CHRISTMAS and New Year trade in Wallingford was better than expected, according to traders’ leaders.

And they say prospects for 2009 are buoyant.

Elaine Hornsby, chairman of Wallingford Business Partnership, said: “There is too much doom and gloom around.

“I am not a pessimistic person and towns like Wallingford have weathered recessions in the past.

“I believe in talking up a place — dwelling too long on its problems is a sure and certain way of keeping would-be shoppers away.

“Our Christmas Cracker promotion backing Walling-ord’s shops attracted a lot of people from all over the county into the town and we have to keep doing interesting things here to bring people in.

“Our Christmas and New Year trade was not as good as last year, but it was a lot better than many people predicted.”

Mrs Hornsby, who has a fashion shop and a gift shop, said: “We are a town of mainly small independent traders with a wide variety of good and interesting shops, so we have not been hit hard by the closure of places like Woolworths, as other towns have been.

“We have all got to push hard to make our town an attractive place for people to come to and do their shopping.”

She said the Govern-ment’s VAT reduction had not been a good idea.

She said: “It has been a pain for the shopkeepers and has done shoppers next to no good at all unless they were buying something really top of the range like a multi-thousand-pound gas-guzzling car.”

She also expressed concern about having to import everything from abroad.

She said: “In England we have either the best — and most expensive — or absolute tat that no one wants to buy.

“Manufacturing here for the middle of the road has gone completely.

“So we have to import and the position of the pound does not help.

“But we have all weathered this sort of thing before and we must make sure Wallingford weathers this one and comes out at the other end a healthier place.”

At Pettits, Wallingford’s lone department store, manager Kevin Willis said: “We have refurbished our downstairs rooms and we start on the upstairs later this year. That meant slightly slower trade around October, but since we opened up properly, our trade has gone up. The sales which started after Christmas proved very attractive to shoppers and we are well pleased with our takings.”

Pettits is owned by the Rowse family, which also owns Champions hardware business in St Mary’s Street.

That shop is also to get a makeover this year.

Mr Willis said: “We are keeping all the familiar things in Champions — the wooden flooring and counter, the hundreds of little drawers behind the counter for things like nuts, screws and so on — but we are doing other work to make it more comfortable for shoppers.”

The shop will be housed elsewhere in Wallingford for about three months before resuming normal business in April.

Mr Willis said: “We have a sale in Champions and that has gone very well.

“We have loyal customers here and I’m sure they’ll like the refurbishment, while enjoying the fact that we have not changed the whole aspect of the place.

“In Wallingford, we need to show our regular custiomers they are appreciated and welcome new ones with open arms. We all want to stay in business and we have to sell Wallingford as a great place to be.”