An Angus Earl is spearheading Forfar’s fight to reclaim the high street for its independent retailers.
On Thursday evening Lord Strathmore’s Glamis Castle will host a gathering of local shopkeepers with the aim of putting Forfar at the Scottish vanguard of a nationwide initiative to harness e-commerce and deliver the hoped for spin-off of additional footfall across the door.
Since 2005, the earl has owned David Irons & Sons in Forfar’s Castle Street, a hardware store that remains among the oldest of Angus’s dwindling list of long-established independent retailers.
Despite the challenges of the economic downturn, entrepreneurial spirit has brought a number of new names to Forfar town centre and the earl is hopeful the early signs of interest in the new drive for business will reap dividends.
On Thursday night, Lord and Lady Strathmore will welcome figures from the My High Street online network and BIRA (British Independent Retailers Association) for a rundown of the new coalition that is seeking to promote individual high streets as real and virtual destinations.
The platform intends to support independent retail, leisure and service businesses and Lord Strathmore said he hopes the scheme might play a key part in injecting new life into Forfar.
“Forfar still does still have quite a good number of independents, but it is the market town of Angus so you would hope that would be the case,” he said.
“We haven’t, however, really moved forward in promoting the town and what the independents have to offer so this whole idea is to get as many business interested as possible and take it from there.
“I’m at the bottom of the learning curve on this but the idea is to learn about this initiative, get as many people on board as we can and hopefully look at creating a decent Forfar website on this online marketplace.”
The initiative’s objective is to gather 200 pioneering towns and use strength of numbers in each location to build a showcase for independent retailers through branded and tailored websites.
“This first stage is about getting people together to try and pull together a plan of action.”
It is hoped around 40 people will be in attendance at the Glamis event and the Strathmores hope there is enough interest to unlock funding support.
Angus Council is also to be represented at the meeting.
The earl added: “It’s a step in the right direction, but it is still only the first step and we really need as much interest and support from the independents as we can get.
“Hopefully it will lead to a website that, when you see it, will not only encourage you to buy goods but also to think of visiting the town.
“If we don’t have a look at doing something positive we will basically stagnate,” he said.