Mixed views arose when a national red top newspaper reported that Ellesmere Port high street had been found to be the 4th worst in the country.
The results of the survey, carried out by Regent Street based retail property advisors Harper Dennis Hobbs in London, appeared in The Sun newspaper.
Ellesmere Port high street was ranked 497th of 500 in the UK ahead of Dudley, Llanelli and Morecambe which were the bottom three.
People took to the Facebook page Pride in the Port to vent their fury at the newspaper, which caused outrage on Merseyside for reporting following the Hillsborough disaster.
But others suggested the town centre had too many pawn shops, bookies and takeaways.
Nostalgia crept in with the posting of a black and white picture of the post war high street suggesting there had been a good selection of stores.
“Bring back the old town centre,” was one comment.
The survey is intended to show which centres are improving in terms of their vitality and which are falling further into decline.
The bottom 50 centres are described as locations that need to improve their retail offer and adapt to their local consumer.
Ellesmere Port Town ward borough councillor Justin Madders (Lab) said: ”When we lost KFC and McDonalds two years ago now I said the council needed to act urgently.
“The only investment they have put in is through the Marks and Spencer's money negotiated by Ellesmere Port and Neston Borough Council seven or eight years ago now which has made an improvement but is not a solution in itself.
“When we see the fountain Tarmacced over and not replaced because ‘there is no money left’ but at the same time millions being spent in Chester there is no doubt revitalising the town centre is not a priority for Cheshire West and Chester Council.”
Aspects taken into account included:
The proportion of premium and luxury retail and the presence of up market retail (helping to attract affluent consumers and suggesting that high quality retailers have faith in the retail centre in question)
The proportion of value retail with a high proportion suggesting that a retail centre is relatively deprived
The presence of what could be considered to be ‘out of fashion’ retail tenants, including charity shops, pawn-brokers, pay-day loan stores, betting shops, bingo halls and amusements and E-cigarette stores
The vacancy rate, said to be a key indication of the vitality of a high street with rows of empty shops very quickly put off customers from visiting
The finding comes as the borough council continues to regenerate Ellesmere Port’s historic high street with more premises being refurbished on Whitby Road and occupied by businesses and affordable housing.
The project is part of a programme of town centre improvements, prioritised by the Ellesmere Port Development Board.
Looking to target long-term vacant shops in the old high street, the council’s grant scheme aims to bring properties back into use, improve the appearance of the street, help increase footfall for the other shops and support the regeneration of the wider area.
Landlords are asked to rent out their unused retail unit to local community interest groups for a two-year period, receiving a peppercorn rent and benefiting from a grant to bring the property back up to modern specifications in return.
