By HELEN COMPSON helen.compson@hexham-courant.co.uk

Last updated 10:51, Friday, 09 January 2009

TWO skips outside the dying Woolworths store in Hexham last week said it all as the recession began to bite on Tynedale’s high streets.

As a national report warned that small market towns would be worst hit by the retail crisis, passersby watched in disbelief as a scrum broke out in one of the skips.

Hexham resident Jim Strain said: “Woolworths was bare by then, the skips were full and people were literally climbing into them.

“One mum, with her husband and two young children standing there, got in and dug right to the bottom. She climbed out with a hi-fi system.”

Others emerged with boxed DVD players, bathroom and kitchen equipment, CDs and all manner of detritus seized from the embers of the high street institution.

It is believed that an announcement will be made tomorrow by Iceland that it has now bought the premises.

Reliable sources say Hexham is among the 51 Woolworths branches purchased by the frozen food purveyor.

Empty shops now litter Hexham town centre, but the worst is yet to come, warns respected retail analyst Experian.

Store vacancy rates will be pushed to record levels by the end of 2009, with 10 per cent of shops standing empty by February.

Experian’s director of retail consultancy, Jonathan de Mello, said local councils and business leaders faced a challenging year ahead.

“The unprecedented level of retail vacancy will be disproportionately spread across Britain, so that smaller retail destinations, in particular market towns, will be worse affected,” he said.

“The loss of major multiples such as Woolworths will leave a significant gap in these towns and it is likely to have a knock-on effect with other retailers.”

Two major investments that would have poured millions into Hexham town centre have now been put on the back burner.

Plans to replace the outdated Robb’s department store premises with a £40million sleek new building will not materialise in the near future.

Nick Waugh, commercial property director for Buccleuch Group, which owns the building, said: “We are working through the process, but there is no incentive to speed that process up for obvious reasons.

“It would be wrong not to take into account what’s happening on our high street.”

The Co-op, too, is cautious about plans to build two large retail units next door to Marks and Spencer, on Maiden’s Walk.

Designed to attract two more high street chains to Hexham, construction work will not begin on the units until prospective tenants have signed on the dotted line, said the Co-op this week.

Meanwhile, Hexham’s small independent traders are worried about the growing pressure on their own businesses, and the increasingly tatty appearance of stretches of the town’s proudest streets.

The growing number of empty units and the rise of the charity shop do not help Hexham put its best foot forward, they say.

The crisis point in Hexham, some fear, will be when Tynedale Council shuts up shop for good.

Founder member of the Hexham Independent Traders group Gail List, said: “Hexham is a working town and, if jobs go, that will have a massive impact on retailers.

“When the council goes, the loss of trade from people nipping out for sandwiches, coffee and bits of shopping will hit us hard.”

However, Hexham has much reason for hope, say Tynedale’s business leaders.

Tynedale Council, Hexham Community Partnership and Hexham Business Forum emphasise the strengths and attractions that will defend the district from the worst of the recession.

Hexham’s MP Peter Atkinson said: “My hope is that Hexham, because of its unique attractiveness, and the wider district will suffer less than other retail centres.

“In recent years we have seen the arrival of Waitrose, Tesco and M&S, and that has been a great success story for the town.

“Yes, we are going to have a dip now, but I’m optimistic that it won’t be quite as bad as other parts of the country.”