Randa Bott stares, smiling, out of the front page of the current edition of The List. She's promoting her lingerie shop on The Bridge. But between the magazine going to press and this weekend, the shop has put up the closing down notices. This is unfortunate - not because I avail myself of Randa's goods (sorry not to be able to reveal that Weekender is a cross-dresser) - but because any one-off retailer in Frome that has to close down is bad news for a town that sells itself on its independent shops. And Opal's demise is a double whammy. Frome is proud of its bridge: along with nearby Bath, it claims to be the only town in Britain with shops along a river crossing. The cafe here has already shut, and Randa's imminent departure leaves a big hole in this historic retail strip.
Better news this weekend from The Black Swan - its 2012 Open Art Exhibition has just opened, and the quality and variety is excellent. We were particularly impressed by Annemarie Blake's wide screen, monochrome (and local) landscape, the manipulated photographs of Joseph Beveridge, Alison Shanks' witty ceramic toaster and the textures of Mark Nesbit's 'Titanic'. The gallery needs support, and it was encouraging to see so many people there this morning. Well worth a visit, for all sorts of reasons.
www.thelistfrome.co.uk
www.opallingerie.co.uk
www.blackswan.org.uk
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