08/09/11…….Thame’s shops buck the trend

ACCORDING to data obtained by the BBC, the number of empty shops in Thame up to June this year, was only three out of 117 – that’s 2.5% – the national shop vacancy rate is 14.3%.

The Data, released today by retail analysts, the Local Data Company, showed that Thame had the least empty shops in Oxfordshire, while Banbury had the most.

So why is the town managing to keep the town centre virtually free of empty retail space?

BBC Radio Oxford asked several Thame shoppers what they liked about Thame shops and you can hear their responses, and an interview with Sonja Francis of Thame4Business, on the BBC’s Listen Again facility here:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p00jxldg/Phil_Gayle_08_09_2011/ Move the pointer along to 1:24:24 to catch the Thame spot in this mornings’s Breakfast programme with Phil Gayle.