Axminster, Devon – a carpet town transformed by fires

But while he was opening shops, in banks were closing. Barclays, with its classical columns opposite the churchyard on West Street, is now Axminster Convenience Store. It was not very convenient for me. There were white chocolate digestifs – cheap, of course – but otherwise pretty thin shelves.

The last bank to close was Lloyds, north of the churchyard. When the closure was announced, one resident, Jay Hobday, had something to say about the city council to the online news site Axminster Noob. “Do they even care that Axminster is going to be one big boarded up black hole?” he asked.

After a depressing gap without a city bank, a banking center was opened in the former Lloyds in 2023. On weekdays, five banks on the high street rotate: HSBC, Santander, Lloyds, NatWest and Barclays.

The profits Axminster once made from stagecoaches are reflected in pubs such as the New Commercial, which was rebuilt after a fire in 1836 and became Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s restaurant in 2009. Opposite, the Old Bell Inn also burned down in 1836 and was rebuilt. It has recently been converted (semi-ugly in my opinion, with steel pilots) into four shops with flats above. Its neighbors behind have lost their elegant 19th-century cast-iron balconies. On the other side of the road, Renoo’s Thai Food Restaurant & Asian Store has a sign that says, “New Stock.”