21/02/12…Thame High Street bucks the trend

A NEW survey has revealed that South Oxfordshire continues to buck the national trend of high streets in decline – and Thame is tops with the least number of empty shops.

In stark contrast to the national picture, the district saw an overall increase in the number of shops that were trading in its market towns during the last year.

The survey, an annual count of shops on a single day in January, identified that 95.2 per cent of shops across South Oxfordshire?s market towns were occupied, up from 94.9 per cent a year ago. This compares extremely favourably to the national situation, where an average of 85.5 per cent of shops are occupied currently on high streets throughout the country.

The biggest success locally has been Thame where the high demand for retail units has meant that all but four shops in the town centre are now occupied, while Henley and Wallingford both maintained the same high occupancy rate as last year.

Sonja Francis, the current Chair of Thame4Business, said: “This finding proves once again how working together with businesses, local groups and the town partnership to create events and attractions that create a buzz in the town and give people a reason to come, reaps rewards.

“The volunteers of the 21st Century Thame Partnership and some of its local authority representatives, have worked particularly hard to seek out funding for projects like our Shop Fronts Improvement scheme and the Loyalty Card project which have no doubt contributed to the town’s economic and social vibrancy.

“But we are not complacent, and despite the loss of our valuable and hard working Town Centre Co-ordinator who did so much to help drive forward these projects, we continue to look for future support and funding to keep up the momentum and help Thame keep its reputation as a top notch shopping and attractive visitor destination.”

In Wallingford 131 of the town?s 140 shops were in use at the time of the latest survey, while 270 out of a total 287 were occupied in Henley.

Even more encouraging for Henley is that 15 new niche businesses opened last year, further boosting the variety on offer in the town, and with three of the unoccupied units set to reopen in the coming months the situation should improve even further.

In the coming year, South Oxfordshire District Council, which carried out the survey, has promised to continue to promote retail opportunities in the market towns with the aim of keeping occupancy rates among the highest in the country. Any retailer, business person or entrepreneur interested in finding new retail premises in the district should contact: economic.development@southandvale.gov.uk.

Cllr Judith Nimmo-Smith, cabinet member of economic development, property and technical services, said: ?The results prove that South Oxfordshire is continuing to do significantly better than others part of the country in terms of having a thriving local economy. Henley, Thame and Wallingford have some really enticing independent retailers who contribute to the towns? unique selling points and help to bring people to the town centres.

?Our close co-operation with the town business partnerships and town councils has also played a large part in the continued success of the area.”