Category: Business News

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.”

REPRESENTATIVES from across South Oxfordshire and the Vale of White Horse joined together last week for the annual business breakfast.

The free event, which was open to all businesses within the two districts, took place on Wednesday, (February 1)in Didcot and was organised by South Oxfordshire and the Vale of White Horse District Councils to highlight some of the issues affecting the local economy.

Presentations covered a range of topics such as the impact that changes to local government will have on businesses, economic development projects happening in southern Oxfordshire, and how businesses can use crime prevention to reduce the chances of being targeted by criminal activity.

The session also saw guest speaker Ian Parkes, of partnership development specialists SOA Development, highlight how businesses can make the most of the potential opportunities that this year may bring, especially with a whole host of high profile events due to take place throughout the summer, such as the Olympics and Jubilee.

The morning?s keynote speech ?Three conundrums, two questions, one answer,? was delivered by Stuart Miller, founder of Grove based logistics company ByBox (pictured), who talked about the importance of entrepreneurship and the benefits of running your own business. The event concluded with a question and answer forum, followed by an opportunity for delegates to network.

This year?s breakfast was the most successful yet, not only in terms of numbers attending (90), but also with the spread of organisations represented, with small, medium and large businesses all keen to play their part in the local area.

Among the comments received from attendees were:

“Stuart Miller was an excellent speaker and certainly motivated the audience to think!”

“A great overview of council work and very good networking”

Cllr Elaine Ware, cabinet member for economy, leisure and property at Vale of White Horse District Council, said: ?The event went really well and we are delighted that so many people turned up. The year ahead has a number of challenges for us all, some exciting and some quite daunting, so it is good that businesses in the area know that they have a lot of support locally.?

Cllr Judith Nimmo-Smith, cabinet member for economic development, property and technical services at South Oxfordshire District Council, said: ?The advice and discussion on offer gave everyone plenty to think about and use within their own business. Many of those attending play a vital role in the southern Oxfordshire economy so the fact that they can join together and share their experiences and advice is very encouraging.?

SOUTH Oxfordshire and Vale of White Horse District Council’s keynote speaker at its annual business breakfast, will be Nick English, founder of the award-winning British brand Bremont that produces luxury mechanical watches.

The event will take place on Tuesday, March 5, at Cornerstone in Didcot, between 7:30am and 9:30am.

With a potential attendance of over 100 businesses from the two districts, the breakfast provides a unique networking opportunity. Bremont won four awards in 2012, including luxury watch brand of the year at the UK Jewellery Awards and breakthrough brand of the year at the Luxury Briefing Awards. The company’s watches are sported by many high profile personalities. The company recently moved all of its production to a new-built facility in Henley-on-Thames.

To register your attendance, visit: www.surveymonkey.com/s/SouthernOxBB2013

A THAME pub has raised

THAME4busines, which represents many businesses in the town, last Wednesday (25/01) hosted a Question and Answer event for retailers and businesses leaders to put their questions and concerns about the proposal for a new supermarket.

A team of five representatives of Sainsbury’s were invited to the meeting which was held in the Stables bar, behind the James Figg.

Among the areas of concern were parking provision, how much of the merchandise hoped to be sold would be made up of non-food items, whether the various shopping surveys carried out on behalf of Sainsbury’s were relevant, whether the community centre included in the plans was sufficient to meet the town’s needs, concerns about the provision for school drop-offs behind Barley Hill school, and the subject that worried most members at the meeting, the fate of the redundant existing Sainsbury’s store, should the Cattlemarket development go ahead.

The fear was expressed that, as happened with the closure of Woolworths, the loss of the large car park behind the building, would negatively affect footfall in the town centre.

Those who joined in the discussion included the Branch Manager of Waitrose, the Manager and Area Manager of Martins, Kismet Jewellers, Wrens Butchers (formerly Clays), Bizzie Lizzie, Free Range Clothing, The Cross Keys, Thame, CAAOS, Peach Pubs and Wallace’s Home Boutique.

ANYONE who would like sight of the meeting notes can email Sonja Francis: editor@thame.net

TOGS 4 U, the family run ladies fashion shop in Thame High Street, will be closing its doors for the last time in the next few days.

The business was started by Mrs Heelas in 1985 and has since become one of the longest established shops in the town. Selling a range of competiveley priced clothes and assessories from well known brands like Poppy, Casamia, Adini, Seasalt etc the shop has been popular with local shoppers.

The partners in the business are who took over five years ago, are Ken and Chris Bennell together with Kens Daughter Karen and son-in-law Andrew. Ken told ThameNews.Net: “After much thought and discussion, we have decided not to renew the lease although a new lease on favourable terms was offered by the landlords.

“An increase in on-line trading with some manufacturers trading direct, and competitive pricing by some of the national chains has not helped in these difficult times. But although trade has not been quite so good during this recent recession, the end of the lease and retirement have been the main reasons for closing.”

