In late 17th century Cheadle developed as a significant centre for a large farming area and coal mining had become important
At the beginning of the 18th century the manufacturing industry included a large tape works and a brass and copper works on the river Tean, south of the town.
In 1830 the population of Cheadle was 4119, and Cheadle was the centre of tape manufacturing (the largest in Europe), the tape industry provided 3000 employees from Cheadle and the surrounding districts.
In 1901 the population had increased to 5512, and the town began to expand onto the lower flatter lands east and south, development began to spread along the main roads into the town.
During the 19th century Cheadle developed as an industrial town based on the working of local coal measures and the growth of the textile industry. During this time the town grew rapidly which has been maintained in recent years despite the fact that industry has declined. By the late 19th century Cheadle had become a centre point for farming and coal mining industry.
At present, Cheadle is still a significant employment centre, but the function is being reduced in importance by the growth of the town as a commuter settlement. Many people who work in the potteries conurbation have moved into the town to live. Recently Cheadle has seen development east of the town, filling in some open land between radiating roads.
The overall aim of my study was to see if Cheadle provides an adequate service for its shoppers.
ADD THEORETIC BACKGROUND HERE**
I have formulated the following hypotheses to aid me in my study to discover if Cheadle is still a primary shopping/trading centre and provide adequate goods and variety for the customers who shop here.
My hypotheses:
- Cheadle provides a wide range of shops for its customers
- Cheadle is mainly a shopping town for local people
- Cheadle is suffering environmental problems, which are worsening i.e. litter problems
- There is a certain type of shop that thrives in Cheadle (is more of)
- Cheadle is a lower order goods shopping area
- Cheadle cant meet the demands of its shoppers
- Cheadle is rapidly declining compared with bigger shopping areas i.e. Hanley- Potteries Shopping centre.
After creating these statements it is my job to test them through research and studies conducted through fieldwork.
To survey the town we travelled a short distance from our school to Cheadle town centre (which is a short walk away from our school through a small pathway and over a zebra crossing.) Our school is situated roughly 5minutes away from Cheadle high street. The data we collect will aid us in proving or disproving our hypotheses.
The first study we conducted was on the land use. We surveyed each premises on the high street to find its classification i.e. major shopping unit, personal services. To save time we gave each type of classification an initial i.e. Furniture and carpets was FC. Finally, after discovering the name of the shop and its classification we calculated its size using paces. This raw, primary data was finally recorded in a table. We continued this survey of land use for the whole of the high street. The aim of this particular data collection was to discover the range of shops available to customers, how many of each type (classification) were present, the total number of shops available and also how big each shop is compared with other. Whilst collection this data we were assigned to work in groups of two. Each person was given a certain task/
Person 1: Act as the scribe; label the name of the shop, its classification.
Person 2: Number the map (given by teacher) measure the size of each shop (in paces)
After doing this process for sometime we found that working in groups of four was more effective and less time consuming. This was our first data collection and it proved successful, as all needed data was collected in full.
Secondly we conducted a survey in the form of interviewing. We interviewed people seen shopping in the high street to gain information on the behaviour of the shoppers in Cheadle. We asked the following questions:
- How did you travel to Cheadle?
- How frequently do you shop in Cheadle?
- What are you shopping for?
- Which other shopping centre do you use most?
- How frequently do you shop there?
We surveyed around about 20 people each was asked all of the above questions. We were once again assigned into groups of 2
1st person: ask the questions to the interviewee’s
2nd person: recorded the collected data on a table
Once again we found doubling up in groups of four to be increasingly effective. We each collected data individually (in original groups) yet exchanged information to create a more compelling and complete collection of results. Problems we occurred included some shoppers were unwilling to talk to us, we acknowledged this and thanked them for there time anyway.
Another data collection included an amenity index. This required us to visit four different zones in Cheadle and rate them according to various points. These were categorised into 6 different factors:
Quality of goods
Variety of goods
Appearance of shops
Street cleanliness
Street appearance
Safety
This helps us to build a wider picture of the environmental quality at various places within Cheadle high street shopping district. By scoring them it makes it easier to both record and present the data. We made educated and justified decisions when scoring each zone. This activity was done in groups of four. The zones we visited were indicated on a map