EXCLUSIVE: This thriving medieval market city boasts round 500 listed buildings and dozens of impartial retailers, with a refreshing group spirit.
The thriving medieval market city boasts round 500 listed buildings and dozens of impartial retailers (Picture: Andy Stenning//Each day Categorical)
Stroll down virtually any British excessive avenue in 2026, and the story is similar – boarded-up home windows, “To Let” indicators, and the hollowed-out stays of once-thriving department shops. As on-line giants proceed to eat away at our purchasing habits, the normal city centre is usually written off as a relic of the previous, struggling beneath the burden of sky-high rents and dwindling footfall.
However nestled within the Shropshire hills, close to the Herefordshire border, the medieval market city of Ludlow is tearing up the script. Whereas the remainder of the nation mourns the dying of the native store, Ludlow is definitely busy, boasting over 70 impartial companies that are not simply surviving – they’re thriving. From artisan butchers and centuries-old retailers in timber-framed buildings to quirky new boutiques, Ludlow has managed to maintain a way of group that a lot of the nation has misplaced.
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Jodie Deakin of Eclectica, who additionally serves as chair of Ludlow Chamber of Commerce and Commerce (Picture: Andy Stenning//Each day Categorical)
Tish Dockerty is a accomplice of appleTeme and manages the Ludlow Native Produce Market (Picture: Andy Stenning//Each day Categorical)
In contrast to different cities, comparable to Shrewsbury, Ludlow is just not a Enterprise Enchancment District (BID), defined the chair of Ludlow Chamber of Commerce and Commerce, Jodie Deakin, who additionally owns the native impartial enterprise, Eclectica.
“We’re an entirely voluntary chamber, so we are able to adapt to what’s wanted,” Ms Deakin advised the Categorical. “We’re over 100 companies sturdy and have every thing from retail companies like mine to skilled companies like solicitors. Our membership is a whopping £50 a 12 months,” she added, whereas in Shrewsbury BID voluntary membership is upwards of £240.
Ludlow Citadel and its grounds are a key attraction, and plenty of lovely buildings line the principle purchasing streets, with round 500 of them listed. It’s the predominant market city in south Shropshire and is a thriving centre with a mixture of impartial shops, boutiques, pubs and eating places. The market sq., simply in entrance of the citadel, is residence to common markets providing a variety of native produce, together with the Ludlow Native Produce Market, held each second and fourth Thursday, managed by Tish Dockerty.
“Every thing that is offered is both made by the individual on the stall or the person who’s promoting it, to allow them to let you know the way it’s made,” added Ms Dockerty, who sells her appleTeme apple juice from her personal stall.
Bodenhams is the oldest retailer in Ludlow, becoming out the women and men of the city since 1860 (Picture: Andy Stenning//Each day Categorical)
One factor that’s clear in Ludlow is the sense of group and the way all of the native impartial companies work collectively to maintain as a lot commerce as potential inside the city.
“There is no competitors [in Ludlow],” Ms Deakin stated. “Our ethos is ‘If I can not have your pound it is positive as properly going into any person elses – [Jeffrey] Bezos has acquired sufficient. We attempt to hold all of it in Ludlow and advocate. The identical is true of hospitality, when you cellphone someplace and so they have not acquired a desk, right away it’s going to be like, ‘You fancy a little bit of Mediterranean meals? That is the opposite restaurant on the town can do this.’ I believe that is in all probability why we’re profitable as a vacation spot.”
Ludlow Chamber of Commerce and Commerce has additionally coordinated an ingenious loyalty card scheme for its impartial companies: “For those who store in any of the taking part retailers, you get a stamp. After which when it is full, you hand it in. We do not police it. Then, 4 occasions a 12 months, so quarterly, we do a hamper draw, so three hampers at a time, and it is filled with stuff from the taking part store and it’s our method of claiming thanks to people who select to buy.”
One of many taking part retailers is Bodenhams, a family-fun enterprise housed in a 600-year-old constructing within the coronary heart of the city since 1860, making it one of many oldest shops in Britain. Owned by many prestigious Ludlow households, William Bodenham acquired the store. Handed down instantly by means of the Bodenham household ever since, the present homeowners are Roger and Monika Curry.
Lynne Morgan’s ‘Lume of Ludlow’ solely opened on March 16 this 12 months (Picture: Andy Stenning//Each day Categorical)
Keely Simpson took over The Wool Store in January 2025, which has been open since earlier than the Thirties (Picture: Andy Stenning//Each day Categorical)
Whereas a few of Ludlow’s companies have been round for hundreds of years, new ventures are simply as welcome. Lynne Morgan opened her impartial enterprise, Lume of Ludlow, only a few weeks in the past. For Lynne, organising her enterprise in one other city was by no means an possibility.
“I’ve lived right here all my life, this has been my city since I used to be a child,” she advised the Categorical.
Serving to one another out is a part of the “energy” of Ludlow’s chamber, Ms Deakin added. “Lynne wished some recommendation on until programs [when she was setting up her business] and Monika was very glad to assist after which when her printer wasn’t working, Monika supplied to type it out.
“We have a WhatsApp group […] and we frequently get folks asking to borrow, for instance, a rail for an occasion. It is actually useful – you possibly can at all times choose somebody’s brains.”
Guests ought to come for the citadel, however keep for the city, Ms Deakin stated (Picture: Andy Stenning//Each day Categorical)
As new companies open, others change palms, respiration new life into decades-old retailers. Such is the case for Keely Simpson, who took over The Wool Store on Broad Road in January final 12 months, which has been providing the folks of Ludlow a big selection of wool, cloth and haberdashery merchandise since earlier than the Thirties.
Ms Simpson commutes day by day from Dudley to Ludlow, having seen the store on the market when she and her husband visited: “I’ve at all times been artistic. I beloved Ludlow anyway and I simply went ‘I can do that and I stop my job and acquired a store'”.
Below its new administration, The Wool Store now hosts knitting and crochet workshops and plans to launch some stitching ones too, that are nice for locals, Ms Deakin added.
Ms Simpson additionally caters to vacationers, too: “One factor I did usher in after I opened the store is introduce Shropshire wool as a result of vacationers had been asking for it […] it is good to cater to everybody.”
Whereas Ludlow Citadel often is the key vacationer vacation spot, Ludlow itself and its plethora of impartial companies typically find yourself stealing the present, Ms Deakin revealed: “One of many issues I at all times say, when you come to the citadel, keep for the day, as a result of we’re a vacationer vacation spot – there’s a lot to do.”
Ludlow Citadel was one of many first stone castles to be in-built England (Picture: Getty)
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