After more than 30 years of working in and on behalf of one Brighton’s most famous shopping quarters, Peter Stocker is moving on to pastures new. Business editor SAM THOMSON spoke to the former chairman of the North Laine Traders’ Association about how much he will miss the character of the area as well as the area's characters.

Strolling down Gardner Street on a busy Saturday afternoon, it’s easy to take the diverse mix of unconventional shops and quirky cafés for granted.

But the history of Brighton’s North Laine is peppered with incidents when developers and planners, often with the best of intentions, proposed to radically alter the unique identity of the shopping district.

The most dramatic was a 1973 plan by architects Sir Hugh Wilson and Lewis Womersley to demolish 500 homes to make way for a massive, elevated roadway leading from Preston Circus to a car park in Church Street.

Although the development was thrown out by councillors, the sheer folly of the idea shook the community and woke people up to the importance of preserving the North Laine’s historic character.

In the years since, thriving community and conservation groups have been formed, followed later by the traders’ association.

While they rarely sing from the same hymn sheet, members at least belong to the same broad church and can share in the success the North Laine now enjoys.

One of the individuals to do more than most over the years is Peter Stocker, although, with characteristic modesty, he would probably disagree.

As well as running The Workshop Pottery, which later became North Laine Ceramics, for almost 30 years, Peter was one of the founding members of the North Laine Traders’ Association (NLTA), serving for years as chairman and co-ordinator.

The 55-year-old is now leaving the area he loves for a new life in Milton Keynes after his wife Sally got a new job.

He is looking forward to a fresh start but it is clear from only a half hour in his company that Peter will dearly miss Brighton and, in particular, the North Laine.

He said: “Someone said to me they loved going into the North Laine because whenever they left a shop it seemed everyone was just about to have a party.

“I think that’s so true. I would like to say a huge thank you to all the people I have worked with and all my customers.

“I have had such a good time. It’s almost embarrassing how much fun I have had.”

Like many residents who have fallen head over heels for Brighton, Peter was an outsider who was born in Wandsworth before being raised in Croydon.

In 1972, aged 17, he was on a parttime art course at Croydon College and travelled down to the South Coast for a party thrown by one of the lecturers.

Within two weeks he had moved down himself.

Peter said: “I had the long hair and was interested in music so I think Brighton fitted me better than Croydon.

“I walked into the new Virgin Records, which was in the former cinema where Boots is now, and at the front there was about 400 beanbags with headphones where you could listen to music.

“It was my idea of heaven.”

Peter’s first job was working for an advertising agency in Portslade before moving on to manage copy shop Planet House Press in London Road.

He said: “The satisfaction was practically zero. One Sunday morning I woke up to find a taxi outside and my boss phoning up to demand I go into the office because of some problem. That was the day I resigned.”

Both Peter and his wife, who trained as a teacher but struggled to find work, had an interest in ceramics so they decided to take the plunge and start their own businesses.

They initially set up a stall in the Open Market before moving into a shop in Trafalgar Street. It did not take long before Peter was playing an active part in North Laine life.

He said: “I have always been interested in people being fair to each other and I’ve always thought the North Laine was worth fighting for.

“It is a tourist attraction in its own right.

The Lanes and the North Laine are the city’s jewel in the crown. There is only so much sitting on the beach you can do.”

The benefits of preserving the North Laine’s character are clear to see on every busy weekday but Peter believes it has taken a long time for authorities, such as Brighton and Hove City Council, to appreciate what they have on their doorstep.

He said: “The Jubilee site was always a worry because it seemed the council was prepared to let anything go there.”

“One of the plans was for the library to be above an ice rink, contained inside a five-storey, windowless building.

“They actually said that if it didn’t work then they could just turn it into an MFI.”

Although the Jubilee Street development includes chains such as Tesco and Starbucks, Peter was happy with the final compromise.

He said: “We have now got a very good, award-winning library and a public square, even if it’s a bit small. I think the council does value the North Laine now. I don’t think it did in the 1980s but now there is more support and working in partnership.”

The change in attitude is down to the hard work of many people, Peter said, although he reserves particular praise for Tony Mernagh, who founded the Economic Forum, former NLTA chairmen Andrew Bird, of Silverado, Geoff Ellis, of the Brighton Bead Shop, current chairman Sharon Thomas, owner of the Off Beat Café, and the area’s conservation society.

Peter said: “Some people complain the conservationists can be difficult but if they had not been so difficult then the North Laine would not have survived.”

If the area were to disappear it would be a tragedy for both window shoppers and people watchers, according to Peter.

He said: “There have always been some real characters in the North Laine, like the ‘slow man’, who everyone knows.

“He’s a nice guy who doesn’t say much but you can see him walking around dressed in whatever people give him, even if it’s a pair of red PVC trousers, a leopardskin jacket and cowboy hat.

“When I first moved in, some guy came up to me asking if I wanted to live in his squat. It was Steve [now Lord] Bassam.”

Peter added: “Then there was the time a traveller’s bus came through the front of the shop. It cracked the beam above the window and the whole building could have collapsed.”

Although it caused £30,000 of damage and closed his shop for three months, Peter can now laugh at the memory.

He is understandably proud that the work done by himself and others over the years has left the North Laine in a strong position to see off the current recession.

The NLTA was formed during the last downturn in the early 1990s, which was the first time people started to see shops being boarded up and closed in the area.

Peter said: “I don’t think it is as bad this time. If you look at other parts of the country, the way Brighton is performing is phenomenal.

“Some of the shops are not doing that well but the majority are significantly up on last year. Small shops have a lot more to offer and tend to be owned by people who are passionate about what they sell.

Because they hold less stock they can be more fluid and make changes more easily.

“Big shops are like supertankers and find it difficult to change quickly.”

Peter’s plans for the future are to to run another ceramics stall, sell his work online and travel back to Sussex as often as he can.

He added: “Milton Keynes is only a twohour drive away so it’s not as far as it seems.

“My memory will always be of the North Laine and the many friends I have made.”