Paul Jenkins from the Express & Star chats with the people of Sedgley to find out what they like about the area.
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00:00We're here in sunny Sedgley this afternoon, Monday afternoon, a village in the heart of the black country which has a whole lot going for it despite the current economic climate.
00:12Last time I was here it was to speak to traders moving out of the Concord market over there, more potential news on that shortly.
00:19Let's go and speak to some of the town centre traders and businesses which form the neighbourhood of Sedgley
00:25and we'll speak to somebody who's got a bit of history and knows a thing or two about living in the village.
00:32We're here with Bill Etheridge, former councillor and your family and yourself have lived in Sedgley since 1986.
00:39You know a fair bit about the history of the place as well. We're just outside the old courthouse here. Tell us a little bit about that.
00:45Yeah, this used to be, well it was a pub for some time but prior to that what we had here was the Sedgley Courthouse.
00:52Folklore has it that underneath where we are now tunnels run across to the Red Lion pub over there and also folklore has it in the distant past,
01:06whether we believe this or not, people would be sentenced in here and dragged out to the bullring over there to have their sentence served which on occasion included being hung.
01:15Also on that bullring there's stories of bull baiting where they would get dogs and bulls fighting and the locals would come and watch and there's definite a fact that there was around about the turn of the 20th century a dancing bear,
01:32where a huge black bear was pictured on this bullring with all the locals coming round and gathering to watch it.
01:38So we've got a lot of history here of what's going on in this area so it's a thriving village but it's a village with a rich history as well.
01:47Yeah, but going back to the present, we've just been in the Clifton, you're obviously a well-known figure, people know you in there, you know the traders.
01:56Well, what's the outlook at the moment for Sedgley in terms of the economic climate?
02:01Well, I must say bright. I mean, I know that the economic climate in general is difficult but a village like Sedgley, look at where we are.
02:09We're on the cross link between Wolverhampton and Dudley, the sheer volume of traffic coming through.
02:15This is the kind of place where it's great to do business, also a great reputation of a place.
02:20Everywhere has its bad news stories but Sedgley is a fantastic place to come, do business, own a business, particularly for entrepreneurial, independent traders.
02:32This is still a destination to come to and as you'll see during the course of today, we've got some wonderful enterprises here and I think Sedgley, the future is very bright.
02:41I mean, I mentioned in the intro, the last time I was here was to the closing of the Concorde market within a few weeks but even then the traders were positive they could move on, move elsewhere in the town.
02:52Yeah, this is a good demographic for business.
02:56There are people, it's a working area Sedgley, it's one of those places where you know you're going to get custom come through and they've got a couple of quid in their pockets to spend.
03:04You only have to look at the number of shops, hairdressers, restaurants and places like that and other independent, small independent enterprises to see that this is a great place to do business.
03:15And yeah, it's always difficult, there are always challenges but a place like Sedgley is a really great example of how you can make it work and I've no doubt we will.
03:26Sedgley will continue to thrive long after you and I are long gone.
03:29Yeah, well let's go and meet some of the traders that we've been talking about.
03:32Okay, great.
03:33Here we are in the centre of Sedgley with Emma Lewis-Taylor, the proprietor of Emma's Humbugs. How are you doing Emma?
03:40I'm very well, thank you.
03:42It's a lovely Monday lunchtime, isn't it?
03:44It is. Beautiful weather.
03:46Yeah, and how's business for you at the moment? It looks pretty busy in here, lovely cafe you've got here.
03:52It's good actually, we've got a lot of regular customers, we've got a really big sense of community in the cafe so it's a lot of fun to be here.
04:00How long have you been in Sedgley?
04:01Sedgley.
04:02I've been in Sedgley two and a half years now. And yeah, like I said, my favourite thing about Sedgley is the people, the community that we have. So yeah, it's a lovely place to be.
04:12Do you usually live in Sedgley yourself?
04:15I do, I just live up by our staff so I can stroll down the road to work.
04:19Right, okay.
04:20So yeah, it's a lovely place.
04:22And I mean, the economy's pretty tough at the moment, isn't it?
04:26Yes, it is.
04:27You've done two and a half years, it seems to be thriving. What are your hopes for the near future?
04:32My hopes are to keep pushing forward, keep creating the friendships and the family that we're building here. Hopefully the other shops to start to fill up and yeah, the high street to start thriving.
