LEP Support Our Shops

19

WHEN the Labour party revealedits four-point plan to save Britain’shigh street, Bridget Deuchars couldnot help but feel a little cynical.

Shadow Chancellor Ed Ballsvowed to cut VAT back to 17.5%,repeat its ‘empty shop initiatives’ tofill up the vacant scars on the highstreets, hand local people the powerto help shape their high street andintroduce new competition laws toprevent leading brands dominatingour town centres as part of a pack-age it claimed would give the powerback to traders.

On the opposite side of theHouse, the coalition has vowed togive local Town Hall bosses morepowers to keep business rates, trot-ted out plenty of rhetoric about itssupport for local retailers and evenappointed television’s Mary Queenof Shops to uncover the problemshitting the country’s high streets.

But, Bridget, whose family runsfashion chain Novello on Fisher-gate in Preston city centre, believesall these fine words smack of emptygestures.

She says: “A cut in VAT wouldnot make a vast difference, I thinkbringing down the charges in citycentre car parks would make farmore difference.

“It is very upsetting that we arelosing all our shops in the city cen-tre.

“We have had two or three gonein the last week and it is more preva-

lent than we were hoping it was go-ing to be, it is getting worse ratherthan better.”

Jonathan Amoore, who runsfashion store Reef on neighbouringLune Street, said he would welcomethe cut in VAT - but believes that isjust the tip of the iceberg.

He says: “Smaller businesseshave felt persecuted from all angles– PAYE, VAT, National Insurance,business rates - on the frontline weare not feeling this help.

“The only power they have isspending their money because thepower is past on through fiscal ex-change so unfortunately the onlypower they have is where they aredeciding to shop.”

The trader would much rather seemore done to protect independentstores like his own, which has a loyalcustomer base, from the creepingtide of out-of-town shopping parksand even supermarkets creepinginto city centres.

The British Retail Consortiumyesterday urged the government tofind a balance between smaller andlarger businesses.

It has charged retail guru Mary‘Queen of Shops’ Portas to carryout an independent review of whatneeds to be done to support ourhigh streets, but the BRC has urgedits findings not to penalise the coun-try’s most successful retailers.

Unsurprisingly, the plan of actionput forward by the BRC - which in-

cludes keeping business rates down,deterring crime and having good, af-fordable parking - more closely mir-rors the views found on Lancashire’shigh streets than any conceived byparty politics.

However, Martin Rawlinson, themoney man on Preston Council’scabinet, agrees with the sentimenton the city’s high street - even if hedoes not have the cash in the coffersto make much of a difference.

He says: “We do not want ourhigh street looking like every otherhigh street in the country – sameshops or empty shops – I wouldlove to see lots of independent busi-nesses on our high street with lots ofvariety.”

Jonathan Amoore believes BRCfigures out yesterday which show thenumber of people going out shop-ping fell by 1% in the three months

to July and that 11.2% of shops onthe high streets and even on out-of-town shopping parks highlight theproblem.

In the north, that vacancy rate is2% above the national figure and at-tempts to plug the gaps are a wasteof time, according to this trader.

Jonathan says: “Why put time andmoney into something that’s failed.Why not help those businesses whoare still going: enough of these fakepromises and initiatives that are toolate.

“That is just shutting the door af-ter the horse has bolted.”

lep weeklep weeklepbusinessweeklepbusinessweek

keepintouchYou can show your support by visitingyour local high street and supportingthem with your trade.You can also follow the campaign:

ON TWITTER: @SupportOurShopsBY EMAIL: [email protected] TELEPHONE: 01772 838162

Don’t forget to follow our progressthrough your lepbusinessweeksupplement every Tuesday in theLancashire Evening Post.

focussupportourshops

Our new lookHAVE you seen the new Support OurShops dot com website?It has been given a fresh new look allow-ing you to look back over the first eightmonths of our campaign and get involvedin our battle to support Lancashire’shigh streets.You can read and add your comments tothe latest blogs, find out more about thecampaign and see how you can supportyour local traders.Find out more by visiting our officialcampaign website at www.supportour-shops.com.

NO WARM WORDS: Bridget Deuchars says there needs more action to help Lancashire’s high streets

It’stimeforactionAsanother surveyclaimsBritain’shighstreets are indecline,DANNYLEEandMICHAELMORRISONcheckout the‘cures’onoffer fromall sidesof thepoliticaldivide

LOCAL LEADER: Preston Council’s finance chief Coun MartinRawlinson says he would love to see independent stores thrivingon the city’s high streets

ALAN Cullens believes Chorley Councilhas come across an ingenious way of get-ting rid of empty shopsThe authority’s executive member forpartnership and planning is spearhead-ing a campaign which will see entrepre-neurs given cash to open up in vacantunits, writes Danny Lee.It is offering a package of grants, includ-ing cash available for refurbishment,shop front improvements and businessrate subsidies.Coun Cullens said the recent £8,925grant it handed to business Ben Ani toopen his cafe, Deja Vu, on FazakerleyStreet in the town was a perfect exampleof how the scheme can work.He said: “The council will be on hand tosupport the new business while it getsestablished and it is a great example ofwhat the council is doing to reduce thenumber of empty shops, which localpeople say is important to them.“The council is offering a number ofgrants to help attract new businesses tothe town centre and it is great to see thefirst one come to fruition.”He said the authority had taken themeasure to reverse the number of emptyshops dotted around the town centre.Mr Ani, who has converted a pair ofunits which sat empty for two years, saidthe grant was the key to him moving intothe town centre.He said: “The help we got from ChorleyCouncil helped to make the financial sideof things easier and we benefited fromvaluable business support advice.“I would definitely encourage other peo-ple looking to set up business in Chorleyto get in touch with the council and seewhat help is on offer.”n For further information, visit www.chorley.gov.uk/business or contact themon 01257 515151.

highstreetheroAlanCullens

COMMENt ONLiNEDebate this story atlep.co.uk

33

MARTIN Wright was born to be abutcher.

At the age of 12 he was workingin the shop run by his brother whohad worked in his uncle’s shop onOrchard Street in Preston city cen-tre for years before that.

“We have been in it a few genera-tions, I took on a Kwik Save fran-chise and employed a lot of young-sters, generally students,” he says.

But, when he took on the butch-er’s shop on Longridge Road, Rib-bleton a year ago, he decided to takeon his nephew, Dave, in fact, it wasbecause the shop’s former owner’sfamily did not want to take it on thatthe shop became available at in thefirst place.

Martin believes the secret to asuccessful family is having the hun-ger and has an interesting example– under-pressure media mogul,Rupert Murdoch

He says: “He’s a do-er and doneall sorts and then you’ve got (hisson) James Murdoch, who has beenbrought up in a different environ-ment completely – it is a successfulbusiness and you still got to have thehunger, no matter how big or small,you’ve still got to have the hunger tobe a success in my opinion.”

Teenage florist Natalie Pinder hasthe same appetite for success.

The 19-year-old and her mother,Mandie Garside, have been huntingfor a shop to side her floral designs

from for months and when Mag-pies, a gift shop on Liverpool Road,Longton, they grabbed the chance.

Her mother has no business back-ground although Natalie’s step-fa-ther, estate agent Richard Garside,has been helping with the business– but they all ensure their responsi-bilities are never too close to home.

Natalie says: “Mum does the buy-ing, she not in the shop all the timeso it’s really good, we’re more likefriends and you have to work likethat rather than as mother-and-daughter.

“There’s always this risk youmight fall out or it might get toomuch together or you find it too hardto work together, but it is easier forus to keep it different to everywhereelse around and about us really.”

Ginni Cooper, who heads thefamily business team at accountantsMoore and Smalley, believes thatstrength is what makes family-runfirms unique.

“They have inimitable strengths,as well as problems which require astrategy that is different from otherbusinesses,” says the expert.

“For example, family businessesoffer a number of benefits that arehard to cultivate in other compa-nies, such as greater trust betweenstaff and stronger commitment tothe success of the business.

“In times of hardship family mem-bers will rally round and offer sup-

port and financial sacrifices.”The Banks family has had its own

share of ups and downs since GeorgeBanks set up their first jewellers onLune Street, Preston in 1935.

Today, the store is run by hisgrandson, John, who sticks to theideals laid down by his father, alsoGeorge.

He says: “We have always wantedto sell products that are substantialand practical, I think that is a policyleft with me from my father and away forward when things are thing.

“So if there is ever a design orsomething which we think is goingto cause us problems, we would notwant to have it.

“If people have a bad experiencewith a product they will not be com-ing back, so substantial and practi-cal are the products we have alwaysstuck with.”

He adds that working with thefamily “can have its moments” butbelieves it is a largely positive expe-

rience.John says: “You are more inter-

ested in what you are doing and whoyou are looking after.”

But, despite his own positive ex-periences of working with his family,Martin Wright says he would not en-courage his son to be a butcher.

The son of a metal-worker be-lieves it is better to allow them tomake up their own mind.

He says: “The casual work ethicthat I had when I was young hasgone but I am trying to instil thatinto my kids.

“You to work for what you getand unfortunately too many peoplethink you just have turn up to workand wait until the end of the day– in a family business you don’t getthat.”

Lancashire Evening Post,Tuesday, July 26, 2011www.lep.co.uk

lep weeklepbusinessweeklepbusinessweeklepbusinessweek


ONLINE: http://supportourshops.comON TWITTER: @SupportOurShopsBY EMAIL: [email protected] TELEPHONE: 01772 838162



NEW STARTERS: Mandie Garside, left, and Natalie Pinder Pictures: Ian RobInson and neI CRoss

It’safamilyaffairTherearehundredsof familybusinessesonLancashire’shighstreets,DANNYLEEmetupwithsomeof themtofindout thesecretsof their success.

fAMily: Martin Wright, right, and his nephew, Dave

OUR campaign website has got a newlook - and we want to know what youthink.The supportourshops.com website hasbeen updated with news of forthcomingfeatures, a look back at our previouseditions and outlining ways you can getinvolved in supporting our high streets.We also want to get your views on arange of topical issues affecting yourshop through a series of web polls.The most recent poll is asking whetherbanks are lending to small shopsand youcan take part by logging on today andgiving your view.There are details of the Support OurShops reporting team and how you canget in contact.But, we also want to hear your opinionson the website and ways you would liketo see it improved.

A new look onthe high street

NEW lOOK: Our official campaignwebsite has had a revamp - wewant to know what you think

cOMMENT ONliNEdebate this story atlep.co.uk

Now look who’sfollowing us....

THE Evening Post’s support for Lan-cashire’s high streets has got as far asWestminster.Today, the Labour Party is launching itsown, Save Our High Streets, campaigncalling for help for retailers, protectingjobs and giving people a say over theirhigh streets - following the lead of Sup-port Our Shops.Barbara Keeley, shadow minister forlocal government, said the campaignaimed to help the hardest-hit town andcity centres in the North West, includingMorecambe which has nearly a third ofits shops empty.She said: “The high street is not what itonce was, they say. And I know manyother North West MPs hear the same– we want to put that right by revivingour High Streets.”The campaign is calling for a number ofmeasures including introducing a tem-porary cut in VAT from 20% to 17.5%,changes to the Localism Bill to givepeople a say in changing their local highstreets and adding a “competition test”into the planning system.

21

YOU don’t need official statistics totell Joanne Millington there’s still arecession on.

The number crunchers may saythat growth is now back in the coun-try’s economy, but on the high street,the dip driven by shopper’s uneaseabout the state of the nation makespositives difficult to see.

When she took over running thePamper Lounge on Lune Street inPreston city centre a year ago, theeconomy had technically been outof recession for six months.

“When I took over we were still inrecession,” she says.

“I had worked here for three yearsbefore, so I knew that there wasmore potential, then all of a suddenwe sunk.

“Things got a litter better, but it isstill a struggle.”

The ‘recession’ of which shespeaks is not dictated by Office forNational Statistic figures but thesimple number of customers comingthrough her door which has shrunkfrom those booking their next ap-pointment at the end of their latestone, and instead just coming as andwhen they need too.

Around the corner at the MillerArcade, Kevin Barratt, store manag-er of sports specialists MonkhouseIntersport, recognises this trend.

It was only two years ago that hisstore had “a real question mark”over whether it would stay open.

“Before we moved here, there wasactually talk of whether we wouldsurvive,” he recalls, “it was around2009, I think there was a real ques-

tion mark as to whether this particu-lar branch would stay.

“I don’t think the recession hasended yet and, at the same time, allprices have gone up because of thecotton shortage.

“You can have a good couple ofdays and a bad couple of days.

“Everybody says the same.”This difficulty is evident from

the latest study by Intersperience,the consumer research think-tankbased at Lancaster University, whichshows one in three people are forgo-ing a summer holiday as they seek totighten their belts.

It also shows 72% of thosequizzed describing the current eco-nomic climate as “very poor”, inspite of growth in the economy, butfor think-tank chief executive PaulHudson, the bigger concern lay inpeople’s response to the question ofwhether they were spenders.

That showed on 20% describingthemselves as ‘spenders’, a fall of14% on the same study in the firstquarter of the year.

“That is a massive, massive fall,”he says, “in fact, I do not think wehave seen a fall of that magnitudesince we have been doing this poll,despite the fact that included whenthe country was in recession.

“People are being cautious now isall down to fears over what is yet tocome with the cuts.

“Even though very few of us haveactually felt what the cuts will bring,a lot of people are already react-ing over what they think they willbring.”

It is this pinch point which PhilCrompton, the manager of HWMusic on Heatley Street, Preston, isseeing in his sales figures.

But, it has taken until this pointfor his business to feel it.

Phil says: “You think you are rid-ing it out and it’s not affecting youand it comes further down the line.

“We can see in our figures whenit hit.

“When you open a new businessyou expect to build on that businessyear on year and at the moment weare seeing we are staying the same.

“We are being counteracted bythe recession.”

But, rather than allow the slip inspending to hit them, Lancashire’shigh street is proving resilient.

At Monkhouse Intersport, beingthe official retailer for England’ssquash, badminton and Davis Cuptennis team has given a lift, whereasJoanne is getting more work fromrepairing people’s do-it-yourself at-tempts on their hair - not necessarilywith the right result.

She says: “They will come in andgo ‘look what I’ve done’ and youhave to try and repair it.

“Even then, if people get into thatmindset and therefore it’s workedout okay then they’ll be doing itthemselves, not the cutting part atleast, they’ll come to professionalsto have that done.”

So, in a county where nearly aquarter of the shopping public relieson the public sector for their wagepacket, can Lancashire’s high streetcan survive the cuts?

Paul Hudson believes they can.He says: “They can, but it is going

to be tough anywhere that you havea high percentage of public sectoremployment.

