JEWELLERY shop owner John Welsh believes that Spennymoor has hit rock bottom.

With the shocking announcement last week of yet more redundancies to hit the town, the feeling is that things cannot get any worse.

In his role as the chairman of the Town Centre Forum, Mr Welsh, who has traded in the town for 21 years, is only too aware of how the job losses will affect the area and the thousands of people who live there.

A lack of investment, job cuts and loss of trade, has left people agonising over Spennymoor's future.

"Tony Blair said he wanted to do away with the boom and bust economy but please give us a bit of the boom," said Mr Welsh, as he stood in the High Street and viewed the empty pavements.

"Spennymoor town centre is like a ghost town. It's getting to the stage where you say, can the last person out of Spennymoor turn the lights off.

"The biggest problem here, and our greatest concern, is redundancies. The situation at Black & Decker is a devastating blow."

Many of the traders in Spennymoor, along the High Street and in the Festival Walk parade of shops, expressed the same opinion - that people are not coming into the town centre to do their shopping.

Mr Welsh said: "The council built a new road in the town that takes people behind the town centre not into it and there is easy access to Darlington and Bishop Auckland.

"The gas and electricity shops are no longer here, and the post office is moving out of the town centre.

"We need a town centre that is presentable, but the boarded-up shops in the precinct are not presentable."

He added: "The agencies, like One NorthEast, only seem to help the big projects like Newcastle's Quayside or they give help when the worst has already happened instead of trying to prevent it.

"It is Spennymoor that needs help."

For caf owner Mario Fernendes, his pleas for something to be done about the Festival Walk parade have fallen on deaf ears.

Mario's caf, which he has run for 19 years, is surrounded by the metal shutters of boarded-up shops, a stark contrast to the flower-lined High Street.

He said: "The look is affecting trade. The problem is that the landlord makes promises to do something but then the parade gets sold and it moves on to someone else.

"Then it is sold again and nobody solves the problem. One year the precinct was sold three times.

"There were plans to cover it up, like Milburngate in Durham, but that never happened. There is a lack of new businesses. They come here, take a look, then leave and never come back."

Workers at Blythe's Family Fashions tell a similar tale. The store, which has been open for 20 years, is closing down due to a lack of trade.

"The place is depressing and the people of Spennymoor don't seem to want to shop in the town any more," said shop assistant Edna Musgrave.

"More houses are being built in Spennymoor but the people go elsewhere and businesses don't want to come here because there is no trade. It is a vicious circle."

Barrie Taylor, of Taylor's newsagents in Cheapside, wants more investment in the town centre.

"It should be upgraded and people should be encouraged to shop here. The people of Spennymoor deserve the best."

Kevin Hutchinson, of Spennymoor Sports, said: "There has been a fall in trade but I think it is like that everywhere."

At a meeting of Spennymoor Town Centre Forum, to be held on Thursday, businesses are hoping for a glimmer of good news.

A representative from Freshwater, the London-based owner of the town centre properties, is travelling to the town to make a 'big announcement'.

"We are hoping it will be positive news," said Mr Welsh.