The Guardian a couple of days ago showed us –
David Willetts, MP for Havant, is unveiling Hayling Island’s latest tourist attraction this weekend: a replica set of public stocks. The organisers, Discover Hayling, claim that they form “the latest attempt to put the Hampshire island back on the tourist map”.
I’m a big fan of sets of stocks in the town square. Quite a few villages around us have their own, set in the middle of the village green, waiting for the miscreants. I don’t think the stocks do all that much for the tourism: even Abel and I don’t travel somewhere specifically to see them.
I suggest that “Discover Hayling” build a whipping post next to them, and invite reenactors to liven up the scenery on market days. I’m volunteering my husband to wield the whip.
Having had the dubious honour of visiting Hayling Island, I suspect it’s going to take a whole lot more than stocks to get tourists there. In fact, I don’t think even Abel wielding a whip is enough to make me go back.