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BUSINESS PLAN REQUIRED FOR MIDHURST
Midhurst Town Council urged by John Trueman
to appoint Business Champion.
Excerpt from the Midhurst Petworth Observer - 21st July

Colin Hughes’ letter of the 7^th of July deserves a reply. He is absolutely right to assert ‘doing nothing is not an option’ but  advocating ‘debate’ with the community on roads, parking, traffic and other matters at this time is simply putting the cart before the horse.

What the Midhurst Town Council needs to do is appoint a Business Champion, someone with wide business experience and fully conversant with Internet marketing, to come up with a business plan for the town.The current business model – if indeed it can be so described – is the traditional shop concept of serving a local market. Because so many of us prefer to enjoy our retail therapy in Chichester and Portsmouth support for the town’s shops has been sadly declining. This coupled with high rents has been the death knell of many shops.

 

Fortunately, Country Life conferred the accolade on Midhurst last year of Best Place to Live in Southern England; and estate agents confirm there continues to be a high demand from incomers for quality property both in the town and in its satellite villages. Whether directly or indirectly this has encouraged new entrepreneurs into the town. The first to arrive this year was Prezzo with its smart new restaurant in West Street followed by Disking International, the computer shop, in North Street, Me & Maya, the ladies fashion boutique in Knockhundred Row and lastly Exsurgo Restaurant & Bar.in North Street.

 

The town has been transformed by these new arrivals and, the interesting thing is, they all have one thing in common: they market their businesses to a wide clientele through the Internet.

 

Many cities and towns find a solution to their economic problems lies in building a cluster of enterprises. Cambridge settled on high-tech, Ludlow on top restaurants and Petworth on antiques.

 

What cluster or clusters should we foster?A necessary precursor to making a business plan for the town is listing the town’s USP’s – Unique Selling Propositions. One of these is our history. Tens of thousands of Canadians, for example, descendants of emigrants in the years 1832 -1836, await an invitation to discover their roots in Midhurst and Petworth whence their families came. This invitation can only be extended via the Internet.

 

Midhurst has to embrace the Internet wholeheartedly and with imagination and drive.  As Mr Hughes so wisely observes: doing nothing is not an option.

 

[MIDHURST HOMEPAGE]

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