Camberley is about to go through another period of upheaval - and, hopefully, emerge as a bigger centre with even more to attract shoppers and saunterers.
But the town shops have had a very busy history - starting out with just a few bootmakers and washerwomen who looked after the young cadets at the new military college down by the Blackwater River. This was in 1812 and so there wasn't a great deal of need for any fancy goods or technological wonders. This was still the age of the horse and local homes used peat for heat and candles or tallows for light.
Fifty years later the town took its second step, with the arrival of the Staff College. Now the High Street appears, although it is just a farm track with a hotel on the London Road end. Cottages were built for domestic staff and yet more washer women and still more suppliers of boots (and military uniforms, of course) appeared.
By the start of the 20th century Camberley was fully formed - it had a new name (changed from Cambridge Town in 1877), new shops (a department store, even) and new businessmen like Mr Verran the butcher and Mr Doman the provider of horses, buses, alcoholic beverages, houses (a very busy man!).
And now we have a covered shopping mall and the Atrium providing entertainment and refreshment on a grand scale.
Are we ready and willing for the next phase?
