“No chains! No chains,” a man tells me, reacting to the idea of big retailers coming to Lewes. Standing in the town’s high street, resident Jim Hillage, 69, explains why he loves living here. “I like its character. Its independent, slightly irreverent, slightly rebellious character,” he says, naming off his favourite shops.

Walking around Lewes on a cold but sunny late-November afternoon feels almost cinematic. Framed by the green hills of Sussex’s South Downs, its medieval narrow alleyways – twittens – with their softly lit shop fronts, give the place a cosy atmosphere. Quieter, smaller, cleaner and seemingly more chic than nearby destinations like Brighton or Eastbourne, there is a strong sense of community.

“The amount of things that are going on – from the independent cinema, from the bonfire, from all the other activities that you could do – it’s very good,” Mr Hillage adds, also highlighting Lewes’s strong women’s football team, a source of local pride. Lewes is also famous for its Bonfire Night, one of the country’s biggest. In 2024, an estimated 40,000 people packed into its narrow streets for the event. For 17 years, the town even had its own currency, the Lewes pound, a project which ended this year after the people running it said they “ran out of steam”. But the thing that seems to resonate most with tourists and locals is the sheer number of independent shops in town.

Asked whether there’s anything the town is struggling with, Mr Hillage responds with laughter. “Well, it’s not struggling with coffee shops – there’s plenty of those around.”

While he sometimes misses more “useful” shops to “buy stuff that you actually need”, for bargain and antique lovers, Lewes is a paradise. The East Sussex county town has an abundance of places where you can buy unique antiques, such as the Lewes Flea Market. Its manager, David Skeet, 67, argues that people are increasingly seeing the value of vintage shops. Asked whether he thinks online retail is putting the store in danger, Skeet answers with a definite “no”. “The absolute opposite,” he says. “I think that the high street will eventually disappear forever, except that there’ll be charity shops, coffee shops and Amazon collection points. Because this kind of shopping is more fun and everyone, including me, shops for the boring stuff online.”

In an antiques shop, he adds, the experience matters as much as the purchase, and many items “need to be seen and touched.”

While there is a new trend of young people coming in because they want to shop sustainably and appreciate the recyclable value of the products, the shop also attracts many nationalities. “Lewes is a destination town. Our first customer of the day is going to be the lady from two doors down the road. The next people are going to be Americans. The people after that will be Japanese.”

Mr Skeet, however, points out one major challenge – the lack of physical banks. Due to the increase in online banking, the town’s last full-service branch Lloyds is set to close in January 2026, leaving it without any banks. Halifax, NatWest and HSBC have also shut in the town since 2022.

“It makes it really difficult for shops to pay in cash, draw cash out, or get change for our tills,” he says. “These are mostly small businesses – they don’t have big computer systems where it’s easy to take loads of cards. The mere fact that there are going to be no banks in Lewes is quite a weird scenario.”

He adds that they’ve already had to move banks twice, so the closure is another blow. “Once the branch shuts, shops won’t even be able to get cash or change for their tools. That’s a challenge.”

Despite the frustration, he shrugs: “We’ll manage.”

Just a short walk from the shop stands Closet & Botts. It’s run by forty-year-old school friends Chloe MacArthur and Harriet Maxwell, who quit their jobs, travelled around Europe in a van, and then channelled their inspiration into their shop on Lewes High Street. 

Unlike Mr Skeet, they think the vintage market has changed significantly.

They tell the Express: “The biggest challenge was Brexit, because we used to buy a lot from other countries. People have to pay tax on bringing it over now, so less comes over, and what does come over is more expensive. It has probably affected the vintage and antique market over here quite a lot.

“It’s a real shame because we used to go to antique fairs locally and there’d be lots of people from France and Belgium selling stuff, and we just don’t see them anymore because they can’t sustain their business. But the aesthetic is still here.”

Covid was another major hit, transforming their business. “Our online shop was very small then, and we had to, very quickly, get everything online. But actually, that was a blessing in disguise, because we now have a very successful online shop as well as a physical shop.”

But they remain successful, largely thanks to their authenticity. “What we do is we buy what we like. So it’s really authentic because we’re literally buying what we would buy for ourselves. And people like it.”

Another “really nice” aspect of Lewes High Street is, they add, that most of the independent shops are run by women. “We support each other. Maybe women are better business people,” they laugh.

Both say Lewes has the best high street in the UK “without a doubt”. “You’ve got beautiful shops that offer a range of styles, but someone’s offering really old-fashioned traditional style as well, which just adds to the feel of your day in Lewes.”

A cherry on top – and perhaps the epitome of Lewes’s independence – is Harvey’s Brewery. It began brewing on its current Lewes site in 1838, though the company itself dates to the 18th century. Miles Jenner, 73, is its head brewer and joint managing director. He speaks with the calm, measured confidence of someone who has spent a lifetime around brewing vats, barrels and Sussex drinkers.

“I think that it was seen very much as the bearer of Sussex,” Mr Jenner says. “We’ve been through flood, fire and pestilence in the process, but we’ve managed to come out the other side. If you go back to the turn of the 20th century, Lewes had seven brewers. We are the only survivors of those seven as independent brewers.”

That status is sustained by practice. Harvey’s buys all its raw materials locally and distributes its beer only within a 60-kilometre radius. “Lewes applauds individuality and the traditions within a community. It’s very much associated locally and has tremendous local loyalty from the beer-drinking public. It’s a taste that they have become very much attuned to,” Mr Jenner explains.

While the brewery now supplies pubs in Eastbourne, Brighton, Leeds, and parts of South London, its expansion has its limits. “We wouldn’t want to become a national brand because I think if you become ubiquitous, you lose a lot of your appeal,” he says. “We are very much based within our homelands and that’s where we stay.”

The brewery coexists happily with other new brewers in Lewes and Sussex. “We all share the same problems and we all try and help each other out,” Jenner says. When asked whether large retailers pose a threat, he admits the economics are difficult for a labour-intensive brewer. “We have to really compete on quality and reputation,” he explains.

Despite the pressures facing the sector, relations with local authorities remain strong. The brewery is affectionately known as “Lewes Cathedral” – a nod to its towering presence over the town.

“We are delighted to have four ninth-generation descendants (aged five and under), which we hope provides plenty of scope for the continuation of Harvey’s as an independent family business for generations to come,” says the company’s website.

“As we say in Sussex: We wunt be druv.”

The saying, meaning “we will not be driven” and reflecting a strong sense of independence and pride, could certainly be applied to Lewes as a whole.