PRESTON is top of the shops, according to a new report into Lancashire's town centres.

The town takes almost a third of all non-food shopping in the county, beating Blackpool, Blackburn and Burnley, amongst others.

But the highest level of business confidence was found in smaller centres - Kirkham, Haslingden, Bispham and Carnforth led the way, with Preston in sixth place.

Carried out for Lancashire County Council, the survey centred on size, trade composition, amounts of vacant property, business performance, trader intentions and views regarding attractiveness, crime and retail catchment area statistics.

More than 40 per cent of the 8,000 businesses surveyed in Preston believed their businesses had seen an improvement since 1991; 34 per cent believed they had seen a decline.

County coun George Slynn, chair of planning, industrial development and tourism committee, said: "Town centres lie at the geographical, social, cultural and economic heart of the national drive towards an urban renaissance.

"This study gave us a detailed insight into the health and expectations of retail trade in Lancashire and will allow us to consider the findings in our strategic planning role."

An LCC spokesman added: "Preston is an incredibly vital and viable town centre in terms of all the indicators we looked at.

"It ranked just second to Burnley in terms of general health but it was very close between them.

"The survey was a snapshot of our town centres to show how they were doing at a certain point in time - not how they have developed over the years."

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