Shrewsbury shopper numbers fall to eight-year low, claim

The number of people visiting Shrewsbury town centre is at an eight year low, it was claimed today.

Councillor Andrew Wagner for the Quarry and Coton Hill ward said shoppers were being driven away in droves by car parking charges and he feared worse was to come.

He said: "I have been a town councillor for eight years and I've run businesses in the town centre and this is the worst I've ever seen it in all that time. Customers are being driven away by car park charges and shop owners are being driven away by higher rents.

"You only have to look at the empty car parks to see how bad it is. I think it will only get worse. I feel for all the shops but especially for the independent shops which are the heart and soul of Shrewsbury."

His warning came as a new report published by the British Retail Consortium (BRC) this week revealed that the number of shoppers hitting the high streets across the West Midlands is down more than 10 per cent on last year.

The report said that footfall figures in town centres across the West Midlands are the worst in the country, suffering a 10.4 per cent drop on the same period last year. It also said the amount of empty shops in the West Midlands stood at 11 per cent.

Phil Freeman, from Shop in the Loop, said the real test on Shrewsbury's high street would come after Christmas.

He said: "Lots of businesses are setting up in the run-up to Christmas but it is whether they will continue afterwards.

Just look at Woolworths which use to do 90 per cent of its trading in the weeks leading up to Christmas."

And other traders remain optimistic about the footfall count in Shrewsbury town centre.