Ken added: “The partners would like to thank the very loyal customers that they have known over the years, for their support.”

HIGH streets and market towns in decline? Well, perhaps not in Oxfordshire. Mary Portas?s recent review of the high street has shown what community-minded Town Partnerships in the county had already demonstrated: that they know best what is required to make their towns vibrant.

A lively event in Carterton Community Centre last Tuesday, (17/01), hosted by Oxfordshire Rural Community Council (ORCC), celebrated the achievements of six towns in the county at the end of a funding scheme initiated by the South East England Development Agency (SEEDA).

Members from each of the towns, including Thame, went home from the event invigorated by examples of a wide range of creative and enterprising projects.

?It was wonderful to hear about successes in other places,” said one of the delegates. ?I?m taking away lots of ideas for my own town.?

An important factor in each town?s success was the initial completion of a local consultation exercise – a ?Healthcheck? – to develop a shared vision for the future. This was required before an application for some of the

ACTION for Market Towns, the national charity representing market and small towns across the UK, yesterday welcomed the Parliamentary debate on the future of the high street and town centres and the findings of the Portas review.

The charity issued a briefing note for MPs last week, showcasing progress already made against many of the review’s recommendations.

Alison Eardley, Policy Manager for Action for Market Towns, said: “Action for Market Towns has welcomed the Portas Review which has served to bring the changing role of high streets across the country to the attention of all. This is especially important at a time when retailers – both independents and national chains – continue to struggle. The recommendations proposed by the Review make much sense and there is a range of good work that is already taking place across the country that we’d encourage the Government to explore when considering its response.

“We would also urge the Government to remember that the future of the high street goes beyond retail and this review presents an opportunity to explore how a range of uses, for example health, education and learning, and housing, might have a role in healthy high streets – as demonstrated by so many of our member towns.

“Given the plethora of Government departments and their different interests and levels of involvement in the high street, the challenge will be for an integrated policy on high street development to be adopted which places local people and businesses at the core.”

FOLLOWING a review of its support for market towns, South Oxfordshire District Council will no longer be funding the role of Thame’s part-time Market Town Co-ordinator.

The Market Town Co-ordinators were originally funded to work with the respective town councils and representative bodies to help boost the local economy. Thame’s MCT, Alison Isherwood, has become a familiar face around the town and has been particularly instrumental in working with 21st Century Thame on the implementation of the Thame Loyalty Card scheme and growing and promoting the Thame food festival.

Wallingford and Henley will continue to have their MTCs partly funded by SODC and partly by each of their town councils for a further two years, whilst the equivalent funding for Thame will be available for bidding by community stakeholders and business organisations on a project by project basis.

Cllr Judith Nimmo-Smith, Cabinet Member for Economy, Property and Technical Services at SODC, said: ?It had become very clear that the one-size fits all approach was no longer working for our market towns and that ideas which had proved very successful in one location were often not appropriate for the other towns.

?Over the last few months we have been working with the town councils and partnerships to tailor an individual approach to each area which we think will make the best use of available funding. We are confident that this will lead to significant benefits, both long and short term, for everyone in Henley, Thame and Wallingford.?

Subject to SODC’s Scutiny process, the new arrangements will be in place from April.

THAME based Formula One and supercar exhaust manufacturer, Primary Designs, is set to expand its
offering with a move to a new and larger factory in the town.

Increased demand from F1, coupled with the company?s decision to grow its range for Ferraris, Porsches and other supercars as well as develop entirely new sectors, will also lead to the creation of new manufacturing jobs.

The firm has recently taken on an apprentice who attends a local college and additional staff plans for the rest of the year are not yet finalised but there is potential for at least one more to be recruited in the next six months.

According to founder Pat Barrett, formerly an engineer at the Williams F1 team, Primary Designs? F1
heritage together with the new factory, creates an opportunity to produce very high quality components for other customer groups including defence, marine and sports car owners: ?The design, materials and welding technologies we have can be applied to make durable, beautifully finished exhausts that sound great and release more power and be more efficient,? explained Pat.

Pat Barrett believes that the new factory at the Thame Park Business Centre and enlarged workforce, up
by 25 percent in the last 12 months, will help offset the seasonal demands associated with professional motorsport. This includes more work in the aerospace sector where Primary Designs? ability to weld specialised alloys is already leading to business enquiries and development projects.

?The factory is designed to be flexible; anything from a one-off system to significantly higher volumes can be accommodated,? added Pat.

In addition to the exhaust manufacturing, Primary Designs could offer other sub contract services
such as surface finishing processes and measuring technologies that enable companies from any
industry to use F1 grade equipment on an ad-hoc basis.

?We had to invest in the highest standards
of equipment for Formula One,? explained Pat, “and we plan to offer such services in the coming months.”