“One saving grace for the Northis that the government is looking toredress the North-South divide, butas long as people are seeing theirwages frozen they are not going tospend.

“Those who are willing to adaptwill always survive, but it is going tobe a lot tougher.”

Lancashire Evening Post,Tuesday, June 21, 2011www.lep.co.uk

lepbusinessweeklepbusinessweek





The family wayARE you one of Lancashire’s thrivinghigh street family firms?Has working with your relatives helpedyour business or caused it problems?Support our Shops wants to hear fromyou about life keeping your business inthe family.We will be focusing on the topic in thenext of our monthly features - so getinvolved and tell us your story.You can get in touch by emailing us [email protected] or telephoning01772 838162 with your stories.

WHEN THE MUSIC’S OVER: Phil Compton, who runs HW Music in Preston, admits its sales have been hit by the spending dip

FeelingthepinchITwas18monthsago that theUKeconomyemerged fromrecession,but is theworstof thedownturnoveronourhighstreets?DANNYLEEtalks to tradersaboutwhether theworst isover–oryet tocome?

GETTING BY: Joanne Millington of the Pamper Lounge

opinionBodyactive

HIGH street fitness firm Bodyactive hasfound a way to get their customers com-ing back.The retailer on Friargate, Preston, whichspecialises in products for body build-ers, offers an instant 30% discount tocustomers if they sign up to get weeklyemail updates.The initiative has guaranteed the com-pany repeat business from people seekingto buy a range of supplements and equip-ment.Customer Danny Lee, part of the Sup-port our Shops reporting team who tookadvantage of the offer as a customer, saidhe found the discount to go a long way.He said: “Supplements and equipmentcan be expensive.“I experienced this treatment first hand– and when you see how much savingsare to be made, it surprised me, too.“Those discounts really can have thatsort of effect on customers.”nAre you a hero of one of Lancashire’shigh streets? Do you know someone youthink is worthy of the title?If so, the Support our Shops team wantsto hear from you.As part of our campaign we are dedi-cated to highlighting the initiatives andenterprise of our high street traders.Let us know about your own experiencesof high street service by emailing [email protected] or telephone 01772838162.

Follow our blogYOU can keep track of the Support ourShops campaign and give your opinionon what is happening on your local highstreet through our online blog page.Visit the blog online at http://support-ourshops.wordpress.com.

21Lancashire Evening Post,Tuesday, May 24, 2011www.lep.co.uk


opinionDavidCoates

Supportingyousixmonthsonit is six months since the LancashireEvening Post launched its SupportOur Shops campaign to supportcounty’s high streets.in this time we have highlightedscores of businesses thriving inour shopping districts, highlightedissues facing traders and taken thetemperature of confidence on theground with our fortnightly BusinessBarometer.Now, the campaign is moving to itsnext phase as we bid to deliver tangi-ble benefits to traders in these areas.We are working with local collegesto deliver free sessions to help delivernew skills and give advice to tradershardest hit by the spending slow-down and with other groups in a bidto improve the appearance of ourtown and city centres.the campaign will keep you updatedon how you can get involved in thesesessions and hope to bring benefits toas many businesses as possible.Meanwhile, we shall continue theregular Support Our Shops featureson a monthly basis through theEvening Post’s lepbusinessweek sup-plement every tuesday.this will include the regular featureof a ‘High Street Hero’, highlightingthe success of a local trader, and amonthly Business Barometer whichwill check confidence levels amongretailers.the Support Our Shops campaign isdedicated to supporting Lancashire’shigh streets, so don’t be afraid to getin touch to support your campaign.

David Coates is business editor of theLancashire Evening Post.






Are you a hero?ARE you a hero of the high street? Doyou know a trader whose contribution isworthy of praise?the Support Our Shops campaign isseeking retailers to feature in the HighStreet Hero section of our coverage.if you know someone worthy of men-tion, email [email protected] ortelephone 01772 838162 and tell us why.

SUPPORT OUR SHOPS REPORTINGTEAM:n Chris McBriartyn Danny Leen Surya Jonckheeren Michael Morrison

IMPACT ZONE: The area of Friargate in Preston city centre where traders are feeling the squeeze of students leaving for the summer

THE far end of Friargate is a hive ofactivity for eight months of the yearwhile the city’s student populationare studying.

The problem, explains JessicaHurst who runs The Coffee Shop onthe street, comes towards the end ofMay when those students go homefor four months of the summer.

“It is very difficult, it is like a ghosttown around here,” she says addingthat only the staff at the BT site onnearby Moor Lane keep trade tick-ing over.

“Without them it would not beworth opening and it is not possibleto mitigate the impact, you just haveto try and get through it.

“We close for two weeks in thesummer and I have to get family andfriends in to help when they can toreduce the labour costs.

“I hope to get enough money be-tween September and June.”

The cafe owner, whose parentsown the property on the corner ofWalker Street overlooking the Adel-phi roundabout, estimates tradedrops around 40% over the summermonths and with trade “slightly”down from last year, the summerthrift seems inevitable again.

The economic impact of the Uni-versity of Central Lancashire is notreserved for those areas in the im-mediate vicinity of its city centrecampus.

The spending power of the univer-sity’s staff and 35,000-strong studentpopulation is estimated to be worth

£250m to Preston.Retail analyst Shelley Bowker,

who has worked for a number ofinvestment banks and lives in Gar-stang, said the university had a two-fold benefit.

She says: “In any town or citythere is a major employer withoutwhich the other businesses wouldstruggle to survive, but the univer-sity not only has the benefits its ownworkforce brings, it also has the stu-dents.

“If you can imagine an employerof 35,000 people shutting down forfour months of the year, businesseswould probably fold.

“I think because traders havebeen working with these peaks andtroughs ever since the university hasbeen there, they will be preparedfor the downturn of business in thesummer months.

“If they’re not, they need to getprepared quickly.”

However, there is no doubt, it isthose which have come to rely onthe student pound which feel thepinch the most.

Ilyas Muhammed, who has runsandwich bar Three Monkeys onAdelphi Street for the last fouryears, agrees the impact on his traderegisters in the region of 40% - buthe insists his local trade keeps himticking over.

He says: “The thing in Preston isyou got so many takeaways: fast food– selling pizza, burgers and kebabs.

“Our food is the healthy option,

grilled, no junk food, we just do ourown thing, that’s why we got so manycustomers.

“We have got a bit more businessthan everyone else, but when there’sno students’ it does affect us.

“If you take the university out ofPreston, that’s it.”

“With the student it’s busy, with-out them it’s tougher,” adds man-ager Ziaur Rahman.

But it isn’t just those feeding the35,000-strong student populationwhich feels the pinch when sum-mer comes, TJ Slater who runs hair-dressers Head Gar on Fylde Roadalso feels it.

She says: “It is like a ghost town atthis end at the moment.

“It is quite steep but it is quite anew business so it is all about gettingknown and doing all we can to getpeople in.

“We’ve got new services now andwe offer a lot more with the beautyside, so it’s not just hair. But this is

the building block - so it’s going totake time.”

The salon owner admits she is for-tunate to have a second salon, StyleTimes in Leyland, which does notfeel any impact during the student-less summer months.

“It helps balance things out,” shesays, “but without the other salonswe would find it a struggle here.

“When the recession kicked inwe didn’t notice the difference butrecently we’ve done the books andwe’ve noticed that the recession iskicking in now. It’s happened a lotlater than we thought.

“It is not that people are notspending, they are just spendingless.”

ComebacksoonWitharound35,000students studying inPreston, thecity’suniversity is aneconomicpowerhouse for local traders.Butwhathappenswhen thestudentsgohome?SUPPORTOURSHOPSfoundout.

FINE: Three Monkeys’ owners Ilyas Muhammed, far left, and ZiaurRahman, far right







Got your vote?WHAT do you think of the BusinessImprovement District?Has it delivered on its promises over thepast three years? Have events such as theLancashire Market or the Rock in thePark event lifted your business?

Tell us your view by emailing [email protected].


CROWD PUILLER: The Rock in the Park event brought thousands of revellers to Preston’s Avenham Park in summer 2009

IT was three years ago with the wordrecession starting to form on peo-ple’s lips that Preston’s Business Im-provement District was voted in bythe city centre’s traders.

The deal saw all traders who paymore than £10,000 in rates sign upto a 1% levy on their bills to pay intoa ring-fenced cash pot for spendingon initiatives ranging from events totraining and late night shopping tostreet washing.

But, the BID won this three-yearpilot from a turnout of just onequarter of the traders.

This, admitted chairman Ken Wil-liams, left it with a challenge to dem-onstrate to those who chose not tovote and the 27% of those who didbother and voted ‘no’ in the poll thattheir money was being spent wisely.

“By the end of the three years ofoperation we will have achieved agreat deal to improve the city cen-tre as a great place to visit, shop, anddo business,” he says today as BIDbegins consulting with traders aboutwhat they think it has brought.

“We are already seeing more andmore towns and cities go down theBID route.

“In a time of severe public sectorcut-backs those towns and cities thatalready operate, or are planning tooperate, BIDs will see their influ-ence and achievements continue togrow.

“Whilst we might not be able tocompete on an equal basis with thelikes of Liverpool One and the Traf-ford Centre we can, at least, ensurethat Preston provides a credible al-ternative.”

BID goes on to list highlightsincluding a programme of eventswhich have brought in more than150,000 people to the city centre,not least with the Rock in the Parkevent in Avenham Park in summer2009, the successful launch of alate-night shopping campaign andwinning Purple Flag accreditationwhich highlights the city’s nightlifeas some of the best in the country.

James Kok, who runs his father’sAndrew Kok Lighting store onFriargate, feels the three-times-a-year Lancashire Market events hasbrought a long-term benefit.

He says: “On the days it happenswe’ve lost trade, but on the positivethere are 8,000 or 10,000 not fromthe area people walking past whomay come back another day.

“You do not know, it’s short-termpain but long term-gain for morefootfall on the street which is whatwe are after.”

Down the street, long-serving flo-rist Margaret Mason, who admitsto having had concerns about theBID levy, agrees the markets havebrought “a wonderful buzz” back tothe street, which has suffered frombeing severed from the rest of thecity centre by the ring road.

The initial concerns of many wereabout the cost of the levy on alreadystretched budgets.

This, says chef Paul Heathcotewho runs a restaurant on WinckleySquare, will be one of the toughestarguments BID will have to win asit moves towards its re-election bidlater this year.

He says: “Everyone I talk with at

the moment is saying about having agood week or a bad week, whereas afew years ago we would talk about agood quarter or a good month.

“Things are far more short-termand that is why getting businessesto make a decision on a long-termaim like this is going to be really dif-ficult.

“That is not the way it shouldbe because, in a perfect world, weshould all be thinking more long-term but it is difficult to think likethat when things are as they are.”

The restaurateur, however, ad-mits to being a supporter of the BIDdespite it doing little to lift trade forhis business.

“I think these are things that weshould be doing as a city, if we can-not do something to make ourselvesdifferent from the competition,then we shouldn’t be in business,”he adds.

When the BID ran a poll of trad-ers last year, it came back saying that

75% were pleased with the work itwas doing, but that there was stillwork to do on parts of the main Fri-argate and Fishergate high streets.

Andrew Kok would go along withthat assessment.

He says: “I think collectivelyyou’ve got more power rather thanindividual people trying to get peo-ple in. I don’t think we have had theresources available to us as opposedto a pot of money the BID has.

“If it’s distributed correctly thenit helps us because the Debenhamsand other big retailers are contrib-uting substantially more than our-selves.

“Ours is a small contributions inthe scheme of things.”

BacktothepollsTheBusiness ImprovementDistrict isduetogoback to thepolls later thisyearas itseeks tobe re-electedbyPreston’s traders.SUPPORTOURSHOPSreports.

IN THE CHAIR: Ken Williams believes BID has been a success

THE latest Support Our Shops confi-dence barometer has shown confidenceamong Lancashire’s retailers has dipped.

Our fortnightly research showed theaverage confidence dropped from 2.9index points two weeks ago to just 2.2 in-dex points despite an increase in traders’confidence of their local trading environ-ment and ability to take on new staff.Theaverage readings showed:

l +0.4 rating of traders expecting totake on new workers;

l +3.1 rating of traders expecting toboost sales;

l +2.3 rating of traders’ confidence intheir own trading area;

l +3.1 rating of traders’ overall confi-dence in the market.

l The Support Our Shops confidencebarometer asked a sample of small busi-nesses to rate their confidence in fourmain index areas between -10 and +10index points.







Are you feelingMerlin’s magic?IT is now nearly four months since theChancellor George Osborne promised toget Britain’s four biggest banks lendingto small businesses.The deal, dubbed Operation Merlin,promised to make Royal Bank of Scot-land, HSBC, Barclays, Lloyds TSB andSantander commit £190 billion of creditavailable this year.Of this commitment, £76 billion wasavailable to smalle businesses - a hikeof £10 billion on the money they lent in2010.But, is this money coming through toyour business?We want to hear from you about yourexperiences - good and bad - with thebanks.You can call us on 01772 838162 or [email protected].


HAPPY HERE:: Butchers Paul and Joanne Gobin swapped the high street for the market two years ago - and never looked back

In more than four decades workingon Chorley’s historic market, thereis not much John Brennand has notseen.

The veteran trader believesthat when the changes, battles andmakeovers are put one side, the se-cret of a thriving market is lookingafter them.

“The problem is nowadays is thata lot of councils do not look after themarket like they have done here inChorley” he says, “it is like your ownhome, if you don’t look after them,they start to fall down.

“Everything deteriorates and itbecomes not worth anything.

“It goes hand-in-hand, you havegot to do your markets up to makeyour customers want to come andbuy and to attract new stallholders- that is the only way more peoplewill arrive.”

He recalls opening his first stallback in the 1970s when the aisles ofChorley’s market were so packedyou could barely move.

Today, he has seven stalls andopened a shop nearby to compli-ment them and was part of thegroup which helped fight off a bidfrom a private operator to take themarket off the council’s hands, andthat was one of the best things theycould have done.

John says: “We get on really wellwith the council, they have helpedus put in new floors, lighting, ceiling,spotlights, all sorts.

“You walk in and its nice andclean looking, the council have real-ly gone to town to really help us, andwe really appreciate their help.”

On the same market, butchersPaul and Joanne Gobin have alsoseen an improvement since theyswapped the high street for the mar-ket hall two years ago.

Paul explains that setting up hisstall as the recessionary winds sweptaround the retail world in 2009, wasa gamble worth taking.

He says: “We took it on when wedid was because if we could make itwork then obviously when the econ-omy picked up, people have got a bitmore money to spend, things wouldget better and better.

