Seaside Walk in St Ives

The connection is umbrellas…in this case ones that are still usable!

This image is from St Ives (Cornwall, not the one that gets a mention in the Half Man Half Biscuit song “For What is Chatteris“) on a day that thankfully improved weather-wise, although a bit of rain/mist can make for some good seaside pictures.

I was surprised to come across the fact that, judging by the sign above, there seems to be some negative feelings towards the presence of the Tate Gallery in St Ives.  Initially I thought it might be because some people might just visit the gallery and then ignore the rest of St Ives (why someone would do that I don’t know), or because the gallery is seen as being somehow out of keeping with the rest of the artistic traditions of the town.

Digging a little deeper, it appears that the gallery has been associated with a problem that exists in other tourist/picturesque areas, ie traditional housing being bought by people from outside the area which inflates house prices making it difficult for local people to buy houses in their home-town/village.  Having said that, after a quick web-search the only reference to “the bloody Tate” I’ve found is in a Daily Mail article from 2014.  In this context the article refers to an alternative use for the plot of land that the Tate sits on, certainly nothing in relation to the gallery itself or how it relates to the local arts community.  Aside from the Tate, the article starts by making an interesting point about how the harbour area of the town now looks on winter evenings, ie no house lights because the houses are not owned by local people (another job for Photoshop perhaps).

Whether or not the modified sign on the seaside walk is still there, I don’t know.  Perhaps it’s been retained as an example of free-speech.