Your Champion bucks the trend! - Champion Newspapers

The Champion • Wednesday 5 September 2012‘One of the best’ says Bake Off presenterCVisit us @ www.ChampNews.com • 3Marcus as you’ve neverquite seen him before...CROSBY popstar Marcus Collinscan now be seen as fans havenever seen him before –immortalised as a computer gamecharacter.The hairdresser turned X Factorrunner–up is now following inthe footsteps of singer Katy Perryas he helps to front the release ofThe Sims 3 Supernatural, whichis the latest offering from theglobally popular gamingfranchise The Sims.As part of the campaign Marcushas sported his own supernaturalvampire look to represent one ofthe characters featured in thenew game, and has posed incharacter alongside a ‘simmed’version of himselfSupernatural Marcus CollinsWinner Thomas Sumner, right, with celebrity chef Paul HollywoodANETHERTONmanwascrownedchampion of the Great MerseysideBake Off last weekend.Thomas Sumner, 31, impressedcelebrity chef Paul Hollywood topick up the top prize at the SeftonPark Liverpool Food and DrinkFestival. Over 30,000 food loversdescended on the park to enjoy foodfrom more than 70 of the city’s toprestaurants, bars and cafes, as wellas delights from 50 local producers.Paul Hollywood, presenter of TheGreat British Bake Off which isCode NAscreened on BBC 2 said: “I go to agreat deal of foodie events, but thiswas certainly one of the best!Added the presenter: ”There wasan array of world cuisine, fantasticentertainment and a brilliantatmosphere.“Empty shops onthe rise in Bootleby David RavenBOOTLE has been named the tenthworst small town for shop vacanciesin the country.New figures have revealed hownearly one in four shops in the areaare completely empty and the figurehas risen by 1% in the past twelvemonths suggesting things are gettingworse.Bob Greenhalgh, the Strand centremanager, blames the recession withbanks not lending enough money andbigger businesses not being preparedto take a risk by investing in smallertown centres.In Bootle 23.4% of shops are emptycompared to a national average of10.6% vacant stores.In contrast though, Bob believes theStrand is actually outperformingmany shopping centres as out of 132shopping units, only nine are up forrent.Eight retail units are occupied bybusinesses that have gone intoadministration and today(Wednesday) CEX are expected toRESIDENTS can air their issues toSefton Council tonight(Wednesday) at the Crosby AreaCommittee meeting.The meeting will take place at the...but the Strand is outperformingmany shopping centres, says managerstart trading in what was the vacantGame store. Bob Greenhalgh, BootleStrand centre manager, said: “I’mdefinitely blaming the recession, ifthere was lots of money floatingaround then I’m certain we would getsome more businesses setting up.“But because of the recession peopledon’t want to take that risk of settingup in a smaller town and they areopting for the bigger cities instead.“We have lost a couple of unitsrecently down to administration – welost Game about three months ago butCEX have fitted it out and will beopening this week.“The other unit we lost recently wasClinton Cards who went intoadministration and we can’t doanything about it until a purchasercomes along.“I think our letting guys are doing areasonable job on trying to securetenants but because of the financialsituation a lot of the larger retailersare not willing to take a risk byUnited Reformed Church Hall onWarren Road in Blundellsands.It will take place at 6.30pm andresidents can air concerns at thepublic forum section which will lastmoving into Bootle.“Some of the larger retailers don’twant to set up in smaller townssurrounding the bigger cities becausethey already have stores in the biggercities, they see it as a risk but theyshouldn’t as my personal view is thereis definitely a market here in Bootle.”Matthew Hopkinson, director at theLocal Data Company, who releasedthe figures, added: “This reportclearly shows the key economic andstructural issues which are impactingtown centres up and down thecountry. These issues still have someway to go before we see wide stabilityand positive change.”Liz Peace, chief executive, BritishProperty Federation, said: “Ourtowns face complex structuralproblems which are not going to besolved by tinkering around the edges.“In many places, we need to have acomplete re–think about how vacantproperty could be redeveloped intonew uses.”Chance for residents to air their views to councilaround 20 minutes.Issues on the agenda includedisabled people’s parking spaces,privileged parking orders andtraffic regulation orders in the area.25,000 CUSTOMERS CAN'TBE WRONG...UPVC Windows • DoorsInternal Doors • ConservatoriesLocal CompanyEstablished 30 yearsMAGHULL DOUBLE GLAZINGTEL: 0151 526 8200Factory & Showrooms: Sefton Lane Ind. 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