The magazine of the photo-essay
April 2020 issue
Lockdown The silencing of an English seaside town
“A free, really high quality photo-essay magazine. Fabulous!” Stephen Fry. British actor, writer and film maker
Teignmouth, Devon. Normally a bustling bucket-and-spade resort, well frequented since Victorian times, with holiday makers arriving in droves to take in the sea air and mild climate. Today, for the first time since the War, the cafes, pubs and shops are closed. Bus stops are empty. The streets are devoid of the usual visitors as they hide at home to avoid a modern day plague. People are genuinely afraid. The streets are ominiously silent.
by Alice Rae-Bird
Piles of loo roll in a shut down ‘pound shop’.
Visitors and residents desert the usually bustling streets.
Tables outside a popular pub stand empty on a sunny weekend lunchtime.
A solitary customer waits outside a chemist shop while. She must wait until the customer before has finshed shopping.
Clothing is ‘non-essential’ and clothes shops are closed.
Early lockdown was blighted by panic buying and food ran short.
Supplies of hand sanitiser ran out quickly.
#staysafe has become the catchphrase in an atmosphere of fear.
Empty benches in the Triangle. Normally filled with residents and visitors eating their lunch or watching a busker performing to a crowd. The farmers market with stalls selling fresh bread, jams, pickles, fruit and veg and plants,would normally have been taking place this weekend.
A local toy and beach shop, that would normally be coming into the busy Easter season, is forced to close.
Empty, town centre bus stops.
Back to menu Back to menu
Seafront cafes lie empty, tables and chairs stacked.