It was a brave decision on two fronts. Firstly, Gary has moved out of Madeley, an area undergoing huge regeneration, having millions ploughed into a new shopping centre which it is hoped will give the town a new lease of life.

Secondly, he has chosen Oakengates for his new store supplying painting and decorating materials. A district centre, yet to have the same level of investment as Madeley, which he admits is full or takeaways and pubs with Telford Shopping Centre only a few miles away.

But Gary is fearless in the face of criticism – and there has been a fair bit. Even people who are pleased he has opened The Paint Pad in Oakengates want to know how long he intends to stay, as if they expect him to fold at any time.

“I have kept one business in Madeley, called Allsorts, because that’s what it sells. You need to sell anything and everything now, you need to diversify to survive. It’s a shame, because the little specialist shops are going out of business.

“But the other shop I closed and opened up The Paint Pad in Limes Walk selling decorating supplies, hardware and tools.”

Gary said he was forced to move out of Madeley because the regeneration work meant his business was struggling.

“I have had two shops in Madeley for six years but trade had become so difficult due to the dilapidated state of Madeley centre and lack of investment. After years of talking we now have the announcement of private development and a Tesco store.

“We all heard about the regeneration of Madeley and welcomed it. But no-one looked into the near future when the heavy machines were moving in.

“Yes, regeneration is great in a few years time, but with all the work ongoing now, we could have gone under.”

Gary said traders were told the work would last for at least 18 months, involving major groundworks and the building of a new road link.

“This will obviously cause disruption to the traders and its customers and no formal compensation packages have been discussed to protect the business owners.

“So people have obviously found my decision to close one of our businesses strange just when all the positive announcements are being made, but if I hadn’t made this difficult choice then I believe both the shops would have folded in this difficult period.

“But it’s difficult as people come in and say ‘how long are you going to be here?’

“Small retailers in district centres need help now. They should be given incentives now, there are a lot of empty units about. People are quite brave in taking them over, but they are not being given encouragement.

“Oakengates has not had a dedicated decorating shop for many years, possibly because the big stores do tend to stifle small, independent stores.

“But people are now starting to change their shopping habits and the feedback I have received is that they would prefer to shop in the smaller stores and not travel to the town centre, so hopefully we can exploit this and be successful.”

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