8:16am Friday 3rd September 2010
By Julian Robinson
TRADE and civic bosses are to hold talks in a bid to turn round the fortunes of a Hamsphire town’s “failing” high street.
business leaders, councillors and residents have all been invited to give their opinion on how to breathe life in to Romsey’s retail offering.
It comes after a study revealed there were ten 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 are 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 concern 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 have a lovely market town that needs to keep its cultural history and its sense of individuality and that there is a danger to that through rent and rates being very high within the area. I said that small individual shops are 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.
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