The Brontës never imagined there would be a car park in Haworth

A few weeks ago, we reported people complaining about clampers in Haworth and the fact that these were driving visitors away. Today we read a letter from Ted Evans, from the Changegate Car Park, to the Telegraph and Argus arguing that clampers are not the only reason visitors are dwindling in Haworth.

I noticed in the Times Newspaper the other day, a comment by the Brontë Society about wheel clamping. Their spokesman stated the number of visitors for the last seven years have shown a steady decline and implied it was due entirely to the activities on Changegate Car Park.
It is very easy to blame others for ones own marketing inadequacies and it is very easy to think ones own business is the reason people come to Haworth. How further from the truth can this now be.
Everyone in business in Haworth can thank the Brontë Society for their contribution to the local economy, it has been formidable; but no longer; the name will always linger on but the museum will not be as good as it was unless they, the Brontë Society, change and realise there are other reasons why visitor numbers are down.
Approximately seven years ago the set for Emmerdale left Esholt and was moved to Leeds. This immediately put Haworth on a limb, as the coach tour operators could not continue with the existing one day "Emmerdale Tour", that of Haworth - Esholt - and the photographic museum or Hebden Bridge. Haworth was too far out to keep it included. Furthermore, at the time there were insufficient attractions and decent shopping to retain their interest. Thank goodness the latter has changed and we actually hear of people coming to Haworth to shop and the majority come for tea at the numerous cafés and restaurants, Naturally we lost almost 1,000 coaches in the first year and naturally some of these would have been potential visitors to the museum.
The other major point that the society has lost sight of is the popularity of the Brontës themselves. Many new writers are finding their way on to the schools' curriculum and the Brontës are being discarded. Unless they aggressively promote the Brontës in schools and universities they will lose an entire generation as potential customers.
I do listen to the tour operators and my fee paying customers and they tell me the museum is a little "old hat" to be polite. There are few really interesting features, Emily or Charlottes Brontë's bed cap being the exception.
Why don't they use the museum to attract visitors? For example, by holding exhibitions of the work of our local artists, Craven, Durkin or Mackie, and then at the same time introduce the new visitors to the Brontës. No doubt I will be criticised for this, but remember, for the last seven years visitor numbers are up on Changegate Car Park and this year we already showing a 5 per cent increase and it still is the safest pay & display car park in Yorkshire.
(TED EVANS Changegate Car Park)

We don't really know what to make of this. Actually we feel that the decrease in visitors may be a combination of all these factors. Haworth can obviously be reached by public transport so clampers don't play a role in that. However, whether the Brontë Society is doing things right or wrong according to Mr Evans, the fact remains that the village still owes its visitors - more or less of them - to the Brontës and to the entity that keeps their memory alive. The Brontë Society does indeed bring local artists as well as international ones to the Brontë Parsonage and - this blog is witness to this - keeps the cultural life of the area in good shape.

Perhaps it would best for all - except for Mr Evans, we know - if the public transport services were even better and visitors could leave their cars well behind. Thus the village would be less crammed with cars and it would be clampers who would be driven away. Or else Mr Evans should increse the security in the Changegate car park.

Some brief news items now.

Let's stay a little longer in Haworth. No clampers in sight now. Memoriesnmoans talks about the village.

Yesterday we mentioned that Wuthering Heights 1939 was among the 400 candidates for the AFI list of 100 greatest American movies of all time. Unfortunately this time Wuthering Heights hasn't made it to the new list (the movie appeared on the 1998 list). More on this can be read on Variety.

More about Wuthering Heights. Fangoria talks about a forthcoming film called Spike. According to them, the director has definied it as follows:

Described by the director [Robert Beaucage] as “WUTHERING HEIGHTS meets PSYCHO with spikes,” the film bears production values, direction and performances that are all quite good, with an impressive creature suit by Jordu (REEKER) Schell and and equally impressive effort by performer Edward Gust inside it. (Sean Decker)

Strange combination.

As a final note, HotPress reminds us that Suzanne Vega has been called 'the musical Brontë sister' in the past.

Categories: Haworth, In the News, Movies-DVD-TV, Music, Wuthering Heights