Chain stores 'creating carbon-copy high streets'

Eight out of 10 shoppers believe chain stores and supermarkets turn local high streets into bland carbon copies of each other, a report reveals today.

More than half of those questioned believe the spread of superstores is almost as big a threat to local culture as crime and named supermarkets, coffee shops and fast-food outlets as the main culprits.

They believe high street supermarket branches increase pressure on traditional shops and fear internet shopping threatens specialist retailers.

Alan Toft, of the Federation of Wholesale Distributors (FWD), which commissioned the survey, said: "[Many] people blame increasing cultural suffocation on large retail chains."

The report found 87 per cent feel locally-owned shops offer greater diversity, while two in five believe their local area has lost its identity.

The FWD, which represents more than 50,000 shopkeepers, said the independent sector contributed more than ? 22billion to the economy.

Shoppers were asked which outlets closed in their area in the last five years. More than a third said a corner shop and a post office.