I was standing in a queue in Lidl the other day and struck up a conversation with a friendly lady behind. She said "There's nowhere in Coleford to buy pants."

I asked her if she'd tried Raymonds to which she responded there was no parking at that end of town.

There's plenty, free and fee paying. It also isn't far to walk from any part of the town centre to the other.

So I went to look at the fine range at Raymonds.

The humour from Raymond senior, always tickles me and he relayed he's been there 60 years!

Why can't people just get out of their cars, change their mindset and support these local businesses more?

I'm doing it more, the more I learn.

For every £1 spent in a local shop, 80p stays in the community. For every £1 spent in a multi-national, 80p goes out of the community. In the case of American owned ASDA, out of the community, means out of the country (with minimum UK tax given, if you look at their history).

That's not regeneration. That's slow but sure degeneration.

– Fran Challice, Coleford.