[Perran]

I agree that in many cases the small shops cannot keep up in terms of bulk buying discounts offered to the larger stores and thus cannot compete on price. However i feel there is a demand for smaller shops or should i say more individual shops. Many people have bemoaned the decline of Accrington as a shopping town and can only agree. I feel the main cause of this is our town councils dogged belief that we have to compete with the likes of Blackburn and Burnley by trying to attract multiples to the town. If we encouraged a wide variety of individual independently owned shops it would create a diversity and a reason to visit the town. After all people from Blackburn are not going to visit Accrington just to come to Burtons or New Look etc They already have them and so does every reasonable size town in the country. If people actually had a reason to visit this would make the town busier and more vibrant which in turn would attract more businesses including the multiples so loved by our council! I hope everyone can see my point here.