“It was a calculated risk becausewe realised the markets are not asbusy as they were 10 years ago, butwe are busier than when we tookover two years ago.

“We bought this business in amiddle of a recession and we aremanaging to make a wage.”

Two years ago, a government re-port into the future of markets val-ued the UK’s portfolio of markets,like the historic covered market inPreston and those in the traditionalmarket towns of Chorley, Leyland,Garstang and Kirkham, at £1.1 bil-lion.

The investment into these mar-kets differs from town to town, butin Leyland the council has unques-tionably put its money where itsmouth is.

Howerd Booth, regenerationmanager at South Ribble Coun-cil, said its latest investment was£300,000 in creating on street mar-kets around the Hough Lane areawhich has breathed new life into thearea.

He says: “Leyland is never go-ing to build a Tithebarn like Pres-ton wants to or even be a Chorley,so what we have tried to do here isenhance the feel of a small shoppingstreet.”

Dianne Holder, who trades froma bakery stall in the indoor market,recalls when the town’s outdoormarket moved indoors.

She says: “It was quite slow in thebeginning and it took a while for alot of people new to Leyland to evenknow that there was a market inhere.

“But gradually over the past 10years we have built up, the regularscame back, so definitely we havemade a mark here.”

The promise of regeneration haslong been on the agenda up the roadon Preston’s covered market as partof the city’s much-heralded Tithe-barn regeneration project.

That proposes a scheme whichwould see the market glazed in and

come a more modern-looking fea-ture.

But, stallholder Peter Abbott,who has traded on the market formore than 12 years, believes the‘limbo’ surrounding the project hasled to a steady running down of themarket.

He says: “I think it’s the uncer-tainty of the Tithebarn project, be-cause a lot of traders have alreadyhave left and with the differentthings that go on in the news, peopleactually think there’s no market inPreston now.

“This end of town around theFishmarket is just run down, there’sbeen a serious lack of investment,and that’s partly due to Tithebarn.”

GrowingmarketTheyare theoldest traders inmany townsandcities,buthowareLancashire’smarketssurviving thesqueeze?SUPPORTOURSHOPShits thestreets tofindout.

TRADING PLACE: John Brennand on his Chorley Market stall

highstreetheroMargaretMason

IF you talk toanyone abouttrading on Pres-ton’s Friargatehigh street, theywill know Mar-garet Mason.The Freckleton-born florist hasmade the streether home for thelast 50 years andseen her businessboom beyond theconfines of her cosy shop there.From the tiny slither of a shop sheopened alongside the old Duke of Yorkpub, she now has a huge warehouse ata secret location in the city from whereshe plans major events up and down thecountry.Margaret says: “It’s not just flowerswe do, it is all kinds of props, we haveplants, pillars, balustrades, I even madea sculpture completely out of apples forone place.“It makes me laugh, people come in andspeak to us about our work and say ‘cor,this is a real business, isn’t it?’“I always say ‘well, what did you thinkwe did?’”Her clientele speaks for itself withevents including The Queen, Bill Clin-ton and musicians such as Lionel Ritchieand Jimmy Young on the guest lists.But, while customer service is the keyto the success of her business, you willnot hear mention of ‘customer servicemaximisation’ here.“It’s just looking after folk the rightway,” says Margaret in her familiarPrestonian accent.“I love Preston people, they are loyaland they call a spade a spade.“They don’t like people who are jumpedup.“In fact you are honoured, I have notgot my pinny on because I am talkingto you, it’s not often you see me withoutthat.”







Are you a hero?DO you put every hour into making yourhigh street business work?If so, Support Our Shops wants to hearabout you and your business, to fea-ture in our weekly ‘High Street Hero’spotlight.Get in touch with us by e-mailing [email protected] or calling us on 01772838162.

SUPPORT OUR SHOPS REPORTING TEAM:n Chris McBriartyn Danny Leen Surya Jonckheeren Michael Morrison

TrAders: Paul Wilson and Jason Brew, from PC Carpets and Beds, claims parking is a major issue

WILL Bagley does not hold out a lotof hope that this Thursday will makeany difference.

The deputy manager of the RicherSounds electrical store has been leftdisillusioned by watching the soulbeing ripped out of shops on ChurchStreet where he trades and believesthose in charge around the corner atPreston’s Town Hall are to blame.

He believes the council’s policy toregularly increase parking chargeswhile neighbouring districts, suchas South Ribble and Chorley, havemade them free is evidence of a lackof understanding of the plight of citycentre traders.

“You can occasionally park forfree, but I do not think councillorscare any more,” he says. “We havepeople ringing up all the time askingwhere to park but there’s nowhere.

“We have to pay for people topark and then take it out of the till.”

It is a view shared by Paul Wilsonand Jason Brew, who run the PCCarpets and Beds store in the formerWoolwich bank on the corner ofLune Street and Fishergate.

Paul says: “We park half-a-mileaway, because there is no parkingpermits for businesses around here.Something like that would be idealbecause it is a struggle.

“You should be able to get somesort of permit for working in the citycentre, a free permit in one of themulti-storey car parks for five days aweek, 52 weeks a year.”

With savage cutbacks, the chancesof such giveaways by whicheverpolitical party rules the roost atPreston Town Hall after Thursday’s

vote seem unlikely. The city’sBusiness Improvement District(BID), the body behind a numberof initiatives including the recentintroduction of late-night shoppingon Wednesday evenings, recentlymanaged to convince the council tooffer a few hours free parking at itscity centre car parks.

The other big talking point amongtraders is the city council’s ability toget the long-awaited regeneration ofthe city centre moving.

The Tithebarn dilemma, currentlystalled until June by the latest legalchallenge to the £700m retail-ledregeneration, is something theycannot wait to see.

James Kok, who runs his family’sAndrew Kok Lighting store onFriargate, says: “That could give usthe revitalisation that we need butat the moment we are losing tradeto places like Manchester, they arepositive and growing.”

He has praise for initiatives likethe BID-organised LancashireMarkets, which brought 32,000people to Friargate this Easter, butadmits he and many other traderswould swap such events for a bitof free parking, a rebate on someof its business rates – or some newhigh street names coming to the citycentre.

Will Bagley agrees, saying: “Shopsare shutting on Fishergate and thebiggest shop on the street is a charityshop, that says it all about Preston.

“I would like to know Preston wasput on the map as a retail centre.The place should look like a niceplace to come.”

BusinessofvotingThousandswill go to theballotbox thisweek tovote in local elections.SUPPORTOURSHOPSspeaks tocandidatesandtradersabout thekey issuesbeingdebated

losing TrAde: James Kok, of Andrew Kok lighting

THE Support Our Shops confidencebarometer has shown Lancashire’s highstreets are positive about driving sales.

Our fortnightly research showed thethe average confidence stands at 2.7index points, but traders gave a rating of4.7 points on their hopes for sales.

But, the average confidence fell on the4.1 point we had a fortnight ago.

The average readings showed:l -0.1 rating of traders expecting to takeon new workers;l +4.7 rating of traders expecting toboost sales;l +2.0 rating of traders confidence intheir own trading area;l +4.2 rating of traders overall confi-dence in the market.l The Support Our Shops confidencebarometer asked a sample of small busi-nesses to rate their confidence in fourmain index areas between -10 and +10index points.eric Fazackerly, deputy leader

of the Conservative groupon Preston Council, said:“We are very keen to do all wecan to help business, not justto boost employment locally butalso to make sure the city hasan attractive offer for shoppers.Preston is ideally positioned on themotorway network, between twomajor cities and close to airports. Itis imperative we get a Lancashire-wide Local Enterprise Partnership(LEP) going to take advantage ofour position and take advantageof everything the governmentis offering. I also want to seemore really high-quality officeaccommodation in the city.”

danny gallagher, leader ofthe liberal democrat group onPreston Council: “We have towork with traders to support themwherever we can. That could bethrough reduced rates or throughlooking at improving parkingprovision in the city centre, butit has to be sustainable. Smalltraders have a huge part to play

in making Preston a place peoplewant to visit, live in and spendmoney in and we have to work withthem to make sure that happens.I know people are frustrated aboutthe delays over Tithebarn. Onething I can guarantee is that if wecan overcome this next legal hurdlewith Tithebarn, the developers arechomping at the bit to get started.”

John Collins, leader of thelabour group on PrestonCouncil: “Businesses need oursupport now and we are workingwith a number of different peopleto ensure we can bring them thatsupport. The council is working withthe University of Central Lancashireto find incubation units for start-upbusinesses in Preston and withbusiness support bodies like Orviaand Shout Preston to be sure weare supporting them where we can.The government’s cuts in publicspending have hit us already andwhile we have worked to keepredundancies to a minimum, thefact is that people have less moneyand that hurts businesses.”

21Lancashire Evening Post,Tuesday, April 26, 2011www.lep.co.uk






Use them orlose themTHE Support Our Shops campaign isapproaching the six-month mark and wehave already highlighted a number ofissues facing our high street, celebratedsome of our most entrepreneurial tradersand, hopefully, given you an interestingread.But, has our campaign got you wantingto hit your local high street and supportyour local traders?The latest update on our Support OurShops blog asks whether you are ready todo you bit for the high street.It says: “It is easy to walk past theseshops on your way to the supermarket orretail giant, but these places rarely offerthe same service as your small shops.“You cannot put a price on personal ex-pertise either, something our high streetheroes offer.”Do you agree? Disagree? Or think weshould be looking at something different?We want to hear what you have to sayabout our campaign - so join the debateby visiting our blog.

You can keep up to date with thecampaign by visiting our online blog at:http://supportourshops.wordpress


MONKEY BUSINESS: Chorley businessman Ian Kearney is one of a number of businesses looking to cash in on Friday’s Royal wedding

IAN Kearney knows that when youare trying to prepare for one of thebiggest days in history, you do notneed kids running around your feet.

That is why the owner of theCheeky Monkeys’ play and partycentre in Chorley is looking to openwhen the country comes to a stand-still for the wedding of Prince Wil-liam and Kate Middleton on Friday.

He hopes that children visiting thecentre can both use up their energypretending to be the Royal couplefor the day, and give their parentsa chance to prepare for the rest ofthe day.

“Knowing how busy you are go-ing to be depends on the weather,”he says, “and being an indoor envi-ronment most people will spend theBank Holiday weekend at home oroutdoors somewhere.

“The succession of bank holidaysmeans things are a little disjointedfor us, but watching the Royal wed-ding is a once-in-a-lifetime opportu-nity for our customers, so we have tomake sure we are open for them.”

It is estimated that Britons willspend £163m on souvenirs with one-in-five adults expected to buy some-thing to mark the day with an aver-age spend of £17 each.

A number of retailers - includingthe Lancashire manufacturer of adog poop scoop - have been stockingsouvenirs for months with huge highstreet budgets blown on marketingand advertising stock related to thebig day.

But, Longridge trader Leslie Sio-diak, who celebrates her birthday onFriday, is not convinced that people

will part with their cash for souve-nirs, but believes the wedding couldstill benefit the high street.

The owner of accessories shopHush on Berry Lane says: “I thinkwhat it will give me or give all of andus is the feel-good factor and thatfeel-good factor encourages peo-ple to spend and that is where it willbenefit us.”

Her products actually strike simi-larities with the wedding and shesays she is not “treating this eventany differently” to any other familyoccasion.

Browsing over a combination ofromantic and patriotic items on hershelves, she adds: “Put them togeth-er and you have the Royal wedding.

“I think it will help sales, I certain-ly hope it well.”

There is less optimism from KathBriggs, who runs Swift’s Hardwarejust down the road on Berry Lane.

She says the shop is “hoping tobenefit” from the little Royal stockit has on offer, but admits: “Wehaven’t much to benefit from it.

“It is affecting the business be-cause for the fact that we have togive the staff time off so we are run-ning with minimum staff, but we areopen the wedding.”

It is estimated nearly 10,000 peo-ple will travel down to London fromthe North West to join more than600,000 people expected to descendupon the capital.

RSM Tenon, the accountancyfirm which has offices in Prestonand Chorley, believe the cost of thelost man hours could top £6 billion- putting the overall cost of the April

bank holiday period to in excess of£30 billion.

Carl Jackson, head of the com-pany’s recovery division, said: “Wehaven’t ever seen a flurry of holi-days so close together, outside ofDecember, before and it will effec-tively mean that certain industrieswill close for business for the secondhalf of April.

“This news shouldn’t take busi-nesses by surprise and there is stillenough time to effectively mitigateagainst UK plc closing down.

“Businesses can’t rely on think-ing that everyone is in the same boatand not take action.

“It is vital that business ownersmaintain their cashflow in order toprotect the financial stability of thebusiness.”

But, retail consultant Anna Web-ster believes that businesses shouldview the national day of celebra-tion as an opportunity rather than a

threat to your business.She believes the day is more of

an opportunity for those businessestrading outdoors.

She says: “If the weather is asgood on Friday as it has been for thelast few days, there are bound to bea lot of people wanting to go out andenjoy the day in the sunshine.

“That is a huge opportunity forthe cafes, bars, ice cream vans, any-one who trades outdoors.

“If you ask me, the worst thing aretailer could do on Friday is takethe day off.

“We are in the middle of an eco-nomic dip when people need a bit offeel good factor to shop.”

CrowninggloryOnFriday, thecountrywill come toastandstill for theRoyalwedding,butSUPPORTOURSHOPSfindsour localtraders ina race tocash inon thebigday.

HAPPY COUPLE: The wedding of Prince William and KateMiddleton is expected to draw 600,000 people to London

highstreetheroShaunLiptrotSHAUN Liptrotcombines pas-sion with hisbusiness.His RivingtonBikes shop onMarket Street,Chorley tradeshis reputationon his commit-ment and serv-ice to customers.His customers warrant a particularlevel of care, and in turn this commit-ment and attentiveness, be believes winshim customers, and has enabled him totrade for so long.For Shaun, it is not about making asmuch money from each customer.It is, however, getting the right bike, tai-lored for the customer, without havingto pay more than they should have to, ashe explains: “We tend to help people byguiding them in the right way throughmeasuring people up. We don’t just sella bike.“When they come in, we spend quitea lot of time with them, especially onthe road side of it, we stick them onthe turbo trainers, measure them upproperly and we get everything comfyfor them.“We are asking our customers questionsconstantly all the way through any sale.“We spend a lot of time with people andfind out what they actually want, notjust what we can sell them.“At the end of the day, they can comein with £1,000 and go away with a £700bike because they don’t need to spendall that money – the bikes has got to beright for them.”

