THE two newest members of Wellington Town Council want to provide more support to retailers – and tackle the blight of empty shops.

Cllrs Ben Shepherd and Mark Lithgow want the council to set up a working party to look at the challenges faced by retailers and other traders in the town.

They hope that current traders will come on board to add their expertise to deal with the problem.

Some of the buildings empty in Wellington are big – and Barclay’s will be added to their number in April.

On-line shopping is providing stiff competition these days but Wellington is a growing town – look at the number of new housing estates which have grown up in the past few years. Many of the people buying new houses are from away and must be encouraged to shop here and not, say, Taunton.

There are shopkeepers in the town who compete very favourably – but shoppers can be put off if they notice too many empty shops.

A working party might also like to look at the number of empty flats over shops.

And it seems to me morally wrong that a big building right in the middle of Wellington, that is the old King’s Arms, is allowed to slowly become an eyesore.

ONE of the best things to happen in the centre of Wellington in recent years has been the arrival of The Iron Duke.

The town hall was looking pretty sorry for itself before Wetherspoon came along and brightened the place up.

It has become very popular with the old and young and has a good atmosphere – both in the daytime and at night.

However, it was more than disappointing to hear about the recent brawl which resulted in customers having to leave the building.

Where there’s alcohol there’s always the possibility of trouble. I don’t know why because when I have a drink I tend to be on the happy side.

If someone is found guilty of an offence in connection with the brawl they should be banned for life from all Wetherspoon pubs.

At the moment we’re too soft when dealing with brawling youngsters and yobs. Lock ’em up and throw away the key. How many times do I have to say it! 

FLY-tipping is getting vast publicity these days but, even so, some still don’t seem to care.

Three black sofa chairs were dumped in a layby on the A38 near The Beambridge last week.

It seems they don’t even bother to find a quiet country lane any more to dump their waste.

Someone obviously drove along the A38 with the sole intention of chucking the chairs off.

Wouldn’t it be nice if someone was caught soon and made an example of. We’re lucky to live in a lovely part of the country. Surely these fly-tippers must realise this. Or perhaps they don’t.

Thankfully the chairs were quickly removed by the council – at our expense, of course.

IS there a more remarkable sportsman around the globe at the moment than Roger Federer?

The 36-year-old has just won his 20th Grand Slam tennis title, beating Marin Cilic in Melbourne, Australia.

Many think sportsmen generally peak at 30 and it’s slowly downhill from then on.

Federer has shown that even after major surgery it is possible for sportsmen and women to stay at the top even into their late 30s.

I bet he didn’t go to nightclubs at three o’clock in the morning while playing in the Open at Australia.

No, Federer has got where he is by looking after himself and being focused to the extent he only thinks tennis during a tournament. 

The question now must be: How much longer can he stay at the top and could he win a Grand Slam when he is 40. Surely not.