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Shops hold their own amid talk of ‘gloom’

Carl Marsden
28/12/2005

OLDHAMERS showed few signs of tightening their belts this Christmas - despite the latest gloomy economic figures relating to the borough.

The High Street has found 2005 a difficult year in general, but town centre retailers reported high footfall and brisk trade in the immediate run up to the festive period.

That comes against the backdrop of heightened fears of excess consumer borrowing and the latest Government figures showing that home repossessions in Oldham are up by 39 per cent from last year and bankruptcies have risen by 63 per cent.

It cost Oldham Town Centre Partnership £160,000 in promoting local shopping this Christmas - including radio and television advertising.

Mike Flanagan, manager at the Spindles and Town Square shopping centres, said that figure - which is second only to the outlay by Manch-ester's Trafford and Arndale centres in the region - is now looking like money well spent.

He said: "Oldham's shops seem to have had a good time compared with the national picture.

"The phrase we are using here is that we have been 'holding our own'. We're not broken any records but we've certainly been faring as well as comparative centres.

"The last weekends were extremely busy in terms of footfall and car parking and tenants have told us that they have had their busiest weekends of the year.

"Consumer behaviour seems to have pretty much followed the pattern of recent years. The public are getting cannier in terms of holding back and leaving their shopping until a bit later to see if the retailers drop their prices.

"We're also expecting a very busy time from this week onwards as the sales start, so we haven't seen much indication at all of people tightening their belts this Christmas."

But Chris Davies, Oldham Lib Dem MEP, says OIdham's home repossession and bankruptcy figures are visible indicators of the stress being felt across the borough - particularly when looking at over-borrowed households.

"Many families are cutting back on borrowing, hence the sharp slowdown in the economy," he said.

"Their credit cards have kept the High Street boom going and their mortgages inflated the housing bubble but people are starting to tighten their belts."

Mr Davies wants the financial services industry to set up easily accessible centres providing independent financial advice.

He added: "People should be able to get quick and easy access to help as soon as they start having money troubles. All too quickly a small debt grows out of control and people don't know where to turn."