CRAVEN Tuck Shop might have been voted the Shop of the Year in the Herald but even it cannot survive the competition from the multi-national giants.

Andrew Midgley is being forced to sell his business and is blaming it on local people who will not support their local shops.

For the past two years Mr Midgley has run the newsagents on Skipton High Street and worked 12 hours a day, seven days a week without a lunch hour, to try to provide a service to the public.

But he claimed he was not getting their support in return.

Last year he only had Christmas Day off as holiday to ensure customers could get anything they needed.

As a small independent shop Mr Midgley said he did not have the financial backing or support like the multi-nationals around him and could no longer survive without help from local people.

"I just wish more people would support me and get their papers here rather than just going to a multi-national. I try to provide a service and people just don't use it," said Mr Midgley.

With rent and rates totalling about £24,000 a year, Mr Midgley cannot afford to run the business without more, regular customers.

The business is now on the market as a newsagents but any new owners could apply to change the shop's use.

He hinted that perhaps he could be persuaded to carry on the business if his trade increased enough to warrant him being there.

In a similar situation are Peter and Lyndsey Earl. Their Grassington shop cannot compete with the supermarkets and they have decided to close down.

Mr and Mrs Earl, who run Earl's Fine Food Emporium, have spent the last six years trying to drum up support from local people and tourists.

Mr Earl said that elderly residents who traditionally used the small shops were dying off and the new younger people coming into the village travelled to the supermarkets. "But, if they don't use the shops they will lose them," he said.

He added that the decline in the tourist industry over the last two years had also hit their business, and on-line services meant shoppers no longer even had to leave their homes.

The couple spent a lot of time and effort transforming the business and trying to offer something a little bit different. They stocked free-range meat, Aberdeen Angus, vegetarian specials, all high quality British and local produce.

They also diversified the business and ran a successful outside catering company. Yet that collapsed during the foot and mouth outbreak and lost £3,000 in one month through cancellations.

"We feel really sad about moving, if only we could be paid in good will, as we have got about 50 letters from well wishers," said Mr Earl.

"We want to say sorry to the people that have supported us and we hope it prompts people who have not used us to support the other local shops before they disappear."

On a more positive note Mr and Mrs Earl have taken jobs at Long Ashes Inn where they will be chef and assistant chef. "I want to say a heartfelt thank-you to the people who have supported us and I want to say a big thank-you to our staff," said Mr Earl.