Interview: Taunton's Rocket and Bird owner marks seven years

Today (Thursday, March 5), she celebrates seven years since she and a friend opened Rocket and Bird gift shop in The Courtyard.

Since then, she has triggered an epidemic of can-do attitude among the town’s independent business owners.

It has not been easy, but Rocket and Bird sales are now on an upward curve.

Susie says: “Two weeks after our first birthday, Covid hit.

“It’s been an absolute roller coaster, but I feel really proud we survived the toughest time the high street has seen.

“It made me shout louder about what’s here for my own business and because I knew what everyone else is gong through, how little we shopkeepers make.

“None of us is doing it for the money.

“It’s because we love our town and our community.”

Rocket and Bird, which stocks the work of 40 Somerset artists, makers and designers, later relocated to St James Street, where there is greater footfall.

As had always been the plan, her business partner, ‘Bird’, left last April.

“We had a lot of fun, but I got to the point where I thought, ‘I need to do this thing as a business’,” adds Susie.

“I’m taking it more seriously.

“I’ve added 10 more makers to the shop, but I’m not taking any more.”

Susie was behind the St James Street area becoming known as Taunton Independent Quarter.

“I invented that by accident,” she says.

“The May after I opened, the pedestrianisation of St James Street was put in place.

“At that point, the County Gazette was full of pictures of shopkeepers looking really miserable with a petition for pedestrianisation.

“I thought nobody’s going to want to visit here because everyone’s looking serious and angry.

“I set up an Instagram page anonymously.

“It wasn’t something I planned, spending most of my spare time for free.

“Within a week Taunton and the council were talking about the Independent Quarter.

“There was a lot of support for it and it was popular in the street.

“I took control and just did it.

“I used my creative background and created banners.

“I said to businesses, 'Show yourself, show people the happy faces behind the small businesses keeping our town alive’.”

Susie started a Facebook page, which now reaches around five million people.

“I always stay positive,” she adds.

“I’m excited about the shop.

“It’s reached a very good point.

“The whole energy of the area is really good.

“New businesses are opening all the time and people are seeing empty shops filling up.

“The Independent Quarter has an identity and people are continually messaging me asking if there are any empty units in the area.

“Small business owners want to open shops in Taunton.”

Susie was born locally, but moving away for a time made her appreciate everything the town has to offer.

After leaving Richard Huish College, she took a first-class degree in general illustration in Swansea before a year in North Wales as a freelance illustrator.

Following a brief stint in Cheltenham, she returned to Taunton, working as a teaching assistant at The Castle School, before spending three months travelling in New Zealand “to mend a broken heart.”

Back in Cheltenham, she worked as a junior designer with a greetings cards publisher.

When the firm relocated to Bath, she returned to Taunton, commuting to work by train.

Susie, who left the job after becoming pregnant with the first of her two children, says: “When people moan about Taunton, it’s because they’ve never left.

“I can compare it to other places because I’ve been around.”

After working as a freelance book illustrator, she set up Rocket & Co, named after her dog, which involved creating paper cut artworks using old books and maps.

She took space at Wellington’s Emporium, a hub for dozens of local traders, before joining forces with Jeannette Bardsley to open Rocket and Bird, where everything has been created in Somerset.

She recently became a director of Visit Somerset, which encourages people to come and see our county.

“I said it didn’t feel like Taunton was being promoted, so there was an opportunity for me to come on board,” says Susie.

She produced a promotional map of Somerset which hangs in the northern entrance to Taunton Station.

She continues to help promote local businesses, posting positive stories on Facebook and is looking to offer social media advice to small businesses.

She enjoys running to “sort my head out.”

Susie concludes: “With the promotion of the town, it felt like more and more people are being positive.

“When I first started, I felt quite lonely battling the negative comments.

“I want to focus on what we do here, what we need to talk about, otherwise businesses won’t stay.”