The impact of the Lorries upon the Brewery itself also influenced its downfall, for not only were they able to transport large deliverances, but being brought to the island directly from the mainland also meant they would do just this – bring with them alternative beers. This, for obvious reasons, soon meant the brewery had a lot of competition, for people had a choice of which brand of beer to purchase, depriving the Brewery of its former ‘monopoly’ position in island beer trade. Previously being the only beer supplier of the island, the Brewery had had a certain power in the security that people of the island had no other choice but to drink Mew Langton’s beer, and so had choice and control over its price ranges, service, distribution etc. However now it had competition, and so was put it in a less dominant position, for in the eyes of the customer it had standards to live up to, in its comparison to its rivals.
Subsequently, this is where fashion influences came in – for not only were cheaper, foreign beers now being offered, but new trends were setting examples; and it had become ‘fashionable’ to drink not only these new ranges of beers, but to also turn to other alternatives. Fine wines and spirits are an example of these, and with the variety and society now creating a more modern-image of the new options, the brewery had a lot to live up to – in retaining customers to purchase their product, and more importantly, contend with the trend.
One other causation of the decline of the Shephard Movers and the Rope Store was the introduction of National Grid. This was a company set up to provide electricity, supplied from the mainland, to destinations all over the UK, the island included. Before this had been set up, coal had been imported to the island from Newcastle, entered the River Medina by barge, and then delivered by the Movers to the power plant. With the launch of National Grid, however, electrical power no longer had to be created on the island, for it was now being supplied from the mainland, which evidently meant coal no longer had to be imported. As a result of this, the Rope Store was soon deprived, yet again; of business for the coal barges were no longer necessary. Likewise, the Shephard Movers also lost business, for the similar reason that their service was no longer required in the deliverance of the coal from the Quay to the power plant – a final step in the decline.
By the 1960’s, Mew Langton’s had managed to maintain a respectable amount of outlets in town. However, in 1965 the brewery got taken over by Strongs of Romsey, the largest brewery in Hampshire, in an attempt to protect local trade – and with the downfall of Mew’s still proceeding steadily, being bought out by a larger, more experienced company was perhaps the only rational option. Then, three years later the incidence reoccurred when Strongs itself was then taken over by Whitbread’s, a national brewery based in Watford, again out-sizing Strongs. This monopoly-like situation eventually led to the largest company (i.e. Whitbread’s) taking over and having in its possession the majority of breweries and pubs in England, and as a result of this, it was then enabled to raise the price of its beer, nationally. Because Whitbread’s was such a large firm, any competition it had would have been greatly out-competed, and so companies such as Strongs were generally left with no other option but to sell up. Only firms large enough were able to advertise their company by way of the television, which had only started becoming more commonly owned after the war in the 1950’s – and it was by way of these adverts that Whitbread’s became more and more popular. Being such a huge company itself, Whitbread’s soon decided that the Isle of Wight brewery was of inconvenience and little use – being so distantly situated – as they already had more productive, and more conveniently dispersed outlets. The brewery and warehouse soon became near to derelict, being used for nothing more than storage purposes – for the buildings themselves being listed made it unattainable for alternative, more constructive uses to be made of them that would have required reconstruction. This would have posed a problem, had not a ‘mysterious fire’ broke out in 1979, completely demolishing the brewery warehouse, and leaving Whitbread’s with the insurance money, as well as the enablement to sell off the land.
Overall, I feel my conclusion is drawn to hold technological advancements, and hence the developments made in transport as the major basis for the decline. The new transportation methods were, from my point of view, the initiators of the majority of the other reasons for the decline, and most certainly long term causes. Had roll-on-roll-off ferries not come into use, then neither would that of the Lorry on the island; and resultantly the introduction of new, foreign beers to the island would not have been so easy to accomplish, if possible at all, and so the initiation of Mew Langton’s competition on the island wouldn’t have come around. Albeit changes in fashion were always going to be an affector on whatever the situation, these were in no way as long-term causations of the decline, for fashions are always changing, and only affect a certain percentage of people at certain times at any rate.
