Group self-fund campaign to support high street

Mark Fulton said he has noticed a decline in footfall on the town's high street

A group of small businesses in a market town are self-funding a campaign to promote the high street.

The Whitchurch Marketing Collaborative in Shropshire was set up after trades noticed a decline in footfall over the past year.

The group hopes to launch a website and social media by Christmas to showcase shops, activities and events.

Mark Fulton, who runs record shop The Vinyl Countdown, said the idea behind it is promoting "the whole town, as opposed to any individual piece of the jigsaw."

The record shop is one of six businesses in the town supporting the campaign, with others including lifestyle shop Moo & Boom, health store Refill Your Boots, and restaurant Wild Shropshire.

Mr Fulton added that "modern living" means there is "less of an emphasis for people [to come] into a town centre."

He added that it can be tough for small businesses as "footfall has been falling."

"We need more people in our town centres - but this obviously is not unique to Whitchurch, it's a nationwide problem," he said, adding that it is "very easy to order online, and therefore town centres tend to miss out."

He believes Whitchurch needs to "compete and continue to grow", but added that "there's no point one or two of us being successful - we've all got to be successful together."

Marketing agency boss Mark Cornelius said Whitchurch is the "biggest little town in Shropshire"

Marketing agency managing director Mark Cornelius, who grew up locally and moved back to the area after working in London, said he is applying his skills to help boost Whitchurch's profile.

"We will use various channels, social media, live events to tell people what's going on [in Whitchurch], he said.

"We will focus on different sectors... talk about the history, food, culture, taking the elements of this town, making it into a story, and putting it out there for people to find and learn more about it."

The businesses behind the marketing campaign are "influential with their own audiences," Mr Cornelius said.

"If they come together and tell a collective message, then that becomes very powerful."

He added it was a tough market for independent businesses competing with "out of town shopping centres, online shopping and economic pressure".

Mr Cornelius said Whitchurch deserves more recognition for its "amazing variety."

"You've got more than 30 independent stores, we've got our own stretch of canal, and that stunning church - all within five, ten minutes walk," he said.

"It's Shropshire's biggest little town."