BRITAIN'S urban areas are turning into bland "clone towns" dominated by chain stores, a new report says.
Only a third of high streets still have a distinct local character, researchers found. Two fifths (41 per cent) of urban centres are described as clone towns where independently-owned shops are in short supply. Just over a quarter (26 per cent) of high streets surveyed are classed as "border towns" which are in danger of losing their local distinctiveness.
Exeter was named the country's worst "clone town" of the 103 surveyed nationally, according to the New Economics Foundation (NEF) report.
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