HENLEY is about to come out of recession, according to the town’s shopkeepers.

Student Theo Bird, 17, conducted a survey of 30 shops and found that while profits were slightly down on the previous year there were positive signs, including:

lFootfall has dipped only slightly.

lThe Standard’s Think Local campaign has made a positive impact on sales.

lShopkeepers believe trade will increase during this year.

Theo, a student at The Henley College, said: “Only one business manager I questioned believed that profits had rapidly decreased and two businesses said they had seen their profits go up.

“I believe the reasons for this positive result are that Henley is a very affluent area and many customers still have disposable income.

“The huge tourist boom provided by Henley Royal Regatta and Henley Festival will have balanced out businesses’ profits.

“Many of the shops with very low profits have gone out of business and their premises remain empty.”

Theo, from Peppard Common, produced the questionnaire as part of his international baccalaureate, asking shopkeepers how the recession had affected their trade.

He found that businesses selling food, electronics, sports goods, toys, boat trips, and beauty, stationery or household goods had performed well.

“Cafés, alcohol shops, estate agents and hotels faired the worst,” he said. “So many cafés in Henley are competing that it may be the reason for this. Alcohol shops often appear overpriced in comparison with the cheaper supermarkets, making recessions a difficult time for them.

“Five businesses claimed that customer volumes had risen. Four of these said that profits had remained constant despite this increase with one stating profits had decreased.

“While this recession is said to be the worst since the Depression, the effect seems relatively mild.” In Marchlast year, the Standard launched Think Local to support businesses and encourage residents throughout Henley and South Oxfordshire to band together and help each other during the recession.

Theo said: “Many shops said it was very good as it does make people think about buying locally. A few said it did not make a difference but the majority said it helped.”

He found that people’s attitudes to spending had changed.

The teenager said: “I was surprised that six shops said their customers’ attitude to spending had made a positive change. This outlook was not just in one category of shop but six different businesses, from food to clothes.

“One shopkeeper said he would only sell what people needed and wanted. He had seen what people bought and adapted what he sold to suit.”

Theo found that rent increases and roadworks were an issue for shopkeepers in 2008, making the recession tougher to come through.

He said: “Town councillor Barry Wood could name several shops that had gone down due to their rents.

“However, the roadworks didn’t seem to make much of a difference. A manager of a beauty cosmetics shop said, ‘Anyone who blames the roadworks for their business failure is searching for an excuse. My shop was metres from them and my trade did not fall’.

“A jewellers said that rents were extremely high and the rent on his shop had almost doubled in a year. A manager of a restaurant told me that their rent had risen by 25 per cent.”

Theo concluded the worst of the recession was over for Henley.

He said: “Henley was affected by the economic downturn. This could clearly be seen with, at its worst, 34 vacant shops out of about 200.

“It will take some time for Henley to become a buzzing market town once again, yet when it does recover it will be stronger than it was before. We can see that with all the shops filling up. The businesses that went down were the ones that were doing badly anyway.”

Theo’s father is Dr William Bird, who was made an MBE in the New Year’s honours for services to healthcare after founding the Green Gym and Sonning Common Health Works. Dr Bird and his wife Annie have two other children, Rory, 14, a pupil at Reading Boys’ School, and Georgie, 12, who attends Gillotts School in Henley.

lAre we coming out of the recession? Write to: Letters, Henley Standard, Caxton House, Reading Road, Henley, RG9 1AD or email letters@henleystandard.co.uk


Published on 18 January 2010