Town's new strategy

But how can it compete for business sandwiched, as it is, between bigger towns like Blackburn and Burnley.

Donna McKenzie reports...

IN the late 1980s and early 1990s two main changes took place which encapsulated the difficulties faced trying to attract people into Accrington town centre.

Firstly the cinema in Broadway closed down, with falling attendances as people went to bigger complexes elsewhere among the reasons.

The Arndale Centre opened, bringing national name stores, but dragging shoppers away from the traditional, individual shops which made the town centre unique.

Nigel Rix, director of regeneration company Hyndburn First, said: "The Arndale Centre took the centre of gravity in the town into one corner and disconnected it from the independent shops in the Warner Street area.

"After the cinema closed there was no longer any significant entertainment in the town for young people and this became one of the challenges for Accrington."

Part of the solution is The Viaduct, off Hyndburn Road, which comprises a four screen cinema, a 20-lane bowling alley and a drive-through McDonald's.

Mr Rix said: "The strategy for Accrington is to see it not just in terms of shops but to see it as a menu of services for a lot of people.

"It is about the all-round experience and being able to enjoy leisure and entertainment.

"We want local people to feel more at ease spending their evenings and weekends in the town centre."

But the next stage of development for Hyndburn's principal town does focus on shopping, with the new market development.

Work began earlier this year and it is hoped to be completed by May 2003.

The development will see the creation of 63,000 square feet of town centre shopping with three open pavilions, 94 market stalls and 16 kiosks in the heart of the town centre.

Mr Rix said: "After many years of planning, promoting and prayer we have, in May this year, launched the Accrington development.

"This will enable the shoppers in Accrington to have a wider choice of shopping. It will create a new vitality and viability for Accrington market as it is in proximity to the prime town centre shops.

"Broadway will act as a ribbon tying the town centre together and the pavilions will link to the Church Street and Warner Street outlets as we need to continue to generate shopper flow to the independent shopping area."

It is these small independent outlets which Mr Rix says add to the town's individuality.

He said: "Accrington must try to distinguish itself from other things available in the nearby towns and therefore we must try to sustain and diversify our town centre shopping and make a virtue out of our stronger independent retailers rather than merely offering a repetition of what is available down the road.

"We are not going to be able to compete with the size of shopping centre in large towns but want to create a more appealing town centre for the whole family."

Mr Rix said that even if the town did wish to attract big name stores there would be problems.

He said: "Independent surveys indicate that in the heart of the town centre there are not enough large modern shops to accommodate the demand from national retailers.

"And it is unlikely names such as Debenhams would come here anyway. A likely issue for big stores is where else they are located in East Lancashire and if they want to introduce another store so close to their existing ones in say Blackburn or Burnley.

"For a small town like Accrington with a more limited catchment area and with an economic profile which has low spending characteristics it is important to be realistic about the prospect for attracting large scale retailers."

Michael Carney, president of Hyndburn's Chamber of Trade, agrees that big stores are not the way to go for the town. He said: "Accrington is unusual in that it has a lot of shops that don't seem to exist in other towns.

"There are a lot of individual independent retail stores rather than being a carbon copy of the department stores in every other town.

"I think that sometimes people get the wrong idea and think of it as an old fashioned town but I think people could get 99 per cent of anything they could want from the existing shops.

"In other towns a lot of little shops have been pushed out by big store mentality and we don't want that here.

"If something is not broke then don't bother trying to change it or it could result in losing the charm of the town."

Those most affected by the changes are the existing market traders who are currently in temporary stalls in Broadway and Blackburn Road.

Karen Hall, market manager, said: "It is important to improve traditional markets to bring them up to a standard that the shopping public now demands and expects and this is what the development is doing.

"In terms of the town attracting larger stores, I think that we do need to attract investment into the town to enable independent retailers to thrive as well.

"Once you have the big retailers it can become the same as other towns but it does attract people into the town which ultimately is good for independent retailers."

Coun Ian Ormerod, leader of Hyndburn Borough Council, said: "Low inflation, low interest rates and low inflation have provided the basis for sustained improvements in Accrington town centre and both local businesses and shoppers are now seeing the benefits."

When the market development began it was Coun Peter Britcliffe who was at the helm of Hyndburn Council and he, too, is thrilled with the direction Accrington is heading in.