Family-owned shops and businesses are thriving in the Wensleydale town of Hawes - with very few national names in sight.

IN the mass produced, identikit, chain store world where every High Street has the same names, same shop fronts, same goods on sale, Hawes in Wensleydale stands out. It's only a small town - population just over 1,300 - numbers that anywhere else would normally support maybe a newsagent, post office and mini-market and not much more.

But Hawes is different. It has two grocery shops. There are dress shops, a jewellers, bookies, antique shops, walking shops, a chemist and an ironmongers. You can buy shoes, gifts, pots, pans and coffee makers, designer sheets, washing machines, televisions. They have a butcher, two bakers and, yes, Hawes even has a candlestick maker.

And every one of these businesses is independently owned. Apart from banks and building societies, there's not a national name in sight. The only familiar name is the Spar shop - and that's still privately owned, by the three Blades brothers, two of whom married sisters. That's what's called a family business.

Hawes' independence is partly because of geography. It is, literally, miles from anywhere - 27 miles from Kendal, 40 miles from Darlington, 35 to Northallerton, 38 to Barnard Castle and 16 miles from Leyburn, which has a similar independent air.

And there are tourists. The pattern of touring might be changing - fewer families perhaps, more older couples, with visitors spread out more through the year - but there are still plenty of visitors to boost the local economy.

Not that many tourists buy washing machines on holiday. "But quite a few come in for radios or televisions. Or buy a TV here to take home with them," says Sue Iveson, who with her husband runs the electrical store.

Unlike the out-of-town warehouses for Curry and Comet, the Ivesons' stock of white goods - washing machines, fridges - is displayed in a small area not much bigger than your average bathroom. But there's still plenty of choice. They belong to the Euronics buying group so prices are competitive.

"And we offer free delivery and installation. Just a more personal service really, which people still want and appreciate," says Sue. "You see the Argos vans and the Tesco vans coming up the dale and yes, some people will prefer dealing with them. But a lot of people then come back to us."

Cocketts butchers was founded in 1854. More than 150 years later the business is still in the same premises and the same family. "Though we have expanded quite a bit," says David Cockett. They also double up as a bakery.

"We're comfortably busy," he says in a brief gap between customers. "What we sell really is service."

As well as the shop, they are also wholesale and catering butchers dealing with hotels and restaurants in and around the dale. Their produce is local too. A board in the shop shows that that day's lamb came from Ripon, beef from Wharfedale, poultry from Nidderdale and pigs from Northallerton.

They are also famous for their fruit cake - brilliant with Wensleydale cheese - produced at the other end of town.

"We used to sell it to Tesco, but they wanted more and more for less and less so we stopped that. It wasn't worth it. We do better as we are," says David.

Further up the cobbled main street, Elijah Allen was last year named as Yorkshire's best independent grocer. Richard Allen is the fifth generation to run the shop, which also specialises in local produce as well as also having its own bakery.

"Hawes is in an unusual position really, like a crossroads in the middle of the country. It's a busy little town. But all the businesses here are a bit different and the visitors like that too," he says. "The locals are our bread and butter, but the tourists provide the cream on the top, which can make a difference"

The creamery, the rope-maker, pottery and the Dales countryside museum all help bring in visitors - as well as providing local jobs.

Another secret of Hawes' success is that many businesses are actually two - such as the grocer and butcher both having a bakery. The clothes shops sell shoes; the newsagent is a toy shop; the chemist is an off-licence; in among the televisions, the Ivesons' is also a kitchen shop. Even the candlestick maker - actually Ivor Grace, a wood turner originally from north London who fell in love with the area many years ago - doubles up as a postman.

About the only major thing you can't buy in Hawes, people agree, is carpets, and major items of furniture, for which you have to go down the dale. But for just about everything else, the place is self-sufficient.

As well as sturdy country clothes and walking shoes, which you might expect, there is also a young store, Flairs and Graces, specialising in up and coming fashion labels as well as established names such as Ouiset and Noa Noa.

"I wanted to buy clothes locally instead of going to Kendal or Harrogate," says owner Jill Stott, previously a manager of Simonstone Hall hotel, "So it seemed simpler to open my own shop."

A similar idea was behind the town's newest shop, The Mulberry Bush, started just weeks ago by Helen Iveson (no relation to Sue), who has lived in Hawes for 16 years. At 29, she was widowed and left with four children. Now she has a new "brilliantly supportive" partner Roger, a fifth child and the new business.

"I always seemed to need wedding presents or presents for kids' birthdays and had to get in the car and drive miles. It seemed worth trying a business and so far it's gone really well," she says.

The shop is a wonderful mix. Lulu Guinness bedding, Bridgewater china, unusual children's clothes and gifts, jewellery, multi-coloured fly swatters and the wonderful Burts Bees range of skin and body care - all natural and smelling delicious.

'They have been absolutely huge sellers," says Helen, "especially the Lemon Butter Cuticle Cream" - which is brilliant. "Hawes is a very special place. People here were really good to me when my husband died and I'm glad I could stay here. There's a bit of a buzz about the place now."

Richard Allen agrees and is pleased about the new houses going up. "There is more building in Hawes now than there's ever been," he says.

"Someone once said of Hawes that it was in the middle of nowhere and the centre of the universe. That's about right."