24 Lancashire Evening Post,Tuesday, April 19, 2011 www.lep.co.uk







MAKING HAY: Shaun Wiggnall runs The Prestonian hot food stall on Preston’s historic Flag Market - when the sun’s out

shaun Wiggnall insists he doesnot know any sun dances, but hecertainly worships every day the sunshines on Preston’s Flag Market.

he runs The Prestonian hot foodstall on the historic square and ad-mits that without a bit of sunshine,he would not be in business.

“The weather does have an im-pact, if we had no summer we justwouldn’t exist, we would have toclose down,” he says, “when thesun is out we do a lot more businessbecause there are more people out-side.

“We do not even open when theweather is bad.

“If you don’t even make enoughto cover your wages, there is just nopoint in being here.”

he was one of a number of busi-ness owners across Lancashirewhich welcomed temperatures,which topped 20 degrees Celsiusthis weekend, and cannot wait forwhat promises to be scorching East-er weekend to come.

The Met Office is predicting theweather will top 20 degrees again -making it hotter than some parts ofthe Mediterranean.

nick Walters, another stall-holderon the Flag Market with his runs hiseatfit.co.uk drinks stall, has even putup gazebos to keep the heat off hiscustomers.

he says: “Last week when it wasreally warm we were rammed allday; especially with the cooler drinkssuch as milkshakes and smoothies.

“On nice days we get regulars andnew faces which is great.

“We stay open during the winter

because the regulars keep comingback to us, but the amount we takeis minuscule in comparison to thesummer.”

sue Post, who runs her family’sice cream van which has been serv-ing the local community since 1920,is another business which is benefit-ing from the good weather.

she adds: “Last weekend wasbrilliant because it was the first niceweather of the year and kids hadbroken up from school, but now theweather has gone a bit cooler peo-ple notice it more and so hopefullythe weather picks up again this weekand into Easter.”

The British Retail Consortium(BRC) estimates that warm weathercan double the number of shoppersvisiting the average uK town or city,bringing with them twice as muchspending power.

But, as Louise Coupe, the co-owner and manager of the Old sta-tion Cafe in Longridge admits, youdo not have to run an ice cream vanto make the most of the valuableopportunity the good weather pro-vides.

she has recently introduced anew menu to welcome in the sum-mer and made a few more additionsto try and get people through herdoors.

Louise says: “We are lookingforward to an early summer, so wehave just invested in some outdoorfurniture when we had the beauti-ful weather and I have got a new icecream freezer in.”

Down the road on Berry Lanein the Ribble Valley town, the co-

owner of The shoe Gallery, alistairsheret, believes that Lancashire’shigh streets have bigger fish to fry.

he says: “We’ve been more cau-tious because of the general busi-ness environment and the fact thatretailing is going to be quite a toughgig as was witnessed by the figuresthat just came out which showedthat March’s sales fall was the larg-est in history.”

however, he does recognise thebenefit of having a good summer, hesays: “Last year, the summer startedvery strongly for us in sales term, wehad very good weather in May andJune.

“as soon as the kids broke off forthe holiday, it all turned to rain, peo-ple are generally not going to wearsling-back sandals when the streetsare dripping with rain.”

In Chorley, come rain or shine,Rivington Bikes can handle all-weather and terrains whether he isselling a BMX or mountain bikes.

Owner shaun Liptrot says theweather doesn’t help but they dosell their products all year round.“We need the nice weather so peo-ple start riding their bikes.

“We do get a lot of road racersand pro riders around here becauseof the circuits and what they can doround here.”

While the rest of us throw on askirt or a pair of shorts and head outunder the baking sun, remember theplight of the business owners whohave survived the harsh winter andrely on it to keep fighting for an-other year

so go buy a pair of summer shoes,a meal, drink and ice-cream, and en-joy summer and support our shops.

KeeponshiningAsLancashire shapesup fora scorchingEasterweekend,SUPPORTOURSHOPStalk to tradersabouthowtheyaremakingsaleswhile thesunshines.

DRINKS ON ME: Nick Walters of eatfit.co.uk

Advert ID:WPR87611328.111 mm by20 mm

Booking Code:WPR876113Customer ID:Orvia Group Ltd

Colour:1First Appearance:31/03/11Last Appearance:27/04/11

Advert ID:WPR88400457.722 mm by30 mm

Booking Code:WPR884004Customer ID:Garstang Cabs

Colour:1First Appearance:16/04/11Last Appearance:21/04/11

Advert ID:WPR88092428.111 mm by17.453 mmBooking Code:WPR880924

Customer ID:Slater Buliders LimitedColour:1

First Appearance:12/04/11Last Appearance:28/04/11

Corner ShopBLACKPOOL

To view call JASON orMICHELLE 07795461972

Small shop 300 sq ft suitmultitude of uses STPP, NewLease, favourable terms

Corner of Charnley Rd &Coronation St, Blackpool

SHOPTO LET

1000’sof homes

online

Advert ID:Business57.722 mm by7 mmBooking Code:Business

Customer ID:Colour:1

First Appearance:Last Appearance:

Advert ID:Indust & Commercial Prop28.111 mm by7 mm

Booking Code:Indust & Commercial PropCustomer ID:Colour:1


Advert ID:Businesses for Sale57.722 mm by7 mm

Booking Code:Businesses for SaleCustomer ID:Colour:1


highstreetheroEileenHardacre

IT is only 12months sinceInternational AidTrust’s EileenHardacre openeda charity shop inthe Lane Endsarea of Prestonand already herneighbouringbusinesses areseeing a lift in trade.The lure of selling clothes and hard-to-find items, including wedding dresses,has filled a niche in this area of city andbrought knock-on benefits to the area.Eileen says she has no intention ofslowing down despite working six daysa week and managing eight charityshops across the county for the MuchHoole-based charity, which helps peoplein some of the world’s most deprivedcorners.She says: “Most of the shops I run arein areas where they are not in the towncentre, so they are in the community.“The money we raise from the shopsgoes to help the poor and needy and wetry to put them in areas for people whocannot get into town, some people whoshop with us cannot even afford the bus.“I have worked with charities for 40years and for the big charities shops too,but when I have had shops in town cen-tres and you do get a lot of opposition.“We attract a very with a different sortof customer which benefits the area wetrade in, we bring people to areas whichotherwise might not have come here.“That has to be a benefit not just for usbut for our neighbours as well.”

Business

Businesses for Sale

1000’sof homes

online

Industrial & CommercialProperty

MANAGEDOFFICES

INCLUSIVE RATES INTHE LEYLAND AREATEL: 01772 422242

MODERN RURALINDUSTRIAL UNIT7,500 sqft with offices &large concrete yard and 4bedroom detatchedproperty, located 3 milesfrom Longridge. For sale,may Let, may split.Tel 07800 542743

TAXI COMPANYWyre Borough Licence

Includes Vehicles, Account Work, ContractWork + Excellent Customer Base

Price For Quick SaleCall For Details

07826836513

RememberWhen replying to

advertisements it would

help us and the advertiser if

you would kindly mention

this newspaper as the

source of your inquiry.

Thank you!

21




STARTING OUT: Best friends Joanne Wilson and Melissa Jordan are among a growing number of shops repopulating the high street

STARTING up in business duringthe kind of spending squeeze mightsound like a job for a masochist.

But, for Helen Cairns helpingco-found her Label independentfashion shop on Cannon Street inPreston city centre was a painlessexperience.

“We only opened two weeks ago,”she says, “We looked around forpremises but thought this was thebest place for us.

“It is nearest to the high streetand it’s getting busier down this sidestreet.”

But, just next door at alternativegift store, Kaelia, the going was notquite so good for owner KathrynLittleton when she was relocating atthe end of last year.

The opening was hampered bydelays and hopes of signing a leasein early December quickly disap-peared.

She says: “We didn’t end up sign-ing it until middle of December; sowe weren’t able to be open in timefor Christmas.”

But, unlike her neighbour whohailed with the Preston Business Im-provement District (BID), Kathrynsimply made a call to the city’s coun-cil to sort out paying her rates.

“Dealing with the council was ac-tually fairly smooth,” she recalls, “Ittook a few weeks but they came in totake some measurements and a fewweeks later I ended up with a bill onthe door.”

The pair are one of a growingnumber of independents which arefilling some of the voids on Lanca-shire’s battle-scarred high streets.

One of the county’s best-knownstart-up stars believes that these va-cancies, which Support Our Shopsreported has left more than 100empty shops in Preston alone, arean opportunity to enterprising re-tailers.

Kirsty Henshaw, who was bornand bred in the city, rose to famewhen she secured backing fromtycoons Peter Jones and DuncanBannatyne on hit television showDragon’s Den to launch her frozendessert business, Worthenshaws.

She says: “It’s all about having theright mindset, you have to be posi-tive or it is never going to get off theground.

“Inevitably you have to look tospeculate to accumulate, so it mightbe that you have to be able to affordto lose a few pounds in the start-upstages.

“Then you just have to go for it.”Business management consult-

ant-turned-successful retailer SueJackson, who runs Papillon Lingerieon Cannon Street, believes that it ispossible to set up in business withouthaving a huge budget of your own.

The shop’s co-founder, who wasable to find the money to set herselfup, thinks that a solid business plancan still win over even the tough-est bank manager into providingfinance.

She says: “You need a sound busi-ness plan and then you have to stickto it throughout that start-up proc-ess.

“You have to revisit it month af-ter month and change things as andwhen you need to.”

These foundations are crucialto help get a business started, addsindependent retail specialist CarolJackson, but ultimately the traderwill live or die on the strength of theidea behind it.

She has assisted a number ofsmall traders in the Leyland area toget started and believes Lancashireis proving a fertile breeding groundfor new start-ups.

The former university lecturersays: “I have had six or seven peo-ple come to me in the last couple ofmonths who have found themselvesout of work and wanted to start uptheir own shops.

“You tend to find that becausethey have spent so long in the safetyof employment they have gone along way towards developing theidea, but not really thought aboutthe nuts and bolts of getting financeand starting up.

“That coupled with landlords be-ing a bit more flexible about renting

out properties because there are thatmany more available on the highstreet means that there are opportu-nities out there at the moment.

Friends Joanne Wilson and Melis-sa Jordan took one of those oppor-tunities when they found an emptyshop close to Preston’s universitydistrict on Friargate Brow.

They admit that they followedtheir dreams when they got the cashtogether to set up small fashionstore, Wonderland Vintage,

Joanne says: “It is really nerve-wrecking, we’ve not done anythinglike this and we’re just going to tryreally hard.

“I’ve worked in shops, but nothingon this scale.”

OurstartupstarsThespendingsqueezemayhave tightenedthingsupon thehighstreet, butSUPPORTOURSHOPSfindsplentyofentrepreneurslooking to takeup thefight.

DRAGON SLAYER: Kirsty Henshaw now talks to groups about hersuccess as well as running her owjn business

TRADERS remain confident in theirability to drive sales and improve theirbusinesses, according to the latest resultsof our Business Barometer.

Our poll showed an average of 4.1index points recorded for companies’confidence in improving sales with 6.4points for overall confidence levels.

But, few businesses felt confident theywould recruit new staff with a negativerating of -1.6 index points the average.

l -1.6 rating of traders expecting totake on new workers;

l +4.1 rating of traders expecting toboost sales;

l +1.6 rating of traders confidence intheir own trading area;

l +6.4 rating of traders overall confi-dence in the market.

l The Support Our Shops confidencebarometer asked a sample of small busi-nesses to rate their confidence in fourmain index areas between -10 and +10index points.

highstreetheroKirstyReaderAN arts sup-plies shopis showingoff what itscustomers aredoing with theirpurchases.Granthams onCorporationStreet in Pres-ton is encourag-ing people to submit artwork which willbe displayed on the shop’s walls with thebest in class receiving a prize.General manager Kirsty Reader said:“It was a combination of getting custom-ers through the door so they could seewhat we do and show other customerand different visitors to the shop whatthey can do with the different productsthat we sell.“People come in regularly but we havenever had the chance to see what theyare producing until now.”

21Lancashire Evening Post,Tuesday, March 29, 2011www.lep.co.uk




IT’S GOOD TO TALK: Simon Turner, managing director at marketing agency Freshfield, believes effective promotion is crucial

BRITAIN’S biggest businessesspend hundreds of millions ofpounds on advertising their prod-ucts every year.

Whether it is adverts through lo-cal newspapers, television, radio orthe internet, the cost of advertisingcampaigns is light years away fromeven the dreams of traders at theend of Church Street in Preston citycentre.

But, for Peter Lord, who sells rarecollectible items such as stamps andcigarette cards from his PhilatelicGallery, that does not mean adver-tising is any less important.

“I am the only shop selling stampsin Lancashire, people are buyingstamps as investments,” he says.

Though, with the exception ofpassing trade, how do such potentialinvestors know this eclectic cubby-hole tucked away down the end ofone of Preston’s most neglectedstreets know his shop is even there?

“It’s word of mouth, mostly,” saysPeter, “I’m on the internet and inthe Yellow Pages, but I’ve not donethat myself.

“I rely on word of mouth to tellpeople where I am because there’snowhere else to go.

“You cannot get these items any-where else.”

Two doors down at travel agentsCloud 9 Travel, Ebrahim Dedat,has grown from an internet businessfrom a box room at home into a highstreet hit in just four years.

He believes the secret of his suc-cess is not being shy.

“Every couple of months we willleaflet the whole of Preston – that’sthe best way for us to attract the

most attention,” he says.The company has also embraced

the new phenomena of advertisingthrough social networking websites,most notably Facebook, and is al-ready seeing the benefits.

Ebrahim says: “We get a lot ofpeople who find us on Facebookand call us back and we get a lot ofhoneymoon bookings through it.

“We do advertise in newspaperstoo and that works for us.”

In Chorley, Lance Catterall whoruns his self-named menswear storeCheapside is also a strong advocateof Facebook, but goes a step furtherby texting his customers to chat.

He says: “We’re quite success-ful at the moment with Facebook– when we put new products on itjogs their memory.

“We put specific things on for cer-tain people and then they can tellother people.”

Emma Martin, a director at mar-keting firm Stage 9, said it had seena boom in the number of its smallbusiness clients embracing the pow-er of the internet.

She says: “If you can hold a con-versation on your market stall, inyour pub, shop, church or sportsclub you can get involved.

“All you need is internet access,an open mind, and a few basic “do’sand don’ts” you can grow your busi-ness through it.”

But, the Facebook generation isnot for everyone.

Steve Boyes, the co-owner of Ray-mond K Boyes on Poulton Street,Kirkham, said he preferred to stickto more traditional means of spreadthe word about his picture framing

and dolls’ house specialist shop.“We can’t spend the time ex-

perimenting on whether somethingworks or not, we’re all about word ofmouth – once we’ve got customers,we hang on to them.

“They recommend us to others,we never get any complaints.

