‘I FEEL HOPEFUL THAT THE TOWN IS GOING IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION’
STEVE Osborne has run family business Steve’s Quality Meats in the precinct for two years. He has also had a stall in the nearby indoor market for 21 years.
The 43-year-old, of Weston Coyney, said: “I used to think that Longton wasn’t the best place to come to but, in the last couple of years, it’s on the up. The town is looking nicer and the precinct has been spruced up. They are doing things with the empty shops to make them look nicer, like having pictures of locally made pottery and so on. “We have customers who come from Hanley, Leek and even Burton-ontrent and we are very busy. We serve a couple of hundred people every day. It works well having the shop and the stall in the market because they attract different shoppers. “The precinct itself is busy too with lots of people around. After lockdowns, things started picking up because I think people wanted to come out and into the shops again. The only thing that would make it even better would be if we had a major store like Primark, a really big name to get it going. The full-time security guards have made a big difference. They give people confidence and peace of mind when you see them walking around the town. If anything does happen, they are right there.
“You don’t see as many people sitting around drinking cans of beer these days. It’s much better than it was 12 to 18 months ago.
“The new centre manager has some good energy that I think will be good for us and I feel hopeful that the town is going in the right direction.”