The small independent shopkeeper is a vanishing breed.
A new report warns local communities are facing disaster unless the Government steps in with an urgent aid package to help local shopkeepers.
The number of neighbourhood and independent grocery stores is declining by ten per cent per year, according to the report by Thames Valley University.
Tim Lang, professor of food policy at the university and co-author of the report, said: "Local retailing is the cement that holds communities together.
"The Government needs to take urgent action or else it will stand accused of colluding in the collapse of local communities."
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