“When people ring up and askhow much something costs, we have450 different colours and we can’treally explain that on the phone.”

The businessman is fiercely proudof the quality of the range of prod-ucts he sells and believes a smalladvert in a specialist magazine topromote its range of dolls’ housesis what it needs to succeed, and SueMcNulty agrees.

The owner of fashion store PrettyWoman on Station Road, Kirkham,believes you cannot get better thanword of mouth and traditional news-paper advertising.

She says: “I’ve been here 18 yearsand advertise in the local paper be-cause I like to support my local com-munity.”

And, as for the internet, the shopkeeper isn’t keen to convert.

“I can’t even get online at the mo-ment,” she says.

Whether it is time-served localbusinesses advertising in the lo-cal papers or trade magazines ortrusting long-standing customers tospread the word about their businessor the likes of Ebrahim Dedat atCloud 9 Travel using bold, dynamicadvertising campaigns, it is clear youcannot afford not to shout aboutyour business at the current time.

Simon Turner, of marketing agen-cy Freshfield, says it often advisesmany of his clients to push on adver-tising even when times are tight.

He says: “I always tell businessesto spend more time in your businessthan on it, find out what makes yourbusiness different and never miss achance to impress or an opportunityto sell.

“Marketing communications isnot a dark art, it should be a simpleprocess. Have a message, have aplan, talk to your customers and tai-lor your methods accordingly.”

ShoutingoutloudPromotingyourbusiness iskey to thehealthof thehighstreet, today theSUPPORTOURSHOPSteamlooksathowLancashire’s traderspromote themselves

DYNAMIC: Cloud 9 Travel’s Ebrahim Dedat embraces social media

OUR latest Support Our Shops confi-dence barometer has shown a fractionalrise in positivity is on the increase onLancashire’s high streets.

Our fortnightly research showed theaverage confidence rose from 1.55 indexpoints to 1.6 points this year with confi-dence in their ability to boost sales risingto an average of 3.5 points.

The average readings showed:l +0.7 rating of traders expecting to

take on new workers;l +3.5 rating of traders expecting to

boost sales;l +0.9 rating of traders confidence in

their own trading area;l +1.3 rating of traders overall confi-

dence in the market.l The Support Our Shops confidence

barometer asked a sample of small busi-nesses to rate their confidence in fourmain index areas between -10 and +10index points.

highstreetheroVittoriaDefelice

VITTORIA and Melania Defelice haveevery reason to celebrate.The sisters have enjoyed so much suc-cess with theirboutique CocoBoo on CannonStreet, Prestonthat they have justopened a secondstore in Halifax,West Yorkshire.They have evendevised a new payof paying the twonew employeesthey have hired.Vittoria says: “Our Saturday girl,Michelle, likes to be paid in stockbecause she cannot always afford theclothes.“It helps them and it helps us and wedon’t have to worry about paying £45.“If we could do it with everyone wewould.”

20 21Lancashire Evening Post,Tuesday, March 22, 2011 www.lep.co.uk Lancashire Evening Post,Tuesday, March 22, 2011www.lep.co.uk

I WAS down in Londonlast weekend and whenyou look around the bars,shops and restaurants– even the mediocre ones– it is easy to see why thegovernment paints such arosy picture.The boom in tourism in thecapital paints something ofa false picture which yousimply would not find any-where outside the M25.I am sure they get all thefigures to tell them thingsare somewhat different,but when you see the samething five days-a-weekand then go back to theirconstituencies at weekendsjust as trade picks up, itcan create a gut feeling.If the Chancellor GeorgeOsborne paid a visit toPreston on a weekdaymorning or Clitheroe ona Sunday afternoon, forexample, he would see avery different story.This context is somethingwhich I think he couldreally do with seeing beforehe stands up in the Houseof Commons to deliverhis Budget tomorrow,but the chances are anyventure to the North willbe to the prosperous partsof Manchester or Leedswhere the rosy picture willbe reinforced.There will be a lot of thingsthat people will be look-ing for from the Budget,whether it is pub landlordsafter a freeze in beer duty,estate agents after changesto stamp duty or the restof us holding our breathabout putting tax up on alitre of petrol.One thing I really cannotsee changing is the rateof VAT, which I expect toremain at 20%.I have heard some interest-ing theories about howyou can fluctuate the levelof VAT, for example forhairdressers or the touristtrade, to stimulate growthin certain industries.It is an interesting theory,but I think it would simplybe too complicated to im-plement and regulate.I would argue that if weare going to change theVAT rate, why not changeit to give the rest of thecountry outside London alower rate than those in thecapital?Then again, turkeys don’tvote for Christmas.

Getoutofthebubble

paulheathcote

lepbusinessweek

Hopingfora liftoutof theredboxAs the country awaits George Osborne’s Budget tomorrow,Lancashire business community tells DAVID COATESwhat they are hoping to hear from the Chancellor.

comment onthis articleat lep.co.uk


Whattheexpertssay

BoX oF tricKs?: George osborne will deliver his first full Budget to the country from 12.15pm on Wednesday

There are a number of thingsI would like to see the Chan-cellor talk about in his Budget,some specific to the manufactur-ing industry, others more gener-ally business-friendly.

No further changes in theVAT rate unless they are goingdownwards, further support forapprenticeships and develop-ment of skills and some realsupport for the new Local en-terprise Partnerships his govern-ment has set up are something Iam sure we all agree would be

beneficial. For the manufac-turing industry, which we haveheard the government talk aboutplacing at the heart of its rebal-ancing of the UK economy, acontinuation or even a speedingup of the reduction in corpora-tion tax he started in last year’semergency Budget, and no fur-ther reductions in capital allow-ances for plant and machineryinvestments.

All manufacturers recognisethe reduction of these levelsfrom 20% to 18% provides adisincentive to investment whenmanufacturing machines canbe anything from £50,000 to inexcess of £1m, which cannot be

healthy. On top of this, a fewmore specific things on my wishlist would include a review of thereduction of Annual InvestmentAllowance from £100,000 to£25,000, no further reductionsin the special rate allowancesand the continuation of supportfor the Manufacturing AdvisoryService.

It would be nice to see MrOsborne talk about all thesethings in tomorrow’s speech, butI think many of us would settlefor some of them.

Simon hancox is managingdirector of Techni-Grind (Pres-ton) Machining.

ThemanufacturerSimonHancox

hoPe: simon hancox

IF duty goes up on beer, itcould be catastrophic for pubswhich are already feeling it af-ter the VAT increase.

I have not put my prices upfrom the VAT increase, be-cause I am waiting for whatcomes from the Budget beforeI have to reprint my menus andreset all the tills, so it could be atreble whammy for me.

Customers are not botheredwhy you are putting up prices,but if a pint of bitter goes upfrom £2.60 to £2.90, they aregoing to vote with their feet andthat is what Mr Osborne has tothink about.

Before he became Chancel-lor he was telling us all aboutthe importance of the local puband now is his chance to provehe meant it and start taxing thesupermarkets which are ridingroughshod over every businessinstead.

You can get beer in the su-

permarkets cheaper than wa-ter these days and yet for everyfour-pack of lager which is soldin the supermarket, the gov-ernment is losing 20p-a-can inVAT it is not collecting - howcan that be right?

If instead they got a grip onthe supermarkets and startedtaking back that 80p in VATfor the four-pack, they wouldbe able give us a break.

Super-strength lagers whichpeople drink in their livingroom are the real problems,let’s tackle them rather than apint of bitter.

If the duty stays as it is onWednesday, I will breathe asigh of relief, but if it doesn’t,Mr Osborne isn’t welcome inmy pub anymore.

Graham rowson is landlordat The Saddle in Lea Town,Preston

ThepublicanGrahamRowson

DUtY: Graham rowson

ALL we can hope for isthat the Chancellor’s talkof the most pro-business,pro-enterprise Budget for ageneration over the last fewweeks come to fruition.

I think he has to look atsteps to reduce the impactof high fuel prices whichare having a massive im-pact on everyone, whetheryou are just a single motor-ist or a business which op-erates a lot of vehicles.

There is obviously fuelduty due to go onto priceson top of increases by theretailers, the recent VATincrease and previousduty increases, so there iscertainly an opportunitythere.

Also, an an employer ofmore than 550 people at myrestaurants in Lancashire, Ibelieve that businesses likemine can play a significant

role in providing employ-ment and supporting ex-actly the kind of enterprisethat the government hasbeen talking about eversince it came into power.

Mr Osborne needs tocontinue giving more op-portunities for businessesto give jobs to people acrossthe country as rising unem-ployment is a real concernfor everyone.

There will be plenty inthe Budget for us to digestwhen the Chancellor sitsdown after tomorrow’sspeech and I just hope thathis promise of pro-business,pro-enterprise reforms areno hollow.

Nigel Dunnington is afranchisee operatingMcDonald’s restaurantsin Preston, Leyland andBlackpool.

ThefastfoodbossNigelDunnington

Boss: nigelDunnington

YOU can usually tell whatis going to come in a Budg-et by the whispers leadingup to it, but one thing thathas been noticeable by itsabsence is any talk of theproperty industry.

This is perhaps becausethe Chancellor realises thatthere is not a great dealwithin his gift to be able tomake any real difference– except to get the bankslending again.

I do not think any furthermentions of how the gov-ernment aims to get bankslending in tomorrow’sspeech will make any dif-ference, it certainly hasn’tup until now, but that re-mains the nearest thing theproperty market has to asilver bullet.

That applies not just tothe mortgage market butalso lending to businesses,

particularly small business-es, which we all know is stillnot happening.

One thing which GeorgeOsborne could look tochange in his speech wouldbe to extend the stampduty exemption beyond the£250,000 mark it is at now.

That was intended toboost the first-time buyersmarket which it has done toan extent and we have re-cently experienced sellingseven houses in seven dayswhich we have not done fora while, but the market re-mains subdued.

If stamp duty was setto 1% for transactionsbetween £250,000 and£500,000 rather than leap-ing to 3%, that would help.

Georgina Cox is managingdirector of estate agentsMoving Works.

ThepropertyexpertGeorginaCox

call: Georgina cox

AS a country, weneed to get moreBritons staying inplaces like Lanca-shire for their holi-days and attractingmore here.

At the moment,five go out for everytwo that come in andthat is costing us £9billion as an industryevery year.

The biggest rea-son for this is thatwe are one of onlytwo countries in theeuropean Union,together with Den-mark, which do nothave a preferentialrate of VAT fortourism, so whileFrance has a 5.5%rate for its touristtrade, we have 20%

You can chartthe fall in the UK’s

position among the top destinations for tourismagainst the emergence of VAT and all it takes isa bit of enlightened government fiscal policy forthe industry.

Tourism is one of the few industries which cancreate a lot of jobs and do it very quickly, we arenot waiting for technological breakthroughs oremerging markets, we are ready to go now.

The research shows that there are 80,000 jobsready to be created if you just move the VAT.

One of the biggest age groups employed in lei-sure and tourism are aged 16 to 24 years old, whoare among those which need jobs and opportuni-ties more than perhaps any other age group.

If the government is serious about tackling thisproblem and serious about tourism playing a keyrole in Britain’s economic future, it has to getserious about this millstone round the industry’sneck.

Nick Varney is chief executive of Merlinentertainments, a global leisure group whichoperates 63 attractions in 14 countries includingMadame Tussauds, the London eye, Sea LifeCentres and recently took over operations at theBlackpool Tower.

TheleisurechiefNickVarney

serioUs: nick Varney

“I’m looking forwardto the Chancellorputting freezes ontax on things like

diesel, but it would begood to get some news onthe mortgage front

People are being verycareful of what they arespending on.

Omar hafiz of home-wares store Fabriks inLeyland.

“I would like pet-rol prices to comedown. We travelfrom Chorley to

Liverpool every morning,have deliveries aroundthe local area which addsanother 50 miles a week,so lower petrol priceswould save us a fortune.

Brian Petie managerof Fresh and Fruity,Chorley.

“I’d like to see theVAT reduced backdown to 17.5%; be-cause all the compa-

nies have put their pricesup the VAT has gone upmore than 2.5% anyway.I’m not hopeful anythingwill come from the budg-et though.”

Joanne White of StrictlyDancing on CannonStreet, Preston.

“I would like to seeencouragement forcouncils to be al-lowed to let out any

building it owns at thelowest possible rent sothat somebody will takeit up rather than haverow upon row of emptyshops.

Joe Gosney, owner ofKaelia, in Cannon Street,Preston.

“VAT is costing usa fortune at 20%and we have had toabsorb it because

we cannot put our pricesup, so to bring that backdown again would help.

Business rates reliefhas been a huge help butmore grants for smallbusinesses would help.

Vittoria Defelice ofCoco Boo in Preston.

“The governmenttalks about howentrepreneurs willtake us forward,

but there’s never been aworse time to invest asthey’re removing supportlike Business Link. Theyneed to do more to stim-ulate the economy.

Matt Forrest is chiefexecutive of itzamuzik.com in Preston.

“As everyone will tellyou, VAT at 20% istoo high and thathas a knock-on ef-

fect to everything youpurchase. It reduces yourbuying power so in ourstore, so buying stock, ba-sically for every £1000 wehave only £800, it makesa big difference.

Patrick Boye of Labelof Preston.

“Abolish rates 4 all smallbusinesses or providestart-up/expansion grants.Both would help the

economy. Wishful thinking!”– from, Goldilocks Babywear,Preston (@goldilockbaby)

“recognise that the higherthe fuel price is, the moreeverything else costs -bring fuel costs down!” - from Denise Gerrard, Chor-

ley Cake, Chorley (@chorleycake1)

The Support Our Shops campaign reporting team is:

nDanny Lee (@JournoDanny)nChris McBriarty (@Chris_McB)n Surya Jonckheere (@talk_that_smack)nMichael Morrison (@takingthemicky)

Whatyou’retweetingfollowusat@SupportOurShops

MARTIN Wright, chief executive ofthe North West Aerospace Alliance,said companies in the key industrywill be looking for the Chancellor tokeep his promise to put manufactur-ing at the heart of a commitment to anew balanced economy.He added: “We will also be look-ing for the Government to show itssupport for small businesses, bothfinancially and through the reductionof regulation.“We need to increase commitment tolong term, high level skills develop-ment programmes in science andtechnology, to ensure we have theright skills at the right time in the ar-eas of real wealth creation, technol-ogy development and manufacture.”

