In the popular imagination, this is an affluent haven where those who have made their pile up in town settle down to enjoy easy afternoons on the golf course and go on from there to polish off a four-courser in the nearest bijou bistro.
And nowhere seems to fit this description better than Walton-on-Thames. Even the name suggests cricket, a village green and something out of Three Men on a Boat. All of which can be found if you look hard enough, but is still quite a long way from the reality. Because at the heart of this small very suburban town is The Heart.
This is a new shopping development that wouldn’t look out of place in somewhere with a considerably more contemporary reputation than Walton. It is not big. One main, covered, curving walkway plays tricks with coloured light and there’s hardly a straight line to be seen.
On its exterior is a secondary pedestrianised area with a curved street that mimics the mall’s internal geography. Here, names such as Boden and Planet serve to create a shopping thoroughfare that may be bang on the local target demographic, but which is not sleepy or provincial in feel. The aesthetic is more Islington than Isleworth, Virginia Water or Walton-on-Thames.
Shena MacDonald, chief executive of Planet’s parent Jacques Vert, chose Walton as a Planet kinda town – the store opened here last week. And just as this small, leafy place is obviously in transition, so is this a brand that is seeking to raise its game – and Walton is seen as a good place to do this.
Our concentration and preoccupation with the UK’s larger metropoli means that we frequently overlook some of the better things that can be found elsewhere. MacDonald says that suburbs are fine places – and they are; that’s why people choose to live in them rather than enjoying the fashionable grime of the city centre. And more retailers might do well to recognize their potential.
A lot of people who live in dormitory towns tend to stay within their locale from day to day – and these same folk have deep pockets. Just because it’s a suburb, it doesn’t mean that Walton should be any less interesting than higher-profile locations. It isn’t and the retailers that have recently chosen to set up good-looking outlets in its centre have added to its manifest attractions.
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