Bucking trends

Traders in Southwell are bucking the national trend and are continuing to do well despite the economic downturn.

At present, only one shop in the town is vacant.

Newark and Sherwood District Council is offering money and displays to put in empty shops around the district to reduce their impact.

But the secretary of Southwell Traders’ Association, Mr Robert Beckett, said: “I am proud to say this doesn’t apply to us.

“We have got almost no empty shops and that has been the position for many years. Generally speaking, there has always been plenty of investment.”

Mr Beckett said it was thanks to the community who shopped locally and the thriving tourism industry that traders were doing so well.

He said: “We are a close-knit community and people are very supportive.

“We have got people in the town and the surrounding villages who support the shops and shopkeepers.

“It goes without saying shops benefit from thousands of visitors, to the minster and workhouse, not to mention the King Charles and the Lord Byron connections.”

Two years ago, the district council introduced parking charges in Southwell.

The town council pays the district council each year to keep the first two-hours parking free but after that charges apply.

Mr Beckett said was impossible to tell if it had had a negative impact on traders.

He said: “We are very much looking forward rather than looking back on what happened two years ago.”