The Lorries also proved a more convenient method of deliverance – of goods that had been brought straight from the mainland – therefore depriving both the warehouses and train company of principle, for the Lorries had managed to cover both company’s purposes in one. This again demonstrates how the introduction of a single vehicle was capable of disabling both these businesses. The Rope Store slowly descended out of business for obvious reasons down to transport, in that both the Lorries and ferries combined managed to deprive the River Medina of barges, and soon enough, deprive the Rope Store itself of purpose.
For these reasons, it can be seen that developments in transport managed to play a role in the down-bringing of each of the Quay businesses, whereas other decline causations, for example the changes in fashion, only affected certain Quay buildings. Additionally, once the developments had been made, there was no turning back to earlier transportation methods, clearly showing how, as well as effective in the down-bringing of all businesses, the causes were long term.
Today, the Quay has been completely regenerated and serves for many different purposes than what it did years ago. Much of the original building does in fact still remain, due to the Quay being listed – however, the majority of these remains do not actually hold a functional purpose other than to conserve the building’s character.
The main building – as was once the Brewery warehouse – now serves primarily as the Quay Arts Centre, and poses solely for leisure purposes; consisting of art galleries and exhibitions; a theatre, in which performances and live entertainment is provided; classes and workshops, which are open to the public to participate in; a café; and of course a gift shop. The Rope Store building, consisting of three separate floors, correspondingly serves for three separate purposes – that of the first floor being used as an art gallery, the third as a dressing room for performers using the theatre, and the middle floor as a meeting room for the Quakers. These are a religious sect which doesn’t refer to a church as a place of worship; and so they pay for access to the building and hold regular meetings there as an alternative. They use the room as would be used for an untailored gathering and together pray and hold discussions, whilst imposing no disruptions to the rest of the building’s activity – which in turn provides promotion in all aspects, in the sense that the Quakers have a meeting room, the Quay itself makes profit from the fee charged for their using the room, all the while permitting regular activity to continue in the rest of the building.
The Shephard Brother’s warehouses, however, have been converted into modern apartments. This, despite perhaps coming across as divisive from the view that the building is listed, and so a complete renewal wasn’t an option in its conversion to modern apartments, in fact worked in correspondence with the desired outcome – nowadays it has become fashionable, in fact, to live in ‘buildings of character’, and so remains of the original building in the apartments, albeit small features or the layout itself, are admired by modern folk seeking such apartments.
In correlation with maintaining historical features of the building, lots of visible evidence is provided for this, some of which would seem perhaps unusual for what would be a modern building – an example being seen in the Rope Store building. It has three large ‘door-windows’ – great windows that were once doors, opening onto the river itself. It would seem unusual for a door to open onto a river, however, when the building still served as a rope store these were necessary when it came to winching goods off the barges, and provided a direct access from the boat to the building. Today, these are of course no longer needed, and so serve solely as windows.
This picture shows the door-windows, vertically positioned in a row, making winching things off the boats directly into the building possible, and providing a more convenient access.
The Quay Arts Centre itself – once the brewery – also provides peculiarities, one being its curved walls towards the back of the building, engraved with scratches. Originally the building would have had customary cornered walls at turnings around the perimeter; however, as time proceeded and more horse-and-carts had needed to pass in their deliverance of goods to and from the building, the structure had reason to be altered to provide a wider path, and hence easier access for the carts. Nevertheless, means of transportation had continued to advance, and soon enough lorries were having similar problems passing through the already-widened pass-ways – and being so much larger than the carts, space still posed problematic and the roads remained restricting, subsequently resulting in the scrape marks along the walls.
Historical influences have of course led to the typical, and atypical, features of the new site – it was necessary for many to be preserved, for being listed the buildings had a name to live up to in the maintenance of the buildings’ character.
