Empty shops are needed in the town centre to stop stores from moving out of Braintree, claims the town’s chamber of commerce.

Last week, the Times did a stock take of the main shopping area to check if shoppers’ concerns about the lack of variety were founded and we counted 25 empty shops - five times more than bakers, butchers and dry cleaners put together.

The empty shops included office space for sale, Silkworm and Lethal Gaming, which were closed to the public at the time of going to press.

There were just two bakers and butchers and three dry cleaners.

Brenda Baker, chairman of the town’s chamber of trade and commerce, said that the group’s records had 19 empty premises and a further seven that were being refitted or undergoing legal processes.

She blamed the high amount of empty shops on the longer time it takes to negotiate taking over a shop nowadays.

See next week's Braintree and Witham Times - out Thursday - for the full story.