04:43And we're here talking to Penny Davis from the Hope and Dreams Holistic Wellbeing in the charmingly named Penny Farthing Arcade. I know we've done pieces on the arcade before, haven't you? How long have you been here?
04:58It'll be two years in June.
05:00Yeah, and how's things going?
05:02Great, I love it, absolutely love it. First time I've ever had a shop and first time I've had a business. So it's just really, really good and I love this sort of thing anyway. So it's my passion, I love it. And it's a lovely little arcade, so it's a nice little community.
05:19Lovely little arcade and a lovely little shop. The smell is great as well, the holistic stuff.
05:25I mean, who do you find, are your customers, are local people? Do people come from into Sedgley?
05:31Yeah, both, yeah. Obviously we get a lot of people from Sedgley, but we get people travelling distance to find us as well. We've got quite a good social media following, so yeah, they come in and yeah, so yeah, a bit of all sorts really.
05:46Yeah, do you live in Sedgley yourself?
05:48I live in Wolverhampton.
05:49Okay, so you come in the car.
05:52Come every day, yeah, but yeah, I love it.
05:54But how are you finding the economic climate at the moment? It seems very busy for a Monday afternoon or like that.
06:01Yeah, it's very up and down, but as a rule, you know, we're doing really well. It's for a new business, really, relatively new business. We're doing really well and absolutely love it.
06:11What are the people of Sedgley like, do you find, coming from Wolverhampton?
06:14Oh, they're lovely, yeah. I mean, absolutely lovely. Everybody, you know, everyone's so friendly. I have the best customers, I think.
06:21And people come, well, trouble is for them. They're coming and we can be here half a day, we're just having a good old chat about things holistic and crystals and yeah, so yeah, I'm never lonely.
06:33I get lots of visitors and like, yeah, it's, I think, obviously I find light-minded people, so we have a lot of...
06:41Good community, yeah, and it's great, yeah. But I love the people, Sedgley. I don't know, you know, I've been here two years and they've made me very, very welcome.
06:51And we're here with Rayu Shrestha from Rayu's Street Food, is that correct?
06:57Yeah, it's Rayu Pan-Ajian Street Food.
06:59Yeah, excellent. What sort of food do you do? I know it's street food, it's...
07:04So we do Thai, Malaysian, Japanese, Asian fusion. We do chowmen, curries, fried rice. We even do bubble tea, which is quite famous now.
07:15Yeah, all from the small kitchen at the back.
07:18Yeah, bubble tea we make front and we make sushi as well.
07:22Sushi as well? That must be a first for Sedgley, do you think?
07:26Yeah.
07:27Somebody will probably correct us on that, but how long have you been here? It's a lovely, brightly coloured restaurant.
07:34So we have opened for two months now.
07:37Yeah, oh, so you're new boys on the block?
07:39Yeah, it's a branch franchise, so we have been in Birmingham, London and everywhere, so this is the first time in this area.
07:47Okay, and how have the people of Sedgley took to the new concept, if you like?
07:51Yeah, they have been very good to be honest, like there's lots of customers, like Friday, Saturday is really busy now.
07:57And previously when we had offers, like there used to be lots of people, and working people is quite frank as well, like really honest.
08:05And they give feedback, take feedback, and we interact with them, help them, they help us.
08:11What sort of hours are you open? Are you open now? Are you open all day?
08:14No, we open from 4 to 11 at weekdays, and Friday, Saturday we open from 3 to 11.
08:21Okay, and what are you finding? Is your custom-based people from Sedgley, or do people come from out of the area, do you know?
08:28So, most of the people are from Sedgley, but a few of the deliveries are like far as well, like 6 miles, 5 to 6 miles, some are really far.
08:37And most of them are like 2 to 3 miles, just around here.
08:40And is this your passion, the food, the cooking, what did you do before? Were you still in the business, if you like?
08:48So, me, I'm just working here, helping my brother, so my brother used to be safe in Portugal, and he came here, he did Asian, like he worked in different places, so now he owns like some of the shares here.
09:02Wow, so from Portugal, all the way to the black country, to Sedgley.
09:07Yeah.
09:08So, wow, it's great to speak to you, and all the best with the business.
09:12Yeah, thank you very much.