Of course, certain aspects of the establishment have had to be ‘renewed’ rather than entirely replaced, keeping in accordance with law authorization; an example of which can be seen in certain brickwork around the Quay. The Quay wall and slipway around the front of the main building now consist of Isle of Wight stone in ‘squared courses’ with large blocks, and so demonstrates fabric of the building that has been reserved. However, certain parts of the slipway paving have had to be renewed for both appearance and stability purposes, and so now its consistency is partly stone, partly concrete. By way of this, character is still preserved for part of the original context remains, yet through being renewed it has been combined with more stable brickwork and perhaps in certain situations a more visually appealing finish. [Source: www.imagesofengland.org.uk ]
This image shows the Quay wall and slipway, some of which brickwork has had to be renewed and replaced with concrete, whereas other parts sill consist of the original stonework.
The converted flats, aside the layout as their original feature, have also kept a number of other original features, including several small windows near the top of the buildings and the pulley system, once used to lift goods directly into the buildings. Many features have also been added, however – including bigger windows as a contribution to the other smaller ones – and balconies, as can be seen below.
This image shows the flats at the Quayside, and features mentioned above can all be seen – balconies, big and small windows etc.
This regeneration has been built upon a variety of different bases – four main reasons to be precise – one of which being the fact that the money in order to put forth this regeneration was available. Being so close to the centre of the island, albeit money had been lost, the Quay’s advantaged location had not been. Being in perhaps the most accessible position on the island, Newport had been, and still is the centre of trade to the island, and so consequently the Quay too offered huge opportunities from investors’ points of view. And so this followed through, as investors chose to put money into the Quay, with the hopes of a return brought by its prosperity. The intentional outcome from these investments was met, with the money being used to restore the buildings and upon that build and maintain a thriving business which in turn provided formidable profits.
Southern Arts and the Isle of Wight Council had been examples of such investors, however, not all the money provided for the cause had derived from investors, and a considerable amount of money had in fact been donated to the cause by the National Lottery, as had been applied for under an Arts Act. Throughout the early 1990’s several contracts were assembled, and more and more money was being donated, and once enough money had been collected, the regeneration began to be put into action. This took place mainly in 1996/7, and has continued to prosper since.
By this time technology was advancing greatly, and so goods on the market were becoming cheaper and cheaper due to computerisation – by which the production of the goods was made easier, faster, and hence enabled them to be mass produced. By way of this, effort and time put into the production of products were reduced, consequently allowing them to be sold cheaper than previously. This advance in technology had been, and still is, down to a good education system in Britain – more and more young people are getting the qualifications they need in order to continue studies in the subject, and by way of this advance in its innovations – bringing prosperity to the country.
With the advancements made in technology, this then led to other discoveries – one being the North Sea oil and gas. This provided the UK with a great advantage, for the fossil fuels themselves are of substantial value, and so their new found availability to Britain meant both that purchasing them from external countries and importation was no longer necessary, and that distribution was now possible – meaning a vast profit could made through exporting the product elsewhere.
A second reason for the Quay’s regeneration was for leisure purposes – based around the fact that as the years proceed, people are finding more time and reason to visit places of leisure. Nowadays people have more money and a general greater income than years ago, and so leisure activities are a more obtainable option, for which money is always required. Looking at the previously mentioned point that nowadays people also have more free time, a reason for this may be because the island is home to a greater number of pensioners and older generation, hence making an outing option such as the Quay Arts Centre an appealing pass-time for them. As well as this, technology has also moved forward greatly over the years, and in this day and age everyday appliances, such as dishwashers and washing machines, are built purposely to save people time by using technology to do what were once prolonged manual jobs. As well as this, cars and other transportation means have become more available and commonly used, again saving people time in travelling, and giving easy access at the same time. Taking into account all the above facts, one final reason people would take interest in an arts centre is that nowadays there is more art education and interest amongst people of all ages, and so targets all ages rather than simply older generation. Newport Quay Arts Centre is unique to the island, and situated at the centre it is both an accessible and interest striking place of visit to people of the island.
A set reason for the regeneration of the Quay, and perhaps a primary consideration, was for preservation purposes, on the basis that the buildings at Newport Quay are considered a historical monument and beneficial in contributing to the character of the island. In correspondence with this, the buildings are in fact ‘listed buildings’, decided by English Heritage. This therefore means that because of the above reasons it is lawfully prohibited to demolish the buildings, for whatever reasons, and if the owners did decide to replace, or even alter the buildings in any way that didn’t correspond with what had been stated acceptable by English Heritage, they would be faced with a considerable fine, and perhaps even a prison sentence.
