Market in Croydon, for eight years. It is a classic convenience store selling fresh food, toiletries, household cleaning items and the like. 'What I am facing in Croydon town centre is the worst it's ever been.' He says violence towards staff is becoming an issue too. 'It's really disheartening – not knowing how bad each day is going to be, not being able to leave staff members running the shop alone.' He used to employ three staff each shift, but this has now increased to four or five, to increase security. 'We're losing hundreds of pounds a week and thousands of pounds a month, and that's not including the money we've spent on various security measures. We spent £10,000 on security glass around the till area, because we were being jumped.' That has proved only a partial success. 'About three weeks ago a group of about 10 school kids managed to get their hands behind the security glass and nick a few hundred pounds worth of buzz vapes [disposable ones].' Another retail euphemism is 'defensive merchandising' – the tactics retail bosses use to deter criminals. At Morrisons there is a 'buzz for booze' button, which customers have to press to unlock high-value spirits; Aldi resorted to putting up signs at some of its stores: 'steaks available by request'. Similarly, at some outlets the Co-op has taken the £4.50 jars of instant coffee and £2.75 packs of Lurpak spreadable butter off the shelves, replacing them with signs saying: 'If you require any of these products, please ask a member of staff. Sorry for any inconvenience.' Even more drastic is when you stop selling an item. That's what Selvaratnam has had to do with baby formula. 'Baby formula kept being nicked, so it was just easier for us to de-list it,' he says, using the term for no longer stocking an item. 'It's really sad – if you're a young mum and it's nine o'clock at night and you need baby formula, we have to let her down, unfortunately, because we can't afford to keep it because of the shoplifters.' What's driving such high levels of shoplifting? The fact that necessities such as butter, coffee and baby formula are being stolen suggests that the cost of living crisis has caused a lot of desperate consumers to resort to crime. Donald Nairn, 50, the owner of Toys Galore in Edinburgh, say:, 'Saying it's [because of] the cost of living crisis is just a cop-out. It's criminals taking advantage of the police not making it a priority. They've worked out that it's an easy way to make money. Toys Galore is an old-school toy shop in Morningside that has been targeted a couple of times in recent months, with one incident just before Christmas involving the manager being attacked, leaving her with bruises. 'It's definitely got worse in the last six months or so; it used to be quite trivial – junkies stealing to get their next fix, but now it's far more organised.' His view that organised gangs are behind a lot of the crime is backed up by experts. Prof Emmeline Taylor, professor of criminology at City St George's, says: 'We now have completely brazen thieves. They're not trying to hide things in their pockets. They're walking out with a trolley full of goods.' Taylor spent time with offenders to find out more about their methods and motives. 'The criminals run it like a business. At the moment it is a low-risk, high-reward enterprise. Once it goes back to being high-risk, low-reward, they'll go back to stealing freight, counterfeit tobacco and the like.' The reason it is low-risk is that the police are just not interested, according to shopkeepers. 'They don't attend 70%, 75% of the incidents when you call them,' says Selvaratnam. Back in 2023, the Co-op submitted Freedom of Information requests to all police forces. Two-thirds of forces replied, and the information revealed that in 71% of cases where police were called to a store, they did not respond. 'And, when you are being confronted by someone possibly violent, you can't necessarily get on the phone to the police, who may or may not come. It's just not practical. It's just not worth the time and the effort,' Selvaratnam continues. And the reason it is high reward is because criminals can offload their stolen goods more easily than ever. 'It used to be the case that they would go down the local pub with a bin bag, or sell it at a car boot or market stall. But there are now far more digital avenues,' explains Taylor. 'If someone is selling five packets of Persil washing powder on Facebook Marketplace or eBay, I think you can be fairly certain that's stolen goods.' When it comes to fresh food, such as cheese and steaks, these are often sold to unscrupulous retailers or restaurants prepared to turn a blind eye in order to source cheap stock. She adds that most thieves can receive one-third to a half of the retail price for any item, depending on the quantity they have. Taylor says that though the bulk of crime is being committed by gangs, there is a lot by individuals stealing to fund their drug habits. 'One offender I spoke to needs £500 every day just to fund his habit,' says Taylor. 'If he's getting just one-third of the retail price, that means he needs to steal £1,500 of goods. If you think about this happening up and down the country, that's an eye-watering sum of money.' Those with substance abuse addictions tend not to use a 'fence' to sell their goods. 'There's a woman I have come across who takes in stock at the back door of her flat and sells it out the front door. In some cases, the thieves stay with her and the rent she charges is stolen goods,' she adds. The rise of middle-class thieves plays a role too, thanks to the prevalence of self-scan tills in shops. 