TAX expert David Bennett believesthe government will have to give in topressure to bring down fuel prices.The partner at Preston-basedaccountants Moore and Smalleypredicts that the Chancellor willintroduce a fuel duty stabiliser intomorrow’s speech.He said: “Manufacturing is likelyto be hit especially hard so I wouldwelcome a reduction or rebate of fuelduty for manufacturers and a defer-ral of the forthcoming 1% increase inemployer National Insurance to helpreduce the impact of price rises.“But, any action taken on fuel priceswill limit the Chancellor’s ability tointroduce measures to encouragegrowth, such as greater incentives forcapital investment.“It is capital investment the countryneeds to get the economy going again,and yet we have seen reductions incapital allowances in recent Budg-ets.”

DAVID Kitson, director of tax ataccountants RSM Tenon whichhas offices in Preston and Chorley,believes a reduction in personal taxcould help the North West’s wealthcreators feel more confident.He is urging a reduction in taxeson the middle classes “as soon as isfinancially viable.”He said: “The 50% tax rate bandmust only be a short term measurein today’s difficult financial climateto ensure it doesn’t destroy the UK’sentrepreneurial spirit.”

REMAINING positive about growthand creating long-term foundationsfor companies to prosper are top ofthe North West businesses agenda,according to a local finance expert.Martin Newsholme, managingpartner at KPMG’s office in Preston,said: “Decisions made now willhave a huge bearing upon whetherthe region will be able to grow itseconomy in a way that secures longterm prosperity, and with so much atstake, local businesses will be watch-ing the Budget closely.”

heart: martin Wright

24

THE Equator Cafe in the heart ofPreston’s university district proudlyboasts its Fairtrade credentials.

But, the idea of ethical tradinggoes closer to home than just sup-porting farmers in Third World na-tions; it also prides itself on sourcingproduce locally.

Menus in its Adelphi Streetpremises read: “Most of our pro-duce is bought at the Preston Mar-ket, helping the local economy,supporting small businesses and re-ducing our carbon footprint.”

Owner Louise Harlow explains:“Almost everything except forthings like sauces, so all of our meatcomes from local suppliers, all ourvegetables.

“I try to use local business wher-ever possible, even if I am buyingcranberry sauce I am trying to usemy local shop instead of a super-market.

“People should go out there andsee what’s at your local shop, wheth-

er they are running a business or not,especially as Preston Market is greatand not much more expensive.

“If you go and you want a piece offish, but you want something that’s alittle bit cheaper, they are willing tooffer alternatives for you and havethat relationship as a customer.”

But, Louise admits it is difficultto find local suppliers these days; apoint echoed by a fellow independ-ent bistro owner from Preston.

The operator, who asked not tobe named, said that while some ofthe products served to their custom-ers were home-made, the majorityof the stock came straight from awholesaler.

They add: “At the end of the day,everyone gets what they want.”

It only takes a wander onto themarket to realise why there is ashrinking number of local suppliers.

While the traders are providingexactly the kind of service they claimto with advice on which cuts of meat

to have or what vegetables willgo best with tonight’s tea, thenumber of customers appearto be dwindling compared towhat they might have been inthe market’s heyday.

But Michael Clarke, whoruns butchers W + H Clarke,disagrees.

“I wouldn’t say things haveincreased or decreased. Itmight have changed theirbuying habits when they’vecome,” he says.

Fellow trader Kath Ball, apartner in K + H Ball whichis one of the many suppliersof The Equator Cafe tradingon the market, believes com-petition with supermarkets isdefinitely making it tougher

for these suppliers/traders.“They can obviously take a lot

more customers because it is underone roof and there’s free car park-ing,” she says.

“But at the end of the day, ourproduce is fresher because it’s local-ly grown straight from the producerto the store.”

It is through this somewhatunique business model that her ownbusiness operates.

Kath, who chairs the market’strader’s association, explains: “Weare growers ourselves. It’s the samewith the butchers, and their meat isthe same, it’s all local.

“Produce on the market is muchmore local and it’s fresher because itcomes straight from the grower.”

Such is the competition for busi-ness both from the general pub-lic and suppliers, that you have towonder what the future holds forsuch traders in the current spendingsqueeze.

BBC TV’s The People’s Super-market, a show which put the spot-light on a social enterprise tradingopposite a Waitrose in CentralLondon where employees work fordiscounts on their purchases ratherthan cash, suggests a ‘Big Society’approach to the future – but is this

sustainable?Speaking with traders in Preston,

it would appear the more traditionalmethods have kept independenttraders and suppliers afloat in theface of competition from supermar-kets and wholesalers

Ellen Young, who runs the fa-mous Matthew Wade Banana Kingfruit and veg stall on Preston Mar-ket, believes this is the case.

“Because we talk to our custom-ers and it’s the same as the butch-ers, you talk to the butcher, he cutsexactly what you want, it’s not in apacket it’s all fresh,” she says withpassion.

“They tell you how to cook it, theyhave recipes on the counter, andthey get to know everybody, all thecustomers. They know them, theygive them good advice.

“We’re all helping one another,the growers, the farmers, the cus-tomers, we’re all helping one anoth-er and I think that’s worth a lot.”

Lancashire Evening Post,Tuesday, March 15, 2011 www.lep.co.uk




THE third Support Our Shops confi-dence barometer has shown a drop inpositivity is on the increase on Lanca-shire’s high streets.

Our fortnightly research showed theaverage confidence fell from 2.96 just twoweeks ago to 1.55 index points with con-fidence in each category we questionedtraders on also down.







FRESH THINKING: Ellen Young believes supporting local growers and suppliers is the key to survival in the current climate

WorkingtogetherWithone inevery fourpoundsspentatTescoalone,buying localhasneverbeenmore important.SupportOurShops looksathowtraders support eachother.

BUYING LOCAL: Louise Harlow at The Equator Cafe

highstreetheroKenWilliams

THE manager of one of Preston’s big-gest shopping centres has found a noveluse for an empty shop unit.Ken Williams, general manager atthe city’s StGeorge’sCentre, gaveup the unit inthe centre to athree-day ex-hibition stagedby fourth yearfashion studentsfrom theUniversity ofCentral Lanca-shire (UCLan)last week.He said the centre had decided to makethe offer to cement its role at the heartof the local community.The manager said: “We are a commu-nity shopping centre and therefore weshould we working with various groupswithin the community in order to usethe facility as a meeting place andvenue where it is appropriate to do so.”

Business

Business Finance

Industrial & CommercialProperty To Let

PRESTON Small Unit &office to let. 07791 425654

OFFICE TO LET BamberBridge, 07624 277 432

MANAGEDOFFICES

INCLUSIVE RATES INTHE LEYLAND AREATEL: 01772 422242

LOCK UP GARAGE LeylandSuit Business/Private Tel01772 433492

CASH LOANS Loans ForAny Purpose,MOBILEMONEY 01772 788716www.mobilemoney.co.uk

HAULAGE/COACH DEPOTTO LET 24 HR AccessSouth Ribble 01772 750202




ON the side of the multi-storeycar park in Avenham, Pres-ton hangs a sign advertisingspaces for sale.

The offer is for contract parkingwhether for people working in thecity centre or those employing staffand, if Bill Shannon has his way,it could well become the shape ofthings to come in the city centre.

The deputy leader of the authori-ty’s Liberal Democrat group, whichhas an ad hoc coalition with the rul-ing Conservative administration, be-lieves the time has come for a debateabout how the council charges for itsparking spaces.

“Our view is pretty clear,” he saysspeaking for his political party.

“And it is in the best interests oftraders, shoppers and those provid-ing entertainment to have short-term parking free or as cheap aspossible.

“One or two hours is enough timeto go and shop and if you are com-ing in for any longer, then take thebus.”

The councillor describes his vi-sion of being one like Oxford wherea procession of park and ride busesferry motorists in and out of the citycentre to avoid city centre parkingfees.

But he admits Preston Councilhas to boost its park-and-ride provi-sion if that prospect is ever to workhere.

The debacle of the park-and-ride

at Bluebell Way in Fulwood and thefailure of Lancashire County Coun-cil to add to the Portway and Wal-ton-le-Dale facilities so far makesthe prospect a more long-term ambi-tion, and it is not the only thing trad-ers are pointing the finger of blameat their political leaders for.

John White, who runs clothingstore White’s of Garstang, saw histrade hammered by 10% when theauthority decided to put double yel-low lines down on the town’s highstreet.

That led to a battle with WyreCouncil which has ultimately led tothe introduction of marked bays forfree 30 minute parking.

“It’s been a long time coming,”says John, but the idea has not beenuniversally accepted.

David Brewin, owner of Sweetsin Garstang, said: “It needs a muchgreater emphasis on the small busi-nesses rather than the supermarkets- otherwise we are going to haveeven more empty shops.”

He mentions Kirkham and Chor-ley town centres where the TownHall’s offer free car parking in sup-port of their local traders.

In 2005, a bid to introduce payand display parking in the town cen-tres was halted after a more than5,000 letters of objection were putforward after a campaign led byBusiness Group chairman, ElaineSilverwood.

The owner of Silverdell Books,

recalls: “I got statistics on Garstang,Poulton, Leyland, Southport andLytham St. Annes, showing what ithad done to those high streets whenpay and display had been intro-duced.”

She added: “Kirkham high streetis like a corner shop. People pop inand out a few times a day, whetherit’s to use the bank, or just pop to geta loaf of bread.

“If they were to introduce pay anddisplay we would lose those custom-ers overnight.”

The result, says Paula Gemmell,the co-owner of Pink Tree Partiesin the Fylde town, is that customerscan park in a well-lit car park withinwalking distance of the town cen-tres.

She says: “We looked at premis-es in other places like Freckleton,Lytham and St Annes - the car park-ing was certainly one of the reasonswhy we didn’t set up there.”

Back in Preston, the council’s re-cent budget agreed to increase tar-iffs at some of its car parks on top ofrecently added 20p hikes on certainstays.

But, Gavin Brooks, of Audio Ton Friargate, believes capacity is thebiggest issue facing the city ratherthan parking.

Just the ticketArguments rage over parking from oneend of Britain to the other. TheSUPPORT OUR SHOPS teamlooks at the issue in Lancashire

Debate: Coun bill Shannon who wants a review of how Preston Council charges people for parking

It is inthebest

interestsoftraders,shoppersandthoseprovidingentertainment”

vIewS: John white of white’s of Garstang

JointhedebateIs free parking sustainable? Cantowns and cities afford to give valu-able spaces away for nothing or do weneed to hit those looking to park longerin the pocket? Join the debate on thesupport Our shops blog at: http://sup-portourshops.wordpress.com.

BUsINEssEs in Lancashire are be-ing offered free money to help train uptheir staff to boost business.

Training experts at Leyland-basedCXL are tapping into a governmentcash pot which will pay towards anytraining by a company employing be-tween five and 250 staff in the county.

Julie Gelder, head of workforce de-velopment at the group, said the moneywas there to pay for a range of differ-ent training aimed at boosting compa-ny’s productivity.

she said: “It is anything from ba-sic IT proficiency courses through tobespoke sales training, we can help tofund any training that will help a busi-ness to grow or develop.

“We urge businesses to get in touchbefore the funding runs out, as alltraining must be completed by July.”

If you want to get some of the money,visit www.cxl-uk.com/funding or call01772 642415.

Gainwhileyou trainupyour staff

LIKE many hidden gems on our highstreets, Papillon Lingerie is tuckedaway out of the hustle and bustle ofPreston’s main shopping street.

Friends sue Jackson and KayeWhenmouth decided to embark on theenterprise adventure inspired by theirrespective battles with cancer.

They now specialise in underwearfor women who have suffered breastcancer, and they offer a service wherewoman who have come through cancercan find the correct-fitting lingerie.

“You’ve got to have the stamina,the qualifications and the backboneto be able to get out there and make itwork,” sue explains.

For sue and Kaye, they are con-stantly looking to grow their businessdriven by the desire to help as manywomen who found themselves in afamiliar position as possible and thisdesire already has them looking atexpanding into the Isle of Man, whichhas no lingerie shops which cater forcancer patients.

HighStreetHeroesareundercover

StaMINa: Papillon Lingerieboss Sue Jackson



keepintouch

You can show your support by visitingyour local high street and supportingthem with your trade.You can also follow the campaign:




A twit to tweet?DO you have a Twitter account or a Face-book page for your business?Ever thought about what life online coulddo for your sales?Read the latest update on our SupportOur Shops blog for a few reasons whyyou should.The campaign has its own blog availableat http://supportourshops.wordpress.com

VAT’S THE WAY TO DO IT: Kevin Hunt believes a few pence extra on a packet of cigarettes will not scare off his customers

FOR Kevin Hunt, the biggest head-ache about the New Year VAT hikewas not its impact on his customers.

It was having to change price tags,receipt rolls and promotional post-ers on items up and down his chainof 29 Spar stores across the NorthWest.

“For smaller goods it is only amarginal price rise,” says the man-aging director of Lawrence Huntand Co, “if a packet of cigarettes hasgone up a few pence, people don’tlike it, but it won’t stop them buy-ing.

“I would imagine the big carshowrooms or people selling whitegood will be the ones which have feltit so far.

“But, it was an enormous task togetting everything repriced, that wasquite an under-taking.”

That picture appears to be occur-ring on high streets up and down thecountry.

The British Retail Consortium re-cently reported that VAT increasefor non-food goods, those whichwere more heavily affected by therise from 17.5% to 20% from Janu-ary 4, accounted for just 0.2% of theoverall 2.5% inflation rate.

It argued that the increase waslikely to hit people in the wallet withhousehold budgets, however, 75%of people taking part in an onlineLancashire Evening Post poll lastweek said they had not bothered totry and beat the increase.

Phil Garlington, a professionalphotographer based in Longridge,response to the increase remains the

same today as it did two months ago;he is rolling his sleeves up.

He says: “We cannot let it botherus; we are trying to be more proac-tive and do what we can to get thework we do out there.”

That means showcasing his worknot just in his Market Place shop butalso on the internet through his ownwebsite and via the rapidly-expand-ing number of social media networksavailable online.

“We are still getting business offthe back of that.”

Chris Davison, the owner ofclothing shop Scene on Fishergatein Preston, has done the same bylaunching his own loyalty card tokeep shoppers coming back.

But, it would be wrong to say themood of optimism about the impactof the VAT hike is universal acrossLancashire high streets.

One trader on Lune Street inPreston city centre said he was hav-ing to put on sales to make his prod-ucts desirable.

Alan Robinson, who runs a smallelectrical shop in Leyland, has seenthe same, he says: “There was defi-nitely a bit of a lift before the VATwent on at the end of last year andnow it is flat.

“I think the big electrical placeswould agree with that, a lot of themdid not have a great Christmas sothey were able to offer ‘VAT holi-days’ in January which we could notafford to do.

