Sally Allen: Pavilion - the centre of excellence to celebrate Bay’s cultural heritage

Well first off, I am obviously delighted that the Pavilion is now back in the hands of the Council, but I do question the protracted negotiations and very quick surrender of the lease from MDL, immediately after the ‘loan’ they had taken out against the Pavilion became public knowledge. It obviously could be a coincidence, but I‘m always sceptical about coincidences in business. I hope that lessons have been learnt by those negotiating for the Council, and therefore us, over this whole sorry business.

Something I learned early on in my career was, that there is no substitute for research on your adversary, and these days it couldn’t be easier with Google to get the inside track on exactly who you are dealing with in a boardroom. Their strengths, weaknesses, ambitions and of course their financial status. 

All ammunition you have to arm yourself with before you step into the lion’s den of negotiation. You have to be prepared. Just compare it to cricket, for example, no international batsman would ever take to the field without having analysed the bowlers of the opposing team. It would be foolish not to know their quirks, pace, strengths and weaknesses. 

The same goes for football, every manager goes through videos of the rival team to check out their play patterns, who is the weakest link in the line up and how they can exploit that weakness. 

It is just the same in business negotiations, knowledge is all and exposes the vulnerable spot to push for the best outcome.

I have now heard rumours of a casino being the solution to reviving the Pavilion. I certainly hope not. I can’t think of a worse idea and certainly one that has not been thought through with a proper SWOT analysis – for those not in business, it simply means an assessment of the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of any business proposal, and every proposal should be rigorously tested in this way. Without this very basic process you can be exposed to some serious threats yourself and it also helps hone ideas to a higher level – or throw them out of course!

A casino to me would be a disaster. It would certainly increase the influx of undesirables into our midst as we are highly unlikely to attract the high rollers in gambling circles to the Bay with the accommodation currently on offer. 

Sadly, we are not Monaco even with our equally fabulous coastline. If we still had a 5-star hotel, or the promised one by the Fragrance Group on the old Palace Hotel site, things might be different, but there isn’t even a glimmer on the horizon of Torbay returning to its former glory in this respect. 

We keep getting more hotels, but none targeting those with disposable income of note. This doesn’t make any sense to me.

I believe that the Pavilion should be a centre of excellence. I favour a celebration of the work and achievements of the wide-ranging notable people who were born here and lived here on and off through the ages. 

I have done a little research on this and it is genuinely awe inspiring how many notable people were either born here or resided here. 

You all, no doubt, know more of them than I do, but here are just a few of the people we could celebrate in addition to Torquay’s most famous of daughters, Agatha Christie. 

In no particular order, Peter Cook, Miranda Hart, Roger Deakins, Lily Cole, Ollie Watkins, Sue Barker and my personal favourite Patricia Emily Perry, better known as Madge Allsop, Barry Humphries’ mute side-kick. Charles Darwin, Haile Selassie, Isambard Kingdom Brunel, Rudyard Kipling, Isadora Duncan, Paris Singer, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Max Bygraves, Ray Reardon and Larry Grayson all lived in Torquay. 

Oscar Wilde’s affair with Bosie began in Torquay, Beatrix Potter was inspired by Kents Cavern for her drawing of Mrs Tiggy-Winkle’s house and Charles Kingsley, who wrote the Water Babies, enjoyed the Hindu Caves at Livermead and called our Bay “the Italy of England”. 

Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli loved Torquay and used to stay at The Imperial Hotel and Charles Babbage, the “father of computers” was born close by.

There are loads more of course, but clearly there is much to celebrate with these diverse names. If all these personalities and their achievements could be showcased (and there are numerous ways to do this, particularly with AI) together with a fabulous restaurant, coffee shop and a beautiful event space for weddings; and maybe a Saturday Farmers Market to encourage further footfall. Altogether, I don’t see how the Pavilion could be rivalled as a tourist attraction in this area. 

However, we do continue to shoot ourselves in the foot. I have to say that I am baffled about the closure of the Pitch & Putt course, which has been a feature of Torquay all my life and a joy for tourists.

 I have heard that one of the reasons is golf balls hitting the roof of Torre Abbey! Now that really doesn’t make any sense. I have lived by golf courses and the normal way to deal with stray balls is to net the areas that can be out of bounds or suffer a direct hit. 

In this case a net positioned to stop the golf balls hitting the roof would surely be a better proposition than closing a recreational space enjoyed by so many. 

There has been a petition delivered to the Council and even demonstrations. To date the petitioners have not received a response from the Council and the course has been closed without any public debate of consultation. 

Why oh why do the Council members continue to ignore the public? It is short-sighted and undemocratic to treat the public in such a high-handed manner.

On another subject, I am delighted that Kemi Badenoch has been elected to lead the Conservative Party. I have never warmed to Jenrick and I think the Kemi has what it takes to hold the current Labour Government to account. 

She appears to be fearless and has clarity of thought and is not concerned to put her point across in a forthright way. 

She should do extremely well as none of the current Government’s front bench have anyone who has any business experience or even held a job outside politics before. In my view not something that should be allowed at national or local level.