THURSDAY, 29th MARCH, 2011.

Daredevil croc swim

Classic bikes competition Readers'ViewsPages20-25 Page 5

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What’s on... What’s gone...

Pages 15-19

More train needed

Page 56

Ripples of recession hit retailers By Rachel Naylor and

James Morris The economic downurn hit Congleton etailers this week. Gaming store amestation on Bridge Street closed suddenly n Monday after its arent company went nto administration and Sports Direct confirmed ts store on Barn Road ark will close in a mater of days. And two other businesss, the Bon-O-Phool resaurant on Antrobus Street nd The French House interiors shop on Rood Hill, could be turned into apartments.

Sports Direct will close on 14th April, just over a year after opening. The good news is that a shoe store is due to replace it.

The Sports Direct store manager Martyn Richardson said: “There are transferrals to other stores but some of the staff can’t actually get anywhere else because of transport, so there is about four or five people who will be without jobs.”

He added: “We do more money than some of the stores around the area that are bigger than us. With how many stores the company has nationwide, they obviously know

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how much they want to pay per unit, based on the size of i t and the volume of customers we have per week.

“They are not going to pay over the odds if they can get the same sort of unit cheaper 10 miles away. To be fair, I’m not overly impressed. I like the town and live in Crewe so I don’t mind the travelling.

• —Turn to page 28.

Going for gold: Callum Lumb, (7) dad Gavin Lumb, and Lucas Lumb, (4), were just three o hundreds of people who ran the Sport Relief mile at Congleton Park on Sunday morning. For more pictures and to see what other groups did to celebrate Sports Relief, turn to page 29. (“Chronicle” photo. 1355h/12).

Panic at the pumps, but tankers are still moving

Congleton’s two service stations ran dry of fuel this week as motorists queued to fill up.

It happened as the Government confirmed the Army has been asked to train in the delivery of fuel should there be a strike by tanker drivers.

On Monday the result of a ballot by the Unite union was in favour of strike action in support of improved terms and conditions for tanker drivers.

No strike dates have been set.

But the queues for fuel had started on Sunday afternoon at Porters Service Station on Padgbury Lane.

And the Shell garage on Clayton By-Pass had completely run out of fuel at the start of the working week.

Porters Service Station, was forced into limiting customers to £20 of fuel after queuing there started at around 2pm on Sunday.

Owner David Porter even needed to help push a car to the pumps after it had ran out of fuel on the forecourt.

He said: “We’re just trying to let people have £20 worth so it gets them out of trouble. There was a lady here who is a social care worker, so she needs it for her job.”

• —Turn to back page.

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Congleton’s Shell garage had run out of fuel by Monday morning. (“Chronicle” photo. 1341c/12).

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