If you spend any time on local social media, you will have seen it.
“There’s nothing in Spalding.”
“No decent shops.”
“Town’s dead.”
It has become almost a default response whenever the town centre is mentioned. And to be fair, some of the frustration behind those comments is understandable. Parking can be a pain. Big-name chains have disappeared. Empty units are hard to ignore. Pretending those issues do not exist helps no one.
But saying there is “nothing in town” simply is not true.
Spalding is home to hundreds of independent businesses. Shops, cafés, salons, food businesses, creatives, service providers. People opening up every morning, locking up late at night, and trying to make a living in a climate that has not exactly been kind to small businesses.
Many of them are doing it with very little support. No head office. No marketing team. No cushion if trade dips. Just long hours, rising costs, and the hope that people will keep choosing to show up.
That is why the constant online narrative that there is “nothing to come into town for” feels so damaging. Not because people should not criticise, but because it erases the effort of those already here, grafting away quietly and consistently.
Recent comments in the local press from the town’s Business Improvement District manager have brought this conversation back into focus. Not in a “everything is brilliant” way, but in highlighting how persistent negativity has a knock-on effect. When a town is repeatedly talked down, it is local independents who feel it first.
The BID itself is clearly a sensitive subject. Its introduction was controversial, opinions remain divided, and it still has a lot to prove. Businesses are absolutely entitled to want to see value for money, tangible outcomes, and transparency, especially in the current economic climate.
It is also worth remembering that the BID is still in its early stages. Much of its first year has been about laying foundations rather than delivering visible change. Whether it succeeds or not will depend on trust, clarity, and results over time. That is fair scrutiny. What is less helpful is allowing the debate to slide into a wider sense that decline is inevitable and effort is pointless.
Because here is the uncomfortable truth. You cannot complain that your town centre is struggling while doing nothing to support the businesses keeping it alive. You cannot say there is “nothing here” if you have not actually tried what is here.
That does not mean shopping locally for everything. Online shopping is convenient, and sometimes it is the only option. But small, intentional choices matter. Choosing a local café over a chain. Buying a gift in town instead of defaulting to a courier. Trying one independent business you have never used before.
None of that fixes parking. It does not solve national economic pressures. It does not magically attract major retailers back to the high street. But it does help the people who are already here survive long enough to be part of whatever comes next.
Spalding does not need relentless negativity, and it does not need forced cheerfulness either. What it needs is a more honest conversation. One that recognises the challenges without writing the town off. One that acknowledges how hard independent businesses are working, even when the wider system is far from perfect.
Because if we keep telling ourselves there is nothing worth supporting, we should not be surprised when, eventually, there isn’t.
