ANYONE who knows Bicester well but hasn’t visited for a while will be saddened to see the town centre’s decline.

The town is facing its biggest upheaval in living memory and is rapidly looking like a deserted frontier town.

Yes, it is getting a new £70m town- centre redevelopment with a much-vaunted new Sainsbury’s.

But the scheme is not expected to be complete for almost two years and traders need to survive until then.

The news that the old Somerfield store – now Co-op – is closing is a further blow to the rapidly-diminishing vitality of the town.

And Beans of Bicester follows the old Ashmore’s ironmongers in becoming another iconic independent store to shut up shop after decades of trading.

Those in charge – councillors, officers and business leaders – are conspicuous by their silence as businesses around them slowly crumble and die.

They need to wake up now and come up with an innovative plan to revitalise the town – and share it with the public.

A review of parking and marketing is urgently needed, along with a plan of incentives to keep traders afloat and attract new businesses to the town.