Good news from the High Street!

Contrary to the views expressed by some of the 'doom and glomm' brigade who should know better, our High Street is very much alive and well. And a visit to town today confirms it.

First of all, the brilliant news is that we have a butchers shop in town again! I was a great supporter of Mark when he ran Russells the Butchers shop in Adies Alley and was bitterly disappointed when, for personal reasons, he had to close down. Sadly his successor was only open a few weeks and I was fearful that his departure marked the end an era of independent butchers in the town centre. But no! Stefan, Paul and Ben, who already operate a mail order business supplying high quality meats and local produce from their farm in Herefordshire, have taken over the shop and are now open for business. When I called in this morning the display cabinets were full of a great range of meats. So spread the word and let's give them our support.

And the other piece of good news is that the Stone branch of Clinton cards has survived the administrator's cull. The company went into liquidation a week ago and it was announced that over three hundred and fifty branches would be closed immediately with a loss of 2800 jobs. Thankfully, the Stone branch was not on the closure list and it remains open for business pending attempts by the liquidator to sell the company as a going concern. Let's hope this story has a happy ending.

So the old adage "use it or lose it" has acquired some real significance this week. If you are in town to buy some meat or a birthday card, why not consider supporting these two shops.