For hundreds of years Peterborough was regarded as a small market town with little development or appetite for trade. Yet as the industrial revolution swung into action, the cathedral city became one of the leading manufacturers of bricks in Britain, an accolade which endured for a large part of the 20th century. In the late 60s, Peterborough’s strategic location, placed 80 miles between London and Birmingham, meant the city benefitted from government funded redevelopment to many of its streets, schools and houses.
Independent practice Sask Optics is located on Lincoln Road, one of the city’s busiest roads. Owner and resident optometrist Shockat Patel says: ‘My practice is slap bang middle of Nigel Farage’s propaganda video. On a single day I will test people from more countries than a Eurovision song contest. Polish, Czech, Slovak, Lithuanian, Latvian, Portuguese, Turkish, Kurdish, Afghans.’
A varied community can often pose a challenge for the practice, yet Patel takes this in his stride. ‘Some communities unfortunately have not had access to eye care and I routinely see teenagers for their first eye examination with a prescription greater then ±6 dioptres. That’s my biggest sense of pride as we encourage young children to attend the practice and by correcting their eye sight give them a better chance for the future.’
Patel bases his experience as a child of parents who could speak little English to his advantage in the practice. He says: ‘My staff are taught to be sympathetic to the patients who find English difficult and make the whole process as easy for them as possible.’
Multiples are a permanent presence in the city, with a central Specsavers store having been in the high street for more than 30 years. As a result of this success, Specsavers opened up another store three years ago in nearby shopping centre Serpentine Green. Retail director Stephen Emmingham (pictured left) says: ‘Our central store became extremely busy, and after expanding the store to make more room and moving the lab off site, we opened a second store.’
The new practice opening initially affected patient numbers at the central store as patients began to migrate in order to take advantage of its free parking and longer retail hours. Yet Emmingham says the market share has grown dramatically, partially due to his determination to reward patients’ loyalty. He says: ‘I don’t agree that rewards should only be for new customers, so we offer half price eye tests on all recall letters.’
Currently, the main challenges to the store are its surrounding retail closures. ‘We lost Marks & Spencer on our high street which affected footfall. It took a while but we have bounced back and people do eventually come back into the area,’ says Emmingham.
Who’s in town?
Total: 11
Independents: 5
Multiples: 6
Average cost
Prices for an eye examination range from £20-£30. The average cost is £24.
Population - see pie chart
Peterborough population: 183,631. (ONS 2014)
Community eye care
According to the Locsu Atlas Map of Optical Variation, Cambridgeshire Local Optical Committee has secured a contract for NHS Cambridgeshire & Peterborough Foundation Trust CCG in cataract post-op, cataract referral, glaucoma referral refinement and OHT monitoring.
Health and affluence
- The average house price in Peterborough is £180,173 (Rightmove, 2016) compared with an average of £216,750 for England and Wales (Land Registry, 2016).
- NHS expenditure on vision problems in Peterborough per person is £76, compared with the UK average of £89 (RNIB Sight Loss Data Tool 2015).
- 6,780 patients live in Peterborough with early stage wet AMD and 500 with dry AMD (RNIB).
- There are about 1,580 people living in Peterborough who have cataract, 1,690 people with glaucoma and 11,190 with diabetes. Some 3,760 patients have diabetic retinopathy (RNIB).
Fun facts
The first wife of Henry VIII, Katherine of Aragon was buried under Peterborough Cathedral, pictured, in 1536.
Peterborough Cathedral (pictured left) was also the former resting place of Mary Queen of Scots until her body was moved to Westminster Abbey.
When civil war broke out in 1642, Peterborough was divided between the Cavaliers and the Roundheads as the city lay on the border of the Eastern Association of counties which sided with Parliament.
Peterborough is the hometown of Sir Henry Royce, co-founder of Rolls-Royce.
Local football team Peterborough United are known as ‘the Posh’.