In the town I grew up in, there was a sweet-shop on my route home from school. It was run by Geoff, an eccentric chap who sold sweets the ‘proper’ way, by weight from behind a counter. He was straight-talking and uncomplicated. When UK shops were, in his words, ‘forced to adopt’ the metric system in January 2000, he just relabelled everything with the same price, per 113.85 grams rather than per 1/4 lb.
During a typical day, lots of people would drop in to talk to Geoff, while also picking up their favourite tipple. Sometimes my mates and I would just go there to chat rather than actually buy anything. He’d gently tell us that what we’d just learned at school was a load of old rubbish, while entertaining us with riddles and anecdotes. The shop closed in 2011 after 103 years in business. Geoff would be keen to point out that he only ran it for 49 of them.
The shop run by Geoff may have been a sweet shop, but it was also a Third Place, as defined by the US sociologist Ray Oldenburg in his 1989 book The Great Good Place. In it, Oldenburg coined terms for three types of social environment: The First Place is the home and the people you live with. The Second Place is the work environment, where the people and rules are different. They can be formal and even confrontational at times, but they also provide social interaction and the chance for new friendships. Of course, the Second Place also provides money to pay for the First Place, as well as the things in it.
The Third Place is the ‘Great Good’ one referred to in Oldenburg’s title. He defines them as ‘anchors’ of the community. They include, but are not limited to: community centres, local shopping streets, public parks, places of worship, cinemas, public libraries, pubs / restaurants / coffee shops, barbers, bookshops and record stores, as well as hobby clubs of all descriptions. The definition has since expanded to include the online world, for example gaming communities.
Academics have since attempted to define the characteristics of Third Places, revealing several main themes. Third Places are neutral territory, away from work and the home. A related characteristic is that they act as societal levellers, where everyone is theoretically equally welcome and heard. Crucially, the main activity in a Third Place is to meet people and converse, usually in a jovial and informal way, ‘banter’ to use an English term. Buying a record, drinking a coffee or getting your hair cut is secondary to the social outlet provided by the space.
After this point, Third Place characteristics become blurrier. ‘Regulars’ are a common feature of many, whether they prop up a bar or spot weights for each other. These ‘old faces’ are balanced by a steady stream of new ones. Some may stay only a short while, others much longer. To ensure a fresh supply of new people, the cost to enter the Third Place needs to be fairly low. Oldenburg’s overriding point is that Third Places expose people to new contacts, who will likely have different views on: music, beer, hairstyles, sports, politics, religion, child-rearing, how to make the perfect bolognese... anything. They provide unexpected and stimulating conversation, which inform the future beliefs and behaviours of the individuals involved. Oldenburg argues that Third Places are essential to healthy political discourse and society in general. As we look down the list of characteristics, however, it appears that many Third Places have been under threat for some time, even before the onset of the pandemic. Local shops are under attack from out-of-town facilities and online shopping. Religious attendance is on a downward trend across many mature economies. Public facilities, including youth-clubs, drop-in centres and libraries, have faced the axe since the late 2000s financial crisis, if they were even present in the first place. Independent restaurants
and bars have been blighted by Covid-19, with many unsure if they will even survive.
The temporary, although very trying, closure of many Third Places (and Second Places) during the pandemic will be reversed. However, we should be wary of the long-term decline in public social space. Otherwise, our physical lives risk becoming entrenched in ever decreasing social circles in which we only ever come into contact with those that we already socialise with. The effects of online polarisation, regardless of your stance on politics, Covid-19 or the latest celebrity twitter storm, indicates that this would be damaging to individuals and to society as a whole.
So here’s to our Third Places. Let’s do whatever we can to keep them going now to ensure they do not become another victim of the pandemic. After this is all over, we will all need our 113.85g of banter!