Clean up begins of empty shops in Bridgwater

Local councils and traders have been working together to clean up empty shops in a Somerset town centre.

Fly-posters will be removed from shop windows and frontages will be cleaned up in Bridgwater.

John Capstick, from Bridgwater Retail Initiative (BRI), said: "When you get a cluster of shops looking tired and forlorn it drags the whole of the street down."

The aim is to make the empty shops more attractive to prospective businesses.

The BRI is made up of local traders and the town and district council.

The owners of the empty shops have given permission for the BRI members to carry out the clean up.