Social Enquiry Project

The cultural environment

The cultural environment in which people live can influence their lifestyle choices. This section of the report will look at the demographic profile of Guernsey and the area in which Rick and Fiona live, the shopping facilities in the area and other leisure facilities available to them. Rick and Fiona live in St Peter Port, the capital or Guernsey, which has a large population and a wide variety of cultural facilities.

Demographics Guernsey is 63.4 square kilometres, with the capital, St Peter Port, covering 6.4 square kilometres. Rick and Fiona live in near Beau Sejour in St Peter Port. St Peter Port is the forth largest parish in Guernsey, but is the most densely populated. Guernsey has a population of 61,029 people (in 2006), with 16,488 people living in St Peter Port. Guernsey has a population density of 951 persons per square kilometre, compared to 742 persons per square kilometre in Jersey, and 233 persons per square kilometre in the UK. St Peter Port is a largely built up parish containing the highest density of privately owed households per square kilometre.

The map below shows the parishes of Guernsey. It details their area of each parish and the population of people living in each. It demonstrates the high population density of St Peter Port compared to the other parishes.

Vale Area- 8.9 km2 Population 9,573

St Sampson Area-6.3 km2 Population-

Castel Area- 10.2km2 Population8,975

St Pierre du Bois Area- 6.2 km2 Population-

Torteval Area- 3.1 km2 Population- 973

St Saviour Area- 6.4 km2 Population- 2,696

Forest Area- 4.1 km2 Population1,549

St Peter Port Area- 6.4 km2 Population-

St Andrew Area- 4.5 km2 Population- 2,409

St Martin Area- 7.3 Population6,267

Shopping Shopping in St Peter Port has change over the recent years. In the past many of the shops along High Street were small Guernsey based retailers, with only a few UK chain stores such as Mark and Spencer, Next and Woolworths. Rick and Fiona loved living the high life, and enjoyed shopping in expensive stores, and buying designer clothes. The current development of the Market has made room for many more UK based chain stores to open in St Peter Port such as New Look, Warehouse, HMV, and Monsoon. The restoration of the Market Place is aiming to make it the centre of activity for St Peter Port, making it more modern and appealing to young professionals such as Rick and Fiona. They also enjoyed shopping for items for their home, such as beautiful furniture. Places in St Peter Port that they may have been interested in would have included Scope

Furnishings and Loop. The increasing variety of shops would have appealed to both Rick and Fiona despite their ever-growing debt.

Leisure Guernsey offers a wide variety of cultural and leisure facilities. In St Peter Port some of these facilities include Beau Sejour leisure centre, St James concert hall, Castle Cornet, The Aquarium and Guilles Alles library. The graph below displays the results of a culture and leisure survey that was conducted in 2005.

From the facilities used in the survey Beau Sejour was listed as the most visited leisure in Guernsey, offering a wide variety of sporting, musical, theatrical and other cultural events. Living near to Beau Sejour gave Rick and Fiona the opportunity to use the facilities regularly if they wanted to. Pubs, bars and clubs

The centre of St Peter Port hosts a variety of pubs, bars and clubs. Rick and Fiona enjoyed going out and having fun and were often seen in the trendiest bars and clubs. Some of the places they would have enjoyed going would have included the cocktail bars in the area, such as Laskas, The Buddha Bar and Rise. There are only three nightclubs in Guernsey, these are Follies, Rouges and Barbados, but Fiona and Rick enjoyed nightlife and would have probably spent a lot of their nights out in one of these clubs. There are many other popular pubs in St Peter Port outside of the main centre. Another popular pub is the Dog House, which often provides live music. Pubs in Guernsey now have longer opening times, many of which staying open until 12.45, which may have encouraged Rick and Fiona’s heavy alcohol intake. Smoking in public places has now been banned in Guernsey. As heavy smokers this would have affected Rick and Fiona, as they would have had to go outside to smoke when out at pubs and restaurants.

The cultural environment of St Peter Port influenced Rick and Fionas' lifestyle. By living in the capital of Guernsey they had easy access to the variety of shops, bars, clubs and leisure facilities that are available.

Sources Guernsey Information Centre Guernsey brochure- Things to see and do in the Islands The States of Guernsey- Guernsey facts and figures 2007 Guernsey 2001 Census Websites www.gov.gg www.themarketplace.gg www.freedmonzone.gg www.thisisguernsey.com www.visitguernsey.com