“It has flattened out a lot in thelast couple of weeks and I guess wewill just have to see what people do

with their money from now on in.”As the Chancellor George Os-

borne gears up for his first Budgetannouncement since taking over theWestminster coffers, the pressure isracheting up to fluctuate VAT rateson different items.

The latest is on petrol, which hisshadow Ed Balls this weekend calledon him to drop January’s 2.5% hikeon, although industries from pubsto hair-dressers are also turning thepressure for similar fluctuations.

Janine Finlinson, a retail analystwho works for a number of the ma-jor investment companies, believesthere is no reason this would notwork.

She says: “It works in other Eu-ropean countries, for example, inSweden the VAT rate on takeawayfood is only 12% and magazines andnewspapers is just 6%, but the over-all rate is 25%.

“In this country there are a lot of

things, like healthy food, which thegovernment levies no VAT on, so itcan be done.

“The big question is whether itwould cost more to administrateand regulate than it would actuallysave, that is probably the argumentthe government would give.”

But, she adds that the story of theVAT rise may not yet be told withone of the high street’s biggest suc-cess stories yesterday revealing ithad noticed a squeeze on people’sspending.

The analyst says: “I would be sur-prised if Primark are the only ones,it is going to take a few months be-fore we see the full impact.”

WecantakeVATItwasbilledasa taxwhichwould rockBritain’shighstreetbut, twomonthson,what impacthas the20%VATratehad?SupportOurShops talks to traders.

PICTURE PERFECT: Phil Garlington


THE second Support Our Shops confi-dence barometer has shown positivityis on the increase on Lancashire’s highstreets.

Our fortnightly research showed theaverage confidence more than doubledfrom 1.3 index points a fortnight agoto 2.96 points, with confidence in everycategory also up.







+

21Lancashire Evening Post,Tuesday, February 22, 2011www.lep.co.uk






THERE are few safety nets when itcomes to setting up in business thesedays, especially if you are on thehigh street.

But, if the business you are set-ting up happens to be a charity shopthere is no doubt you are better cov-ered.

Every charity shop is guaranteedan 80% discount on their businessrates and benefit from being staffedlargely by volunteers to sell donatedgoods; although the vast majorityof these shops survive purely on thegenerosity of the public.

“We do not get anything from thegovernment and do not have anyother business behind us,” explainsMaureen Nickson, now the businessdevelopment manager of DebRAwhich raises funds to help childrensuffering with a rare skin condition,but previously well-known for herwork with St Catherine’s Hospice inLostock Hall.

She believes thriving charity shopsdo both high streets and propertylandlords a favour by filling long-standing voids – like the one nowfilled by the YMCA in a prime po-sition on Preston’s Fishergate highstreet – and saving landlords cash.

This saving comes from howlandlords pay rates which, as of lastApril, saw any discount they wereoffered for having an empty build-ing scrapped.

The shift was intended to be anincentive for landlords to fill theirshops and Maureen Nickson be-lieves it is working.

She says: “I drive round the coun-try now and there are so many towncentres which are just like ghosttowns and you wonder what there

would be if there was no charityshops.

“You have to remember thatwhile they do get relief on rates, alot of charities pay the same rents asanyone else now and this is the onlyway they can make money to go to-wards the causes they support.

“I think with the way things aregoing at the moment, we are goingto see more and more charity shopspopping up.”

Claire Eccleston, a surveyor atcommercial property agents RobertPinkus and Co, believes the arrivalof the YMCA on Preston’s mainFishergate high street is a case inpoint for the argument for havingcharity shops.

She says: “That shop would re-main empty otherwise because it issimply not a realistic proposition toget the kind of retailers which havebeen linked with it in at the mo-ment.

“For the kind of rent that the land-lord is seeking it will not be achievedeasily and it would be left as a dark,empty unit bang in the middle of theprime high street.”

But in Kirkham, where six char-ity shops have popped up in recentmonths, book shop owner and headof the Fylde town’s business group,Elaine Silverwood, believes that aproliferation of charity shops is notgood for the town centre.

She says: “I am not anti-charity, Iam not even anti-charity shops, butwhat I am ‘anti’ is when you get aproliferation of these shops, I wouldsay there are over 12% of our shopswhich are charity shops.

“People say that it is better to havesomething in there than nothing, but

often I don’t think it is once you startgetting larger numbers of them.”

The owner of Silverdell Booksbelieves the problem lies in howthe government offers mandatoryrates discounts to charity shops andargues there is “no appetite to levelthe playing field” for small inde-pendent traders.

It is this inequality which threat-ens to cause friction between tradersand charity shops, a feeling whichwas all too prevalent when the Sup-port Our Shops team toured towncentres in Lancashire and one onlyexacerbated by the removal of emp-ty property rates relief.

Charles Bell, of commercial prop-erty agents Morgan Martin in Pres-ton, says: “It is not a level playingfield because there are tenants whichcould even sit next door to one ofthese charity shops on the high streetwhich will pay much higher rent andrates for the same size or sometimeseven smaller shops.

“Landlords are being forced intothis situation because of the absenceof any rates relief offered on emptyproperties and that is why we areseeing more charity shops on ourhigh streets and probably will con-

tinue to do so.” In Preston, wherethe council offers a further 20%rates discount to charities whichbenefit the city’s residents.

Caroline Howes, the regionalshop support manager for the city’slatest resident, YMCA, believes thisis the best case scenario for a shoplike the one it is in on Fishergate.

She explains: “This is a temporaryshop, so if the landlord gets some-one who wants to move in here, wehave to be out within 48 hours.

“There have been cases where wehave had leases taken off us beforewe have even opened.”

It is clear that charity shops pro-vide the benefit of ‘keeping seatswarm’ while the high street awaitsthe arrival of independent and thehigh rollers, but it begs the questionwhy the benefits delivered to char-ity shops cannot be offered to othersmall traders.

highstreetheroJoeHall

It all started 78 years ago with JoeHall’s grandfather, Joseph, whostarted out on a business venture that,through the decades, has been built tolast.Joe Hall is responsible for the day-to-day operations of the award-winningfamily bakery Halls Bakeries.It boasts a portfolio of three stores inits ‘home town’ of Chorley, but is itsfleet of vehicleswhich feedcustomers inoffices and onretail parksacross CentralLancashirewhich are itsreal winner.Joe explains:“We have gota reputation for giving great food andgreat service to people in Chorley andLeyland and we simply said that nowwe can take that to them, rather thanthem coming to us.”the result has been that 40% of thecompanies growth, which saw themrack up £1m of sales for the first timelast year, came from the vans.Joe adds: “We also do a lot of cater-ing for things like pie and peas nightsor fireworks night which we could nothave done before we got the vans.“We could not even look at doing foodanywhere more than 15 minutes awaybecause the food would be too cold bythe time it was served.“Now the vans keep the food warm.”

AcaseforcharityAsacharity shoparrives intoaprimespotonPreston’shighstreet, theSupportOurShopscampaignaskswhether theyareagood thing forourhighstreets.

WELCOME IN: The first shoppers arrive into the new YMCA shop on Fishergate, Preston, last week

FuNdINg FINdEr: Maureen Nickson


JointhedebateYOU can now join the debate in theLancashire Evening Post’s campaign toSupport Our Shops.the campaign has its own blog availableat http://supportourshops.wordpress.com

StevesupportshisshopsBUSINESS bossSteve Johnstonhas given hisbacking to ourSupport OurShops campaign.the owner ofPreston printersPaper Innovationhas donated 200campaign posterswhich will go upin shop windows across Lancashire fromthis week.Steve (pictured) says: “It is more impor-tant than ever that we all do everythingwe can to support our local businesses.“Whether it is a clothes shop on Leylandor a sandwich bar in Preston, we have toback them.“that is why I am happy to support theEvening Post in its campaign.”


lepbusinessweek

highstreetheroChrisDavison

FROM humble beginnings 14 years ago, entrepreneur ChrisDavison opened his first business.Not many people were willing to take him seriously and it’shardly surprising, he was just 17years old when he opened Scene,stocking a range of skateboardingequipment.But he has turned it into a successupgrading from working fromhome into his shop on Friargate,Preston.Chris said: “We had been there fouryears and there came a point whenwe had outgrown the shop, outgrown our ideas for the shop,and we needed to move on and develop.”When the recession took its toll, Chris came up with anotherinitiative by expanding a discount scheme he offers to stu-dents to all his loyal customers.He said: “When you buy something from the store, it’slogged on the card, and if you fill the card – which is sevenvisits – we add up the total you’ve spent and take 10% ofthat off your eighth purchase.“If you look after your customers, they will look after you.”

Awalk into Preston citycentre from the end ofChurch Street cuts a de-pressing picture.

Once a bustling high street,it is now littered with emptyshops, the skeletons of fam-ily firms long since past andignored by the hundreds ofshoppers who pass on theirway to the city centre.

These deserted buildingscan be described as nothingshort of rotting, but Preston isnot alone in its suffering.

New national trends re-vealed the shop vacancy gapwidened by 2.5% in the lastsix months to 14.5%, but thenorth seemed to be hit hardest- accounting for 16.5% of allvacant units.

Research out today fromThe Local Data Company re-veals that small and medium-sized towns in the North Westtopped the charts for the larg-est number of vacancies.

The situation improves asChurch Street becomes Fish-ergate, but even the main highstreet remains pockmarkedwith empty units.

“Not many people walkdown this street anymore be-cause there’s now nothing re-ally down here,” says LauraHarrison, who works for salon,S2, a salon on Cannon Street.

Down the street at StrictlyDancing, mother-and-daugh-ter business team, Kay andJoanne White admit it doesn’t look good: “People cometo us anyway because we’re aspecialist shop but the emptyshops do not really look niceand it does still affect us.

“The shop next door to usis terrible, it’s an eyesore andanother just down the street

closed last year after only sixmonths, the owner just saidshe wasn’t doing very well.”

It is clear our high streetsare facing an unprecedentedchallenge to keep themselveslooking appealing against thetide of shop closures driven bya number of things, not leastthe squeeze on spending.

Another factor driving thedecline is stalled develop-ments. In Preston, it is the£700m Tithebarn scheme andin nearby Chorley it is the ex-tension of the town’s MarketWalk Shopping Centre whichlast week secured outline plan-ning permission, although bothare still far from fruition.

Peter Malpas, the executivemember for planning on Chor-ley Council, argues that thetown is holding up well.

He says: “There are emptyshops in all towns, but in Chor-ley we are bucking the trend,we do not have as many.

“Chorley tends to buck thetrend compared to similarsized towns.”

Tim Faron, the Preston-born party president of theLiberal Democrats, believesthe unfair upper hand held bybigger retailers is a big part ofthe problem.

He spoke during a visit to hishome city last week of the gov-ernment’s commitment to giv-ing Town Hall’s more powersto support small shops throughthe Localism Bill.

“For example: you are Tes-co; you are paying rates on thebuilding but you’re not payingrates on the car park around it,and that’s been the case for 30years,” he admits.

“Supermarkets need to bepaying a fair price for their

land. If you were a small shop,people are parking somewherewhere they will be paying anhourly rate or on-street park-ing - if they are very lucky.

“In the end there is thatdisadvantage of small shopsaround trying to tip the bal-ance.”

But, Town Hall bosses inPreston insist there is help athand with the city’s councildeputy leader, Eric Fazacker-ley, insists it is doing all it canto help.

He says: “Particularly forthe small shopkeepers, we arelooking to help them by relax-ing out enforcement on paying

business rates and extendingthe period they can pay ratesfrom 10 months to 12 months.

“We are always looking forways to help if we can, butwhat we cannot help is outsideinfluences like the economy orthe rents people are paying.”

Outside Lancashire newanswers are emerging, with acommunity group in Dover,Kent offering prospective ten-ants an empty shop to rent for£1 per year if they agree to re-furbish it and ‘virtual shops’being beamed into empty unitsin a bid to lure people to theNorth East town of Redcar.

Such answers have beenfloated in Preston for severalyears but fallen at the hurdlesof finance and red tape, onlyby overcoming these obsta-cles will our high streets thriveagain.

RunningonemptyAsanewstudyshowsLancashire’samongtheworst in thecountry foremptyshops, theSupportOurShopscampaign teamspeak tobusinessesabouthowtheyarecoping


FAMILIAR SIGHT: For sale signs are springing up across Lancashire’s high streets as empty shops numbers spiral

SUPPORT OUR SHOPSREPORTING TEAM:n Surya Jonckheeren Michael Morrisonn Danny Leen Chris McBriarty

THE first Support Our Shopsconfidence barometer hasshown Lancashire’s highstreets feeling upbeat.

Our research shows retail-ers confident in their abilityto grow sales and in the stateof the areas which they aretrading.

The only negative readingfrom our study came showedbusinesses unlikely to take onnew workers.

The average readingsshowed:

l -0.9 rating of tradersexpecting to take on newworkers;

l +2 rating of tradersexpecting to boost sales;

l +1.4 rating of tradersconfidence in their own trad-ing area;

l +2.8 rating of tradersoverall confidence in themarket.

l The Support Our Shopsconfidence barometer asked asample of small businesses torate their confidence in fourmain index areas between -10and +10 index points.

bAckInG: LiberalDemocrat presidentTim Faron backing

our campaign



highstreetheroElaineSilverwood

WHEN Elaine Silverwood opened herSilverdell Books store in an old secondhand clothes shop on Poulton Street,Kirkham, no-one had heard of it.Eleven years on, her name is in thecontacts book of every major bookpublisher in the country with celebrityauthors including Sir Michael Caine,Katie Price and a host of children’sauthors all desperate to get their booksignings on the high street.“I do not just think about my businessas being justthese fourwalls,” sheexplains.The shop nowregularlytakes authorsto localschools, hostsmajor eventsat venueswhich attracthundreds of avid customers and sellsice cream from its in-shop dairy.Elaine says: “Some people do it online,I go out and physically stage eventswhich benefits everyone.“If we are having a quiet week in theshop, I am earning money throughthese events, plus the school or venuewe are at benefits from having theseevents with them.“It has taken a lot of hard work anddedication to get to where we are today,but I would urge any retailer to thinkbeyond the confines of their business ifthey are looking to grow.”




Afewtipstostayontop.....PRESTON College tutor Helen Crossleyis used to retailers voicing their fearsabout the threat posed by supermarketsand online shopping.The former retailer, who has run anumber of major high street franchisesincluding fashion chain FCUK, offers afew tips on how to get one over on the bigboys:

nLook at the lay out of your shop andthink about how shoppers move around.Are you making it easy for them to findpopular items and displaying your prod-ucts in the best way?nLook at the products you have on yourshelves and ask yourself if you are gettingthe best value for the product you areoffering? If something has been sat onyour shelves for weeks without a sale, is itworth continuing with?nDon’t class your neighbours as rivals,in tough times small businesses canachieve much more by working to-gether than apart. Can you team up withanother local business to do somethingbetter?

nKeep following Support Our Shops toget your free taster session to a PrestonCollege course designed by television’sMary ‘Queen of Shops’ Portas.


