Arbroath retailers are fighting back in a bid to restore the town’s much-maligned High Street to its former glory.
Members of Arbroath Town Centre Retailers’ Association (ATCRA) put in some elbow grease to remove fly posters and stickers on the High Street.
Now they will be rolling up their sleeves and getting the mops and brushes out to tackle the next phase of the clean-up next Tuesday.
They are urging locals to come out and join them and do something about the state of the High Street rather than just sitting back and moaning about it. In recent months there have been some signs of improvement with new shops opening but there are still many premises lying empty.
The retailers’ association has also been working on other projects and is tackling the owners of the vacant units and those in a state of decorative disrepair.
ATCRA chairman Chic Grant, owner of Outdoor Action in the High Street, said: “Once again we retailers will be getting up close and personal with the dirt and grime.
“This time we are tackling the decorative stone bollards that run the length of the High Street which are in an awful state.
“At 5.30pm on June 4, the members of ATCRA will be on the High Street with our cleaning gear on and we invite anyone with civic pride to come down and join us.
“The meeting point will be the empty Hydro Electric shop just bring a scrubbing brush.”
Jamie Buchan, director of Specsavers in the Abbeygate, gave a report on the contact made with each of the landlords and businesses.
He said WH Smith has listened to the appeals from people in the town and have had work tendered for the external decorative works on its High Street store.
Mr Buchan added: “I think it is well acknowledged that there are a few units which could do with a spruce up externally and it is great that WH Smith have taken us seriously and have been very cooperative.
“Work costs have been put out to tender and are currently under consideration for the decorations to bring this unit back to a state worthy of the High Street.
“For all too long people have accepted that what we’ve got is the way it will always be and we are simply saying ‘no, we won’t let it be like that’.
“We will challenge anyone not playing their part in the restoration of Arbroath High Street to its former glory.”