'People use ideological justifications – 'I'm not paid to work in Sainsbury's, so why am I doing this checkout that somebody used to get paid for?'' Taylor explains. 'What's really interesting is that there's been a shift: it used to be shameful if you'd stolen a bottle of olive oil from Sainsbury's. That's certainly not something you would ever tell your friends or family about. But it's almost become a bit of a sport – 'you won't believe how I put some salmon through as bananas!' There's a certain pleasure that's derived from it. As criminologists, we know that a lot of crime is done through that sort of pleasure-seeking, voluntary risk-taking.' One in eight adults (13%) said they had selected a cheaper item on a self-service till than the one they were buying, according to a recent poll conducted by Ipsos. Regardless of the type of thief, all retailers point to a failure by police to take the crime seriously enough. Part of the problem is that following the 2014 Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act, shoplifting was, in effect, downgraded. Any offence where the items were valued at less than £200 would be tried in a magistrates court with the punishment liable to be, at most, a fine. Andrew Goodacre is the chief executive of the British Independent Retailers Association (Bira). 'Why have we got this industrial scale of stuff going on? The mixture of the lack of police and then the lack of prosecution. It has made it look like an easy crime,' he says. Stuart Rose, the chairman of Asda and former chief executive of Marks & Spencer, said in an interview last year that shoplifting had become virtually decriminalised. 'The authorities just do not take shoplifting seriously. Forty years ago when I was a manager at Marks & Spencer Marble Arch, the police would turn up. Now they don't even answer the telephone.' The new government announced that it intended to reverse this £200 rule in the King's Speech last year. In November, the policing minister, Diana Johnson, confirmed the move: 'It is simply not right to leave business and retail workers at the mercy of criminals. We will therefore remove the £200 threshold and treat shoplifting with the seriousness that it deserves.' At his shop in Cambridge, Neil Mackay is dubious this will help. 'The last three home secretaries have all said the same thing. It doesn't change the fact that the local priorities are set by the local police and crime commissioner.' Some police forces have started to invest time and resources in tackling shoplifting, notably in Sussex, where the police and crime commissioner, Katy Bourne, has insisted retail crime is worth taking seriously. 'My view is that shoplifting is a gateway crime. Pretty much every criminal starts somewhere, and they usually start shoplifting,' she says. 'If you don't tackle it at source, when it starts to happen, it will increase.' Even an 85p Mars Bar? Yes, she insists. 'It comes with fear for the shopkeeper, for the shop worker, for the members of the public who have witnessed it. On the other side of the coin, for the person who has stolen, if they don't get challenged, if they don't get reported, they get more emboldened, and that forces them on to more criminality.' One of her solutions has been to make it far easier for shopkeepers to report shoplifting, by using a secure messaging system, similar to WhatsApp, which allows retailers to upload CCTV pictures. 'We've taken it down from being half an hour to literally taking them two minutes to do. It's almost at the touch of a button. It goes straight into police systems. There's the report done, then get back to work.' The downside of making it easier to report, she acknowledges, is that crime figures will go up. But she says she's relaxed about that as long as the police can then focus their efforts on catching the serious and repeat offenders. She was also instrumental in setting up Operation Pegasus, a scheme initially funded by a group of big retailers including Tesco, Primark, Aldi, B&Q and Co-op, which has tried to crack down on the worst of organised criminal gangs – defined as those working across different police forces. It started operating in the summer of 2024 and involved retailers and police liaising more closely, sharing CCTV footage and analysing data. It has had some early successes, with 93 offenders arrested. So far, 32 of the 93 arrested offenders have appeared in court, and five have been deported. 'I'm delighted,' says Bourne. 'It's absolutely making a difference. We've seen that with the number of arrests coming through.' It is also proof that with a concerted effort some criminals, at least, can be stopped. But without further serious improvements many retailers say the depressed state of the high street is only going to get worse. 'I really worry for the next generation of entrepreneurs and businessmen and women who want to open a shop,' says Selvaratnam. 'Why would they take on a business on the high street, with all the costs of business rates, rents, when they have to physically protect their stock and man their doors because the police may not come when people brazenly come in to steal their stock. Why would you take on that aggro?' Indeed, Donald Nairn who runs the toy shop in Edinburgh is questioning whether he will renew his lease when it comes up for renewal. 'It does suck the fun out of it. It means you have to treat everyone who comes into your shop as a potential criminal. And that's horrible.' Harry Wallop is a journalist, broadcaster and author
