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Rural businesses
have reported a remarkable increase in trade, some by up to 40 per
cent, since the introduction of the hunting ban three years ago. Far
from sounding the death knell for the countryside economy, the Hunting
Act has galvanised trades such as farriers and saddlers. Some hunting
stockists have had their best sales in 50 years.
Experts
say an increased sense of solidarity among the rural community and the
popularity of drag hunting, which does not involve chasing foxes, is
responsible. Kate Rust, owner of Showing Time, a rural tailor in the
Kent village of Bethersden - where the ITV series The Darling Buds Of
May was filmed - said it had introduced hunting clothing after the ban
due to demand. Sales at the family-run business subsequently rose by
more than 40 per cent.
'We were asked to stock hunting
clothing after the ban. We were doing jackets for showing and eventing
and because we were talking to a lot of people in the hunting community
they were asking for hunting clothes,' she said.
Ian Compton
of Calcutt and Sons, one of England's largest outlets for hunting
attire, said that after 50 years of being in the business, it had never
sold more hunting equipment. Trade, Compton said, had increased by up
to 15 per cent since the Hunting Act was signed into law. Sales of
breeches alone at its outlet near Winchester, Hampshire, had reached
more than 300 pairs. 'We are selling more hunting stuff than ever and
more people are out in the fields. A lot of people thought that the ban
would be our death knell, but we have had a lot more interest,
certainly in the clothing side.
'There is a small percentage of
people who perhaps did not hunt who have become interested because they
want to beat the politics behind the ban. There is also the possibility
that the ban has raised people's curiosity and drag hunting appeals to
them more.'
Frank Edwards, who owns Acorn Saddlery in South
Molton, north Devon, agreed that fears that the ban would severely
damage the north Devon economy had proved unfounded. 'We dreaded the
ban and expected the worst, but ironically things have turned out very
well. Demand for our goods is high and many people are carrying on
hunting within the law.' Before the ban his firm held nine accounts
with local hunts and not one of them had been forced to close.
'We are very optimistic about the future,' added Edwards.
Tim
Bonner, spokesman for the Countryside Alliance, said many people who
forecast that the rural economy would suffer had underestimated its
resilience. 'The success of post-ban hunting has surprised a lot of
people, but it was not entirely unexpected. Anyone who thought that
people were simply going to give up hunting and take up golf got it
very wrong,' he said.
Bonner added: 'The hunting community is
enormously resilient, and some might also say bloody stubborn. We are
determined to keep the infrastructure of hunting together until the
Hunting Act is scrapped.'
Last week David Cameron waded into
the debate by promising that a Tory government would give MPs a free
vote on reversing the ban. The Tory leader said the current law had
been made to look 'idiotic' because of the number of people breaking it.
More
than 300,000 people turned out at 314 UK hunts on Boxing Day last year
while just three hunts have been convicted of an offence since the ban
was introduced.
The Countryside Alliance is now planning to take the issue to the European Court of Human Rights.
The
2004 Act made hunting with dogs a criminal offence, although exercising
hounds, chasing a scent trail and flushing out foxes to be shot are all
still legal.
'There is constant difficulty for huntsmen trying
to work within a confusing law, but they have been able to do a lot
more than they feared,' Bonner said.
Mark Townsend
The Observer
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