However, these restrictions aside, the regeneration of the Quay had also been for its own benefit, in that it was desired for a building of such character, though at the time perhaps no actual beneficial use, to be worked on and improved to change this, and whilst maintaining its historical properties it would be made more attractive in both physical appearance and later for other purposes.
In the case of the Warehouses that were renewed into modern flats, the basis of this outcome had been vastly established around the new living fashions taking place in the world – and the fact that it had become ‘trendy’ to live converted buildings. The story of the Quay plays a prefect example in this, being a building with history and originality, and of course the fact that it’s listed playing a considerable part in contributing to the building’s innovation. Attributes such as these were alone appealing to young people especially, willing to pay a substantial amount of money for a more unique residence. However, its history and character aside, the converted buildings themselves also had positive characteristics to offer, such as unique layouts, along with which, of course, came immense spaciousness, especially in comparison to the typical flat. For these reasons, the conversion of the Warehouses into modern flats turned out a positive attainment, the flats themselves proving popular, and their regeneration from warehouses, of course, keeping in tact with maintaining the buildings (lawfully necessary) original features and structure.
This story of Newport reflects others across England, an example of which would be the redevelopment of Salford Quays in Greater Manchester, now known as The Lowry. As seen in the story of Newport Quay, The Lowry too was born from regenerated docklands, but now serves widely for leisure and entertainment purposes, many of which reflect those provided at The Quay Arts; for example dance performances, children’s shows, popular music, and of course gallery spaces.
The layout and structure of the building, as a result of its regeneration, has of course been altered and worked on, however, again similar to the story of Newport Quay, many of its historical aspects have been maintained and restored, again following legal restrictions and the character maintenance of the building.
Both the buildings, despite a considerable difference in physicality, share a similar story on how they became what they are today – recreational, attractive buildings, with a maintained historical aspect within, due to regeneration from what were once docklands.
As can be seen above, there were on the whole four main reasons for the Quay’s regeneration – money, leisure, history and living fashion – each contributing to the situation on different levels. Overall however, it would seem to me that money was in fact the greatest influence. The issue of money may perhaps not be seen as a reason itself as such, as much as seen as more of an opportunity. The other three reasons gave the buildings a certain need to be regenerated to what it was, or perhaps simply a more specific need – leisure in that as time was proceeding people had more free time on their hands and as the Quay provided such opportunity as a thriving business, its conversion to a place of leisure would have benefited not only in commerce matters for the Quay itself, but also provide the island society with a new leisure activity. The matter of history speaks for itself, in that the regeneration was necessary if the buildings were going to be put to use, yet their character maintained. Living again fashion follows this, for whilst maintaining the buildings, and hence their character, again they were being put to use in creating something beneficial not only for business purposes, but the people (/buyers) themselves. Each of the above reasons in one way or another influence each other – and so perhaps none would be so influential without the other two.
The issue of leisure was of course intended to one day create more of a profit for (more money) the Quay, which would have been of no point had money not been the initiating influence. History wasn’t, in my opinion, such a reason for the regeneration in itself, for the building would still have continued to pursue its character had the regeneration not been put forth. It did, however, influence greatly the matter of living fashion, for the popularity of the modern flats would not have been so had the buildings not had the character of history, again showing how one reason was greatly influenced by another. The matter of money, however, was the initiator in that it was now becoming available – and for obvious reasons, without it the regeneration would not have been possible – and independent from the other reasons. For this reason I am led to conclude that the fact that the money was becoming available was in fact the key reason for the Quay’s regeneration, for without it none of the others would have purpose, or even the opportunity.
Here can be seen Newport Quay as it is today. What once were warehouses have now been converted into residential apartments (left). The main building (centre) as was once the Brewery warehouse, now serves as the main Quay Arts building. To the right hand side of the photo can be seen what used to be the Rope Store, and now serves as an art gallery, Quakers meeting room, and dressing room.
