Retailers in Ellesmere are glowing with pride this week after the town was revealed as one of the best and safest shopping towns in the UK.
It was visited by mystery shoppers and judges from Skillsmart, the Sector Skills Council for Retail which is part-funded by the government.
And after scrutinising hundreds of towns and cities across Britain and carrying out surveys with shoppers, the judges drew up their final list – which placed Ellesmere as the 11th best retail experience in Britain.
Lincoln McMullan, chairman of the town’s chamber of trade, said: “We aim to strengthen the local economy by providing a good shopping experience. For Ellesmere to be ranked 11th is very, very good.
“A hundred shoppers were asked to answer some questions about their shopping experience and they were very impressed with the clean and tidy town, and the very good variety of shops.
“And 98 out of the 100 people said they felt safe while they were shopping in Ellesmere. That’s the highest in the whole of the UK, and there are some places which just scored six.”
The assessors said they were also impressed with the layout of the town and how easy it was to find their way around to various locations such as the post office, town hall, car parking and public conveniences.
As well as looking at the town in general, the judges also scored individual shops, and the four top retailers were due to be presented with their prizes tonight, Thursday.
Whitchurch was also visited by the team of assessors and will find out later this year where it was placed in the final league table.