Two years after Guru Boutique closed in Darlington, an event has been staged to celebrate its special place in the town. PETER BARRON was host for the night
WHEN she made the sad announcement, two years ago, that Guru Boutique was to close after more than half a century in Darlington town centre, owner Beryl Hankin said: “We’ve got to keep the spirit of Guru alive.”
Well, the good news is that the Guru spirit was alive and kicking on a special night at The Forum Music Centre, in Darlington, last week.
The place was packed for a ‘Guru Reunion and Film Night’. The memories flowed, along with great music, and it was an honour to be the host for the occasion.
It sold the weird and the wonderful, and always provided a warm, friendly welcome amid the unforgettable smell of incense.
By happy – or hippy – accident, Beryl Hankin, Tony Smith and 'young' Col Harrison formed the perfect team to make the magic happen.
To me, Guru was Darlington’s answer to Mister Benn, the old children’s cartoon series, based around a mysterious little shop where you went in not knowing what you’d find or who you might meet.
Last week’s celebration was utterly joyous. Guru's secret was to create a lasting community of customers who became friends, and they gladly turned out in force, like a reunited extended family.
The brilliant duo of Rebecca Downes and Steve Birkett performed songs that had been chosen by Beryl because they were relevant to Guru’s remarkable journey.
After the music, Beryl, Tony and Col – otherwise known as 'The Gurus' – took to the stage for a memorable question-and-answer session, conducted by James Watson. It was warm, emotional, and funny.
“If Guru was still open, which famous person would you like to walk in and serve as a customer?” asked one audience member.
“Donald Trump, so I could ******* smack him in the face!” replied Tony, deadpan, and without hesitation.
"What was the secret of Guru's success over so many years?" asked another.
"We don't know really – we just sort of made it up on a daily basis and it just seemed to work," replied Beryl.
"It was all a happy accident. We never had a plan or anything like that."
The Q&A also unearthed a tale about how a firefighter popped into Guru on a visit to Darlington, and ended up making orders to despatch £17,000 worth of quirky Dr Martens boots to the Cayman Islands where he lived.
How on earth did I miss that story?
The session left me thinking a Guru Podcast, with these three great local characters reminiscing and chatting about life, would surely be worth exploring.
The night’s finale was the unveiling of a lovely short film, made by Mike Tweddle.
Tracing the Guru story, featuring tributes from customers, and insights from the Gurus, it has to be preserved as a treasured piece of local social history.
Pure and simple, it was a thoroughly enjoyable night that showed Darlington at its best – a town full of characters and warmth.
My own first memory of Guru comes from an assignment I was given by the news editor not long after arriving at The Northern Echo as a naive cub reporter in the early 1980s.
Another young reporter, Ruth Campbell, and I were despatched to do an ‘undercover job’ on the fact that Guru – shock, horror – was brazenly selling cannabis pipes on its counter.
Looking back, it wasn’t the most daring piece of investigative journalism but, hopefully, I’ve made it up to Beryl with lots of positive publicity in the years that have followed.
We can all laugh about it now. and the cutting from the paper, with the headline 'Cannabis pipes openly on sale' has even made it into a book of Guru memories.
Darlington is, of course, far from alone in grappling with the dilemma of how to halt the decline of town centres.
But, surely, there’s a lesson to be had from Guru. The answer – or at least part of it – has to be in quirky, independent shops, selling something a bit different, with great personal service that creates a lasting sense of community and becomes part of a town's appeal.
Recommended reading:
Legendary Darlington shop to close after 51 years as a town treasure
Meditations of the Gurus: life and times of Darlington's most idiosyncratic shop
New venture of popular Darlington business to move into former Guru Boutique
We all left The Forum last week with a Guru Goody bag and I was delighted to find that mine contained a little Mister Benn figure.
And that’s what made Guru so special – the personal touch.
The mystical little shop is a sad miss to Darlington, but how lovely that the Guru spirit is still going strong.
