MARLBOROUGH is one of the top 10 shopping centres in the UK, according to a new report.

The town ranked ninth in a 'British vitality index' of 1,000 shopping areas the length and breadth of the country, judged on the proportion of upmarket shops they had in comparison to the number of value-led stores like pound shops and what the firm behind the survey described as 'undesirables', like pawnbrokers and bookies.

Bob Holman, of the Marlborough High Street Retailers Association, was delighted with the ranking, saying: “It’s fantastic news. It really just validates what everybody knows locally.”

He pointed out the town had a large number of quality independent shops, some of them award-winning, including coffee shops, jewellers, clothes shops, a gents' outfitter and a bookshop.

“Because there are lots of independents you are generally dealing with owners,” he said. “It’s our business and if we don’t give a good service we don’t eat.”

He said the wide High Street with good parking and free wifi made Marlborough more attractive to shoppers from outside the area and, while rents were high, it was because the town was a very nice place to shop, adding that the High Street currently had no empty shops at all.

The report, compiled by retail property advisors Harper Dennis Hobbs, says: “The market size - retail spend potential - of a centre does not necessarily reflect quality. While major retail centres like London’s West End, Westfield Stratford, and Glasgow city centre all rank in the top 50, small centres like Marlborough and Wimbledon Village place higher than them.

“In these locations, the concentration of quality retailers contributes towards a vibrant high street, which serves as a community hub that is well-matched to the affluent neighbourhoods in which they are situated.

“Both Wimbledon Village and Marlborough have a low proportion of vacant floorspace, a low proportion of undesirable retail, or none at all, and both have seen a fall in these proportions over the past five years.

“The presence of small, local retail centres in our ranking is evidence that there are some high streets that are going from strength to strength despite the tough economic conditions throughout the past year.”

First place went to Cambridge, Knightsbridge came in third, Bath was just behind Marlborough at number 10 and Cribbs Causeway in Bristol achieved 20th place. Trowbridge only managed 789th and worst ranked was a shopping area in Byker, Newcastle-upon-Tyne.