SIR – I was interested to read about Otley BID’s plan to develop a strategy to ‘fill the gaps’ in the economy by influencing the kinds of shop to start up. Some people would apparently like to see a Costa coffee shop in the town.
Otley has more than enough coffee and tea shops and, while some of them need to up their game, attracting a national chain like Costa is not the answer. Part of the attraction and charm of Otley is the large number of local and independent retailers and traders, some of them award-winning businesses. This is what Otley BID should promote more.
There is a large body of evidence to show that when a national chain, whose profits always go elsewhere, set up in or on the edge of a town, it leads to local small retailers going out of business. Their profits which once circulated back into the local economy would disappear and a spiral of decline begins. I agree steps are needed to fill empty premises but attracting national chains can have unforeseen detrimental consequences.
Andrew McKeon, Throstle Nest Close, Otley
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