Responses to Wincanton against Bruton

The Wincanton article had a strong response on social media. Some of it was corrective, most of it was affectionate, and the best of it was people telling me what I had left out.

The replies

One reader told me not to forget Wincanton's latest landmark. Another asked whether I had ever actually been to Camden. I have, and Camden-on-the-Cale was always meant to be taken with a pinch of salt.

A third pointed out that I would now be able to like a town I am actually from. I would like to state for the record that I have always liked the town I am from.

The Wincanton faithful were positive, with the fair caveat that the uplift is slow. It is. Slow is how this works.

One reader raised the better question underneath all of it: what is a celebrity, in the context of a small town? Someone from the public arena, or the local industrialists and personalities who actually shape the place? I think it is the second, and I think that is the more interesting list to compile.

To be clear

The original was saying that Wincanton is becoming a good place to visit and to live in. It was not saying Wincanton is better than Bruton. Towns eight miles apart are not in competition for the same thing, whatever the comments suggest.

The businesses I was told I had missed

This is the part that has aged best, so I am keeping it. These are the places readers named in 2017, on the town's Facebook page and elsewhere, in their words and mine. I cannot vouch for which are still trading, and you should check before setting off.

• Redfearns, South Street. An all-day restaurant and cafe, using local produce, with reviews that were hard to argue with. A reader pointed out the chef's background, including time on Saturday Kitchen.
• Divine Wines, High Street. The most established of the independents, with the best-looking shopfront in the area.
• Andrew Barclay's Butcher, High Street. A mainstay, and a favourite with locals.
• Chavela Mora, opposite the Memorial Hall. A hairdresser at the top of town, with a reputation for being genuinely friendly.
• The Nog Inn, South Street. The best roast in town at the time of writing, and mid-week events worth knowing about.
• Bootmakers, next to the post office, where the owners had restored the building to its former state.
• A bespoke tailor's, then being fitted out in the old HSBC building on the High Street.

Credit is also due to the town council, who were working steadily to bring in the kind of business the town needed. That work is invisible until it is done.

Businesses and the people running them are what make a town. That was the whole point of the original piece, and the comments made it better than I did.

First published in September 2017. Edited since: surnames have been removed from the quoted replies, the screenshots of those replies have gone with the rest of the images, the list of businesses is now explicitly dated to 2017, and the enquiry form at the foot has been removed.