HOW fortunate we are in Ledbury to have such a thriving High Street and what a pleasure it is to see our shops fighting back against the ever increasing stranglehold of the supermarket.

My family have been producing meat for Ledbury butchers for more than 60 years and although the battle against the supermarkets has been an uphill struggle, my gut feeling is that at long last the High Street shops have started to claw back the ground that has been lost over the last 20 years.

To have three successful butchers’ shops in its High Street makes Ledbury almost unique in this day and age. So what has brought about this phenomenon?

Obviously the shops need to be competitive against the supermarkets, the customers need to feel confident with the goods they are buying and, last but definitely not least, the majority of us are very concerned about traceability and the products’ carbon footprint.

So, are these the reasons for the revival of fortunes in our High Street or are we all getting a little fed up with ‘big business’ telling us what is good for us?

An out-of-town supermarket will be totally detrimental to Ledbury’s town centre and as we all know, it’s only a matter of time before one supermarket becomes a retail park as has happened in Malvern.

Ledbury, in its present form, is successful and the fabric well maintained.

Substantial change could jeopardise the social and commercial aspect so to quote the Americans, “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”.

JOHN BISHOP
Colwall