EndofanerAASdevelopersclaimthelastPffieriesoatcake shopCouncil proposals to demolish a traditionalbusiness ignite debate about regeneration

byJamle Dowardand Domlnlc Slmpson

It has been serving up an authentic tasteof Britain's industrial past for almost acentury but the world's last traditionaloatcake shop in Hanley, Stoke-on-Tren!a family-run business that operated outofthe front room ofa terraced house, isto close.

Oatcakes - pancake-like wrapsmade from oatmeal - have been servedthrough the frontwindow ofthe end-of-terrace house since the l92os, butownerGlenn Fowler, who has run the Hole InThe Wall business for 3O years, has soldthe shop to Stoke-on-Trent council.

The council plans to demolish thesite under a regeneration scheme thatwill erase much of the area's Victoriancharacter. "It's very sad. It's the last oat-cake shop that serves out on to the pave-ment. The people who come here are notjust customers, they're friends," Fowler,61, said.

More than 5,000 people signed a peti-tion to save the shop after news of itspotential demolition fi rst materialisedfour years ago

"The council should hangtheir sorryheads in shame," one person posted onthe shop's online guestbook.'Your oat-cakes are head and shoulders above anyothers in Staffordshire."

Another said: "Progress is a goodthing, it's such a pity that it is at the sakeof our heritage and tradition."

Fowler said: "They've just knockedplaces down and there's no sign of any-thing being put up. A customer passedthe comment: 'If Hitler had bombedthis area, he couldn't have made a big-ger mess."'

The shop's closure at the end of thismonth has triggerred questions abouthow to best redevelop Britain's indus-trial inner-city areas.

Tristram Hunt, the local Labour Mpand historian, said he was concernedthat the regeneration ofthe area failedto recognise its historic importance.

"There's no doubtwe've knocked downtoo much of the cityt fabric," Hunt said."The threat is that we just end up with carparks and Tesco. This is still one of thegreat cities ofthe indusrial revolution.,'

Doug Wardle, of the City CentrePartnership, a body that focuses on theregeneration of Stoke-on-Trent, said he

Owner Glenn Fowler bakes oatcakes atthe Hole In The Wallshop ln a terracedhouse. Photograph by ChristopherThomond

was concerned that too many of its oldterraces were being knocked down.

'nVe feel that buildinp of that nature- like the Hole In The Wall - should beretained to give the area some character,"Wardle said. "People travel miles to shopat it - it's a thriving business. We wantmore businesses like that, not less. Theregeneration of the city is going aheadand I'm not opposed to it. But why doaway with all the historical links?"

Prince Charles has even raised con-cerns about the demolition of terracedhouses opposite the MiddleportPottery- which is nowbeingtransformed byhisPrince's Regeneration Trust - to make i

way for gardens and parking spaces.The council has said the properties

have been too neglected to save andthere are concerns that many are builton old mine shafts and are blighted bysubsidence.

Councils like Stoke are struggling tofind the cash to regenerate inner citiesafter the Pathfinder schemes estab-lished under the previous governmentto develop blighted areas were scrapped.But others are hopeful that the transfor-mation of some of the most neglectedparts of Stoke-on-Trent will become aboon for the Staffordshire conurbation,which comprises six towns, includingHanley.

The development of the EmmaBridgewater factory is cited as a majorsuccess story, while several ceramicsfi rms specialising in supplying the hoteltrade are now takingon staff.

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