A Great Wakering shopkeeper claimed he was being forced to auction his business because trade in the village has hit an all-time low.

Rochford district councillor Rob Allen says he must sell up after the bottom fell out of trade at his Tofs DIY and hardware store in Great Wakering High Street.

Now the councillor for Barling and Sutton claims he will move his business to Shoebury where there is more passing trade.

He said: "There is not enough custom for the business - it is nothing to do with the economic development side of it, it is the village as a village, it is dying on its feet here. The baker shut down two weeks ago, and I know of four other shops which are up for sale - the smaller shops are finding it very difficult."

Mr Allen said the problem was that villagers shopped elsewhere before arriving home, so didn't need the services of local shops.

He added: "Some days this place is like a ghost town, there are so few people about."

"Their lives exist on going out of the village - they don't even think of going into it."

Mr Allen said he had tried everything to encourage more customers, from running adverts on the doctors' surgery TV system to sponsoring the local football team.

He continued: "Even after three-and-a-half years people are coming in and saying they didn't know we were here - people just do things out of the village."

Rochford District Council's head of corporate policy and initiatives, Sean Scrutton said the council would seek to influence shopping patterns if it could.

He said: "To some extent we are controlled by market forces - if there was a way we could, we would obviously try to do something.

"It is a problem that market towns all around the country are continuing to face - the problem of out of town shopping."

Desperate measures - Rob Allen is being forced to auction his business as trade nosedives

Picture: MIKE NEVILLE

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