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Love your Local Shops – The Local Shop Report 2014
More people than ever are visiting their local shops, up 2% in 2014, and they are employing nearly 12,000 additional people, a recent report shows. In Bath there are 58 convenience stores across the city, employing 441 staff and providing a valuable resource, especially to the elderly and vulnerable.
Commenting, Don Foster MP said: “We are really lucky in Bath to have such a wide range of independent shops, and the local shop is a lifeline in the outlying areas. I often pop out for a late night pint of milk. These shops are a really valuable part of our local economy”.
The Local Shop Report published by The Association of Local Convenience Stores (ALC) sets out the importance of the local shop to the UK economy. In Bath these stores employ 441 staff. Of these 63% are women, 19% are aged 16 – 24 and 9% are over 60.
These employers offer valuable training opportunities to 207 people, in areas such as licensing, and a wide range of services from mobile phone top ups, cash machines and hot food to go.
The ALC are campaigning for more support for this valuable resource including business rate reform, changes to planning policy and support for entrepreneurs. Liberal Democrats have already delivered in many of these areas including:
- A £3.2 billion Regional Growth Fund to help support growing businesses. The number of small and medium-sized businesses supported through the Regional Growth Fund has trebled over the past year to 5,100, helping businesses to create more jobs and expand into new markets.
- Bath and North East Somerset is part of the West of England Local Enterprise Partnership. These are partnerships between local authorities and businesses, each with an enterprise zone that can take advantages of tax incentives and simplified local planning regulations.
Commenting, Steve Bradley, Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for Bath said: “The range of independent retailers in Bath is one of the things that makes our city special. I loved the diverse aspect of Bath when I first moved here in 1991, and it’s improved and grown since then. I’m championing local small businesses in whatever way I can, even featuring a new one each week on my website. I’m glad that these figures show so many local residents are very supportive too.”
More information about this report can be found at www.acs.org.uk/research
