Keep Trade Local - Small business wins council fight helped by FSB and local press

Picture: Owners Kelvyn and Jan Marketis with staff Paula Kerins, Neal Kent, Dan Parsons and Becky Robinson outside the new Richfield Avenue base

Fifteen jobs have been saved after party shop Fun ‘n’ Frolic won its battle to trade from an industrial estate.

The costume shop, which has traded in the town for more than two decades and was supported by the Evening Post’s Keep Trade Local campaign, faced closure after its original planning application to open in Richfield Avenue was turned down by Reading planners who claimed there were more suitable locations closer to the town centre.

But on Wednesday night Reading Borough Council’s planning committee granted the store its much-needed permission which owner Kelvyn Marketis has hailed as a victory for all small businesses.

The costume shop had been temporarily trading in Richfield Avenue after Mr Marketis decided not to renew the lease for the Crown Street store when it expired on Friday, August 22.

Mr Marketis said: “My biggest fear was that I might have to close the business, but we are very, very pleased with the decision, not only for us but for other small businesses.

“As soon as I heard the decision I felt enormous relief and thought that tomorrow is the day I can start trading again.

“I haven’t slept properly for the last eight weeks.

“I’ve been worrying about the application and trying to get things sorted, but I know it was worth it in the end.”

The Keep Trade Local campaign, masterminded by the Federation of Small Businesses and supported by the Evening Post, has being going from strength to strength since its launch in June.

For the full story see Get Reading article:
'Victory for all local traders’
By Laura Herbert and Paul Robins
12/9/2008