YOUNG people in Thornbury feel the town is lacking big High Street names, a cinema and an activity centre, a survey has revealed.

As part of the questionnaire distributed last October to Castle School pupils and members of various youth groups and clubs, hundreds of teenagers had been asked to list their three favourite things about Thornbury as well as the town’s three major shortcomings.

They had also been invited to offer concrete solutions on how to make it a better place to live.

According to the survey's results released last week by Thornbury Town Council, out of the 223 youths polled, an overwhelming majority listed "nothing/not enough to do" as their number one concern.

They also blasted the "naff" shops, the High Street's overall unattractiveness to under-18s and complained about the lack of big retail names, "trendy" independent stores and places for young people to hang out.

Another one of Thornbury’s major downfalls, they said, was the irregular and expensive bus services to and from Bristol.

The positives, however, were the parks, the leisure centre, the town’s safe environment and the schools.

Cllr Helen Harrison, who coordinated the consultation process and compiled the results, said the necessity of a youth survey had come to the fore after it emerged that many parents were dissatisfied with the provision of youth activities.

She said at a meeting of the town council where the results were being reviewed last week: "I gathered this information primarily through Castle School, who were really useful, but also through the Youth Centre and the Baptist Church youth clubs.

"We now need to come up with solutions and move forward. We want Thornbury to be a place young people enjoy living in."

When asked in the questionnaire how they would tackle these issues a majority of the pupils suggested creating an new activity centre, complete with climbing wall, basketball hoops and bowling alley, building a cinema and putting on music concerts and festivals aimed at young people regularly.

Cllr Harrison added: "We need to include young people in the decision and discuss this with them. They came up with ways to improve Thornbury for young people and I have also come up with some suggestions.

"Some of them could be put in place quite quickly, other could take a bit longer. But there is a range of things we could consider."