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Do 10 charity shops add up to a ‘failing’ town centre?

5:01pm Thursday 2nd September 2010

A SPECIAL meeting has been arranged to address Romsey’s “failing” high street.

Business leaders, councillors and residents have all been invited to give their opinion on how to breathe life in to the town’s retail offering.

It comes after a study revealed there were 10 charity shops operating in the town centre, as well as 20 hairdressers and nearly 20 eating establishments.

Civic chiefs say a broader range of businesses is desperately needed to encourage the kind of thriving trade found in other Hampshire market towns such as Lymington and Petersfield.

The meeting later this month was organised after former town mayor, Dorothy Baverstock, voiced her concerns over the increase of empty shop fronts and charity outlets.

She said: “This to me is a sign of a failing high street when commercial operators cannot compete with subsidised rates, free labour and goods, as well as being able to sell a proportion of new stock under these conditions.

“A succeeding town needs a variety of shops to be attractive and to encourage custom.

“We are in a recession and the town centre looks as if it is in a recession. We have some really nice shops, but we just don’t have enough of them to attract people to come back on a regular basis.”

Meanwhile, the town’s chamber of commerce has welcomed plans for a meeting.

President, Ruth Gower-Smith, said she had discussed the matter with Prime Minister, David Cameron, when he was campaigning ahead of the General Election.

She said: “I told him (David Cameron) that we had a lovely market town that needed to keep its cultural history and its sense of individuality and that there was a danger to that through rent and rates being very high within the area.

“I said that small individual shops were struggling to afford these things in the economic climate. I think it is right to have a discussion about the way forward for the town.”

The meeting, open to all those concerned, takes place on September 20 at 7.30pm in the Town Hall.

To have your say, email dorothy.baverstock@btinternet.com.

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