It’s an oft heard complaint that you can’t buy anything useful in Glastonbury. This is of course nonsense. What could be more functional than a mirror ball Ganesha? Who needs underwear when you can simply don a very long cloak? As Kim said to me earlier “I don’t actually want a cauldron, but it’s nice to know I could just pop into the High St and buy one if I did”.
The High Street has changed enormously in the two decades I’ve been here. When I first arrived there were a handful of hippy shops – the Glastonbury Experience Courtyard was already here, so we had Star Child, Margaret Kimber and the Library of Avalon upstairs. Gareth started selling some Buddhist books in a tiny cupboard there which grew into Speaking Tree Books, now a worldwide wholesale business. Bruce had Unique Publications on the High St, there was Gothic Image of course – which was one of the very first alternative shops, there were a few vegetarian cafes – Rainbow’s End, the Blue Note etc. We also had a dress shop which sold the kind of floral frocks stout ladies wear in church, a Woolworths, a shoe shop and a furniture shop and other, rather more ordinary, consumer outlets.