Front page of the Evening Post tonight has headlines "Shutting up Shop" and it has pictures of 20 empty stores in Neath Town Centre. The first thing I saw when I went into Tesco's in Neath Abbey this evening was a poster board stating that "Neath Town centre was dying". Front page of the Courier leads with "Hard-sell misery for Shoppers in Neath town centre". Officials from Neath's Chamber of Trade are quoted as saying "We need to breathe life into dying town".
Compare all this negative publicity to the stories Nigel is recounting about the business successes in Neath. Listen to the customers of the Best of Neath companies who are posting some wonderful comments about businesses that are giving amazing services and fantastic customer satisfaction. Celebrate the success of Call of the Wild who have just been voted small Welsh business of the year or Paul Cole in the Market who is constantly winning awards for the quality of his meat products. We at La Creme have just found out that we have won three gold awards at the Fine Food Awards in London, which is the oscars for speciality food in the UK. Last year only 44 golds were awarded throughout Wales encompassing every food and drink category. As a result our three products will be exhibited at Olympia in September at the Speciality Fine Food Show which will be attended by buyers for all the major food retailers.
What we need in Neath is a Champion. Somebody to represent the views of business. Somebody who celebrates our successes and works to encourage further cooperation with fellow Neath businesses.
For me, Nigel is our King.
I think he has done a wonderful job in promoting excellence. The Best of Neath network evenings are really taking off and those who attend get real tangible (bottom line) benefits from meeting like minded people. Its about marketing, its about selling, its about promotion and its about innovation.
Businesses need to adapt. I am not here to give advice except to say that we ought to be careful that what we are preaching doesn't become a self fulfilling prophecy.
