A CLUTCH of independent shops is urging Winchester shoppers to help “preserve the fabric of our town centre”.

Traders in Bridge Street are the latest group of businesses to back the Hampshire Chronicle’s ‘Shop Local’ campaign.

It comes as The Bridge Patisserie faces renewed competition from the high street following the opening of Maison Blanc.

Moira Windsor, who has owned the Bridge Street patisserie for a decade, said she was unsure about the impact of Raymond Blanc’s latest venture.

“It’s going to be quiet for the next couple of weeks because people will be trying them out,” she said. “Hopefully they’ll come back to us.”

She said the majority of her customers are regulars and they appreciate that the food they buy has all been produced on the premises.

“I really like this part of town, it’s a nice community,” she added. “I get a lot of people who know each other and they’re all from the neighbourhood. It makes for a nice atmosphere.

“I have an established place, but it would terrify me to go to the high street where the rents are so high, and you only get businesses like Starbucks.”

Other nearby independent traders include a newsagent, a florist, a dress agency, a Chinese medicine shop, a picture framer and a barber’s shop.

Jill Bendinger, who runs Winchester Framing with her husband Dick, said: “If shoppers don’t support us in these particularly hard times then there won’t be any individual shops left.

“The fabric of town centres is changing so dramatically, as a nation we need to fight to preserve our town centres.”

They have been running the store, formerly The Printed Page, for the last eight years, and say it’s the last specialist framers in the city.

She added: “Town centres won’t attract people to the city if all that’s on offer are banks, estate agents and the like.”

David Smith, who runs Mills in Bloom florist with his wife Colette, said: “We pride ourselves on the fact that customers are buying from a real person, a real florist and a real shop, you don’t get that elsewhere.

“This is why retail is damaged because of the influx of the big multinationals who don’t offer the bespoke services, contrary to what they say.”

The business was formed three years ago when Mr Smith’s venture, Blooms, which used to be based in Little Minster Street, merged with another florist, Mills.