Use it or lose it is the message (From Gazette Series)

Use it or lose it is the message

USE your local shops - that was the message to people in Wotton-under-Edge and Dursley this week following the launch of a campaign to keep shop tills ringing.

The Shop Local campaign, the brainchild of Stroud District Council, was launched across the region and aims to keep market towns such as Wotton and Dursley thriving.

It is hoped the campaign will boost trade and the number of customers in both towns and will send out a clear message to shoppers that they must use their local shops in order to keep them.

Organisers also hope the drive will encourage new traders to open up shop.

The campaign for Wotton-under-Edge will be launched at the town's monthly farmers' market at the town hall tomorrow (10am). There will also be a launch event in Stroud. A similar event is planned for Dursley the week after.

To promote the campaign each town involved has been given their own canvas shopping bags carrying the Shop Local emblem and the town's own symbol. For Wotton this is the Tolsey Clock but Dursley is yet to decide on a town symbol.

Special Shop Local shopping list pads have also been produced.

Nigel Studdert-Kennedy, Stroud District Council's portfolio holder for regeneration, said: "It can be pleasantly surprising to discover how many products can be bought locally and we hope the district's residents will give the campaign their full support, thereby helping to sustain local services."

Elizabeth Warren, Wotton Mayor, and June Cordwell, chairman of the Wotton Regeneration Partnership, will help get the campaign off the ground tomorrow.

A number of the Shop Local bags will be available at the farmers' market and at independent shops in the town afterwards.