IT does not seem like a fair fightto pit small, independent tradersagainst an international retail gi-ant with big budgets to spend.

But that is the battle that manysmall businesses on high streetsacross Lancashire are facing up to,whether the opponent is one of the‘Big Four’, Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury’sand Morrison’s or a smaller chain.

The reaction of traders in Chorleyto plans by Asda to open a huge newstore in the town centre next yearis fairly typical of the response ofmany.

Chris Marsden, who runs butch-ers Marsdens of Chorley on ChapelStreet, admits: “It could go one oftwo ways. It could bring more peopleto the town centre or it could movethe town centre towards Asda andleave the rest of the place a ghosttown.

“We have livelihoods to look afterand there is no doubt it will have amixed impact.”

Pat Duckett, who manages thetown’s Market Walk shopping cen-tre, agrees that while the formerQS Discount site earmarked for thedevelopment “needed to be rede-veloped” the fear of pulling shop-pers out of the town centre remainsstrong.

But, Jose Hampson, the owner ofHampson Toys and Nursery Worldon Market Street, says she is rightbehind it.

“It will join the town up,” she in-sists, “people will walk from Asdaup to the market area.”

The question of whether the mar-ket’s big names are a footfall pro-vider or not is at the heart of thisDavid-versus-Goliath battle.

On Friargate in Preston, Aziza

Writer, whose family runs two BestOne convenience stores just yardsfrom where a Tesco Express is open-ing before the end of the year, fearsthe buying power of the supermar-ket giant will be too much to com-pete with.

She said: “If I did a straw poll ofthe people we employ on Friargateand asked them whether they wouldbuy a packet of cigarettes at my shopfor £5.50 or Tesco for £5.25, I canguarantee the majority would pickTesco.

“They buy products like that inbulk and there is no way that we cancompete.”

However, her wrath is reserved forthe manner in which the retail gianthas arrived in the former Bello res-taurant opposite one of her shops.

They have bought the buildingwhich already has the necessary per-mission needed to trade as a foodstore, therefore not requiring a newplanning application.

Aziza says: “The first we heardabout it was in the LancashireEvening Post, no-one from Tescohas been in touch.

“That way we would have pre-pared for it, but I know ourselvesand the other off-licence on thestreet are worried about what is go-ing to happen.”

Over in Garstang, the arrival ofa new Booths store – the quarter ofthe size of a football pitch – last yearhas left some small traders feelingless optimistic.

One trader says: “The locationof the car park has stopped peoplecoming to the centre of Garstang.

“If you are in a large store like thatand you see a little bit of what youwant, you’re going to get it there; it

may not be exactly what you wantbut if the weather’s bad, people arenot going to look elsewhere.”

A spokesman for the family-owned chain, which has branches incommunities across the North, saidits arrival on Cherestanc Squarehad doubled the number of visitorsto Garstang town centre since itopened.

She says: “The new Booths storein Garstang offers a larger range ofproducts, which provides customerswith more choice – of grocery lines,bigger and better counters, fresh fishand hot food, plus a destinational li-censed department and café.

“The number of customers tothe new store has doubled, whichmeans more people travelling intoGarstang, which in turn benefits allbusinesses.

“Cherestanc Square has enhancedthe ‘look and feel’ of the town andis used by the community for localevents.

“Booths has always played anactive part in the local communityand as well as sponsoring local or-ganisations is a member of manylocal groups including the Chamberof Trade, Garstang.net and Gar-

stang in Bloom.”Maxene Eley, who runs beauty

shop Beautify on the town’s highstreet, agrees that supermarkets andhigh streets can live together and be-lieves the answer lies in team-work.

She says: “In a smaller town likeGarstang, if larger stores were tohave big open days they could getindependent retailers involved sowe can work together to help bothcompanies.

“They have got a lot of advertis-ing space so why don’t they help thesmaller retailers promote them-selves through their stores as well?In a smaller town it’s going to attractmore people if we work togethermore.

“Money is tight so any small re-tailers would love the backing ofa larger business to help promotetheir own.”

TakingonGoliathWithsupermarketsmarchingbackontothehighstreet, theSupportOurShopsteamlooksathowlocalhighstreets arecompeting.

FRIEND OR FOE: Traders are facing up to the challenge of supermarkets on their doorsteps including this one-acre Asda in Chorley

TWO WAY STREET: Chris Marsden and assistant Nichola Whittaker

SUPPORT OUR SHOPS REPORTINGTEAM:n Surya Jonckheeren Michael Morrisonn Danny Leen Chris McBriarty

20 21Lancashire Evening Post,Tuesday, January 25, 2011 www.lep.co.uk Lancashire Evening Post,Tuesday, January 25, 2011www.lep.co.uk

SINCE the coalition gov-ernment which now rulesus was formed, Nick Clegghas not been the bearer ofmuch good news.He must have thought newsthat they were not onlygoing to follow throughthe previous government’spromise to overhaul thematernity system was anopportunity to bring a littlecheer last week.Sadly, he will not haveraised many smiles amongBritain’s business bossesby not only doing this butalso talking of allowingparental leave to be takenin a number of chunks,rather than a single blockand additional concessionsof “use it or lose it” leave.I am not saying thatemployers should not haveresponsibilities to theirworkers and, as a parentas well as an employer,all businesses should givefair terms of employment,working conditions andall the rest of it, but do wereally have to be our em-ployee’s parents as well?First of all the governmentwas telling us that we haveto make sure they savefor a pension, now we arebeing expected to do aboveand beyond what I class asreasonable to sort out theirchildcare arrangements.The system we have is com-plicated enough, I just fearthat if we tinker with it likethis we are going to make itcomplete unmanageable.The fall-out will comewhen businesses go to thewall because of the latestingredient in the coalition’srecipe to hammer us andwhat about those peopleexpected to take on extraresponsibility when peopleare on maternity/paternityleave? Are they just ex-pected to step in, and thenstep aside?If the government wantsto extend the length itgives people for this kindof leave, then they shouldensure that the support– both financial and advi-sory – is in place to makesure it can happen.The only justification thatI have heard from NickClegg so far is that thissystem has been pioneeredsuccessfully in Iceland.Well, what has Icelandgiven us? A banking disas-ter and an ash cloud. Veryreassuring.

Motherofallproblems

paulheathcote

lepbusinessweek

COMMENT ONTHIS ARTICLEat lep.co.uk


keepintouch

IN the last 12 months, highstreets across the country haveseen a “shake-out” of weakerstores which have not survived

the economic turmoil.Matt Dunham, a partner at North

West insolvency experts GrantThornton, has been at the heartof many of these closures, and hebelieves that, while the coming 12months will continue to be tough,the worst could be over.

“It is very difficult to predict thisrecession, because it is not playingout in the same way as any previousone,” he says. “But there is no doubtthat the high street has really felt it.

“I think there will be further insol-vency problems for retail when theimpact of the spending cuts starts tofilter through, and the answer is tosupport our local traders.

“People need to look at their highstreet, and think about what makesit different to any other town or cityacross the country, and then go outand support those traders that makethe difference.

“The fact is unless we all startdoing that, these shops will not bethere much longer – and they willnot come back.”

Those figures were backed up thelatest Red Flag Alert statistics, re-vealed by insolvency experts BegbiesTraynor yesterday, which showed anincrease of 1,499 retailers going tothe wall last year, compared with12 months earlier. Executive chair-

man Ric Traynor pointed the fingerat “greater pressure on consumers’disposable income”, brought by eve-rything from the rising cost of livingto tax hikes and job cuts.

He said: “With recent evidenceof falling house prices, we expect acombination of deteriorating con-sumer confidence and financial re-sources to result in an increase inbusiness failures in the sectors mostexposed to discretionary spendingas we move through 2011.”

The head of one of small busi-ness’s most powerful bodies believes

the Evening Post’s Support OurShops campaign can be the catalystfor a revival on the high streets, byencouraging Lancastrians to startspending – but said the real powerlies within the corridors of power.

Gary Lovatt, the regional chair-man of the Federation of SmallBusinesses in Lancashire and Cum-bria, said that hikes in fuel pricesand VAT since the turn of the yearwere further pressures being piledupon small firms.

He said: “I know one businesswho is paying an extra £120-a-

day on petrol, and putting an extra£10,000 of costs on his bottom lineevery year, just because of the in-crease in petrol prices. When youadd in the increase in VAT, it is adouble whammy, and these are thekind of problems our businesses arefacing up to. Getting out there andsupporting our local traders is oneway of helping, but the real answerscan be solved by the government ata national and local level, providingthe conditions within which thesebusinesses can flourish.”

Thesurvivalfightbackstartshere

Peopleneedto lookattheirhighstreet,andthinkaboutwhatmakes itdifferenttoanyothertownorcityacrossthecountry

Howwecanhelpyoubuckthetrend...THE Evening Post’s Support OurShops has teamed up with the PrestonRetail Skills Shop, at Preston College,to offer traders a path towards improv-ing their business.We will be offering free taster sessionson its range of courses, designed bytelevision’s ‘Queen of Shops’ MaryPortas, to offer advice on mobilisingand building a vision for the future oftheir stores.There will also be a number of freeevents, including major networkingevents, advice sessions and opportuni-ties to put traders in touch with peopleoffering advice and support on issues,including finance, marketing and tipson how to build your business.Helen Crossley, who delivers thecourse, said it would help traders lookcloser at what they can offer to theirshoppers.She said: “Independent retailers arethe heart and soul of the high street,they prevent our towns and cities frombeing carbon copies of each other, andinject a bit of personality and diversity.“Unfortunately, the current retailclimate can make it very difficult for asmall businesses to survive, and inde-pendent stores’ owners have to contendwith rising costs, and competition fromthe major chains, supermarkets andthe online market place, who may havegreater buying power.“These courses aim to show businessowners what they can give their cus-tomers that the big stores cannot, likeunique products, specialist knowledgeor one-to-one customer service.”

You can show your support by visitingyour local high street and supportingthem with your trade.You can also follow the campaign:



I don’t know whatthe effects will be.The thing I don’tlook forward tois an increase in

business rates. Wehave got a lot of thingsin the pipeline. Wehave just gone intobridal lingerie. I deal inlingerie for victims ofbreast cancer, too.”Sue Jackson, co-owner of PapillonLingerie, CannonStreet, Preston.

SUE JACKSON

‘

You’ve got to workwith what you’vegot. You have gotto put in the extrabit and I think we

are well on track. Ialways expect to finda challenge becausethat’s what keeps meon my toes. You’vealways got to keepahead of the game.”Margaret Mason, ownerof Margaret MasonFlorist, Friargate,Preston.

MARGARET MASON

‘

Our mainchallenges will begetting consumersto spend moneyduring this fragile

economic recovery andto make money out ofthe music businesswhen music value isat all time low. To dothis we’ll be launchingsome innovativeproducts.”Matt Forrest, chiefexecutive of itzamuzik.com, Media Factory.

MATT FORREST

‘

I think this year it isgoing to be tough;it is going to bequite negative. I dothink you have to

give that bit extra toget those customers.I think we havesomething that’s quitedifferent. Becausewe’re a bit moreunique, I think that willsee us through.”Julie Babb, owner ofSteeley Lane Lighting,Steeley Lane, Chorley.

JULIE BABB

‘

I think the outlookis really positive.We’re looking todouble in size interms of our sales

turnover, so we’relooking to deliver£1m this year. We’renearing capacity interms of how much wecan operate out of ourChorley hub.”Pete Gronback,operations directorat Halls Food Group,Eaves Lane, Chorley.

PETE GRONBACK

‘

I’m not sure howit’s going to panout for us. There’sthe VAT increaseafter a really bad

winter where tradedefinitely went down.Our rates are high anda small tax relief wouldkeep small businesseslike us going.”Alison Jenkinson,owner of Green LivingGifts, Thomas’s Court,Garstang.

ALISON JENKINSON

‘ With the new shopscoming into Leylandwe’re lookingto keep steadyby keeping the

consumer market. Wehave a big customerbase because we’vebeen here 34 years andwe’re hoping to buildon what we’ve got.”Paul Atkinson,proprietor of AtkinsonJewellers, Hough Lane,Leyland.

PAUL ATKINSON

‘ My expectationsare to do as well aswe did last year butget the messageacross that we

do more than peoplerealise. They (people)have a mindset ofgoing a bigger store(where they’re)dropping prices to thepoint where they’re notmaking any money.”Neil Watkinson,proprietor of PCAcademy, Towngate,

NEIL WATKINSON

‘

Like every otherretailer, it’swhether customerscan afford what wehave to sell. There

are certain productsthey’re going to cutdown on. In a shop likethis, and in an area likeGarstang, the personaltouch makes all thedifference.”Sharon Parkinson,proprietor of Stitchesof Garstang, MarketPlace, Garstang.

SHARON PARKINSON

‘ I don’t think theVAT will make ahuge difference.Thebiggest thing willbe petrol. We’ve

got a partnershipwith Fylde BoroughCouncil and LancashireEnterprises, andthey’ve contributed 50percent towards ourshop improvements.”Steve Lilley,proprietor of Grundy’sIronmongers, PoultonStreet, Kirkham.

STEVE LILLEY

‘We’re being positive

because we’ve anew ASDA openingup on MarketStreet, and webelieve that will bea big improvement

to the town because itwill join the town up.We’re all independentstores, but we all buytogether so we cankeep the prices low.”Jose Hampson,proprietor of HampsonsToys & Nursery World inMarket Street, Chorley.

JOSE HAMPSON

‘

Lancashire’shighstreetsare shapingupfora tough2011as theyfirefightagainsthikesinVAT,cutsinpublicspendingandrisingbills.AstheLancashireEveningPostlaunchesitsSupportOurShopscampaign,DAVIDCOATESlooksat thechallengesahead

The Support Our Shops campaignhas enlisted the help of a teamof journalism students from theUniversity of Central Lancashire.Danny Lee, Surya Jonckheere,Michael Morrison and ChrisMcBriarty have already startedtalking with traders acrossLancashire about the challengesfacing them and how they areovercoming them.You can contact them by [email protected].

MEETTHETEAM

OUR TEAM: From left, Michael Morrison, Surya Jonckheere,Chris McBriarty and Danny Lee, the team of UCLan studentsworking on the LEP’s ‘Support our Shops’ campaign

EXPERT HELP: Helen Crossleyis a retail training adviser atPreston College

LEP Support Our Shops

Documents

Transcript of LEP Support Our Shops