Streets ahead?

The citizens of Stockbridge in Hampshire must be surprised and delighted that their high street was voted Best Foodie Street in Britain in Google’s inaugural Street View Awards. Perhaps not overly surprised, however, judging by a sheepish comment from Google’s press office to the effect that local gastro-guerrillas ‘went to a lot of effort to get interest up and increase their numbers’. As if to dispel any doubts on the matter, the chairman of Stockbridge Parish Council, in her victory address in the Andover Advertiser offered, ‘congratulations to everyone involved in raising people’s awareness of this competition’.

Still, everyone’s happy as the town gets an award, Google Maps gets a plug in SpectatorScoff and I get to spend a day in Stockbridge. Best of all, you can go there right now, even as you nibble your Kit-Kat in front of your laptop because Stockbridge high street now stars in its own version of The Truman Show. First prize in the competition was the creation of a Google Street View tour, allowing virtual visitors to move ‘Pegman’ (he looks like a clothes peg) through 360-degree street-level imagery. It lends a whole new meaning to Windows shopping. Just go to www.maps.google.co.uk, click on ‘street view’ and judge Stockbridge’s foodie credentials for yourself. It beat 19 other streets in the competition (see shortlist below for righteous indignation).

In the interests of proper journalism I journeyed through the looking glass and visited Stockbridge high street for real. I might not have seen it at its very best on a bleak, drizzly afternoon when the only sign of outdoor life was the odd duck paddling on the river Test intersecting the high street at various points. Most of the mustard cords and Hermès scarves were indoors, fighting for tables in Thyme & Tides, an ambitious new deli/bistro/fishmonger. ‘We’ve found a niche in the market,’ says Sally Hemming who owns the place with her husband Iain.