TRADERS in a Darlington shopping street are joining forces to encourage more people to shop there.

Shop owners in Grange Road, who are all independent traders, met this week to vote in a chairman and secretary of their association, which is called Exclusively Grange Road.

New chairman Andy Atkins, who runs Cooks and Kitchens, said traders felt some shoppers were not aware of the "gems" to be found in that area of the town centre.

He said: "We are an exclusive shopping area - not just High Street names like the rest of the town. It is a very rare thing in the North-East. I think the only other places like Grange Road are Jesmond, in Newcastle, and possibly Harrogate.

"People come from all over the region - Durham, Wynyard, Bishop Auckland, and Richmond - to shop in Grange Road, but there are people in Darlington who hardly even know we exist.

"There is a misconception that because we sell more unique things, and are not part of chains, it is more expensive, but that is just not true."

He said there had been unsuccessful attempts in the past to set up a traders' association for the area.

But he said the new association would have a group mentality and traders would be organising events to coincide.

He said: "We want shoppers to be aware that they are entering a place that has a 'feel' about it.

"In the immediate future, we are going to introduce a simple series of events as an association.

"When a member of the association has an event or preview evening, other members who sell similar things could open up for the evening too, and have glasses of wine and nibbles.

"And when we send out postcards to customers we will have the Exclusively Grange Road logo on it, and advertise other traders on the street."

The traders are also organising a Christmas Sunday opening on December 22