A few years ago, I was on a bus to Salisbury when a couple of young soldiers blagged a free ride from the driver. I hasten to add that they weren’t off on a jolly but were on a leadership course.

They told me that they’d been woken in the early hours, stuck in a van with no windows and driven to a field that turned out to be just outside Devizes.

They had no money, limited food and had to complete a number of tasks en route to a specified destination some two or three days later.

I remember thinking at the time that it would have been far harder for them to have been plonked into the middle of a town like Swindon. They’d have looked around, seen McDonald’s, M&S, BHS, Topshop, Argos and so forth and had no idea where they were.

It could have been Southend, Slough, Salford or Swansea, with the same set of generic shops giving no hints.

Now compare and contrast that with the small to medium towns in Wiltshire. Had the Signallers (for such was the corps in which the young men chose to serve) been set down in the centre of some of those towns, they’d have seen any number of small, independent businesses giving the town a bit of individuality and no little charm. Devizes, Corsham and Marlborough are, to me, among the better examples. But you only have to look at the letters page and online comments in the Gazette & Herald to see the furore when a national tries to move into a town like Chippenham or Royal Wootton Bassett.

The mere mention of a certain infamous supermarket can induce apoplectic rages. Generally the complaints focus on the damage that would be done to the independents and, by extension, the character of the towns. You can see why the issue is so emotive.

You often get a certain quirkiness in the independent shops that you don’t see in the chains. Devizes is lucky enough to have a fair few of these shops. One of these is a proper butcher’s. It sells top-notch, locally-sourced meat and gives excellent service. You can also get a good bit of banter going in there. It’s never rude but it shows that they recognise you. We’ve got a load of antique (some say junk or retro) shops in town; in some you might be served by an amiable old hippy or a friendly ex-public schoolboy. You seldom get that from the bigger players.

A few – just a few, mind – of the independents don’t help themselves, though.

I remember reading a piece in this paper some time ago about a cafe that was about to open in one of our towns. The new owner said something like: “If parents want to fill their children with E numbers and chips that’s fine, but that won’t happen here.”

Unless you’re a market maker with a big advertising budget, I’d have thought the way to success is to give the punter what they want at a price they can afford.

Sure, you can advise but don’t forget that the paying customer is your bread and butter – both of which should be Fairtrade and organic, of course.

As with most things in life – there are good and not quite so good in the world of independent shops and businesses. But I’ve found the balance to be quite heavily in favour of the good so I for one will continue to support our local businesses as and when I can.

I take my hat off to MP Claire Perry for running a competition to identify her local champions; luckily for us, that can’t have been an easy task. Congratulations to the very worthy winners and thank you for what you bring to our communities.