[Gayle]

I sort of agree with you both. There are people in Accrington who have the disposable income to afford to shop wherever they want and buy whatever they want. Despite being one of the poorest boroughs in the country there are still some pockets of wealth.

However over all, the picture that the retailers is getting is one of poverty and lack of spending.

But there are a number of issues to consider here for regeneration

1. How to get the odd few people who do have the money back into the town centre. Let's face it if you do have some cash you're going to go to somewhere where there is lots of choice rather than rely on one shop. So bringing one Next or one River Island into the town centre isn't going to make a huge difference to shopping habits and it's not going to be very profitable for them.

2. The layout of the town. There are, in my mind, three distinct areas in the town, each with different needs. There's the Broadway/Arndale area, there's the Market/Peel St area and there's the Warner St/Arcade area. When people talk about the town centre they seem to ignore the Warner St/Arcade area but in reality that's where we stand most chance of kick starting regeneration.

3. If we all agree that the quality of shops are poor and the choice is limited then Accrington has to provide something different to draw people in. Whether that is an open air cinema on Broadway or different school bands performing each week or ice rinks and fair ground attractions - that's up for debate. But we need to stop focusing on the shops and focus on the other opportunities. If you can draw people into the town through whatever means you can get people to spend whilst they're there.

4. Finally, one minor issue is that the Arndale is not owned by the Council, it's owned by a business that is in the business of making money. The Council have very little influence in what happens in there, so they can't affect the rents that the Arndale are charging.

These are just my musings.