TOO big for the biggest chains, but larger enough for small shops and medium sized stores to prosper.

That was the view of Angus MacLennan of the Whitehorse Bookshop in Marlborough's High Street on why the town continues to have a busy retail scene.

The town has been ranked tenth in the country for is shops in the Harper Dennis Hobbs 2019 Vitality Index which rates high streets in terms of the quality of the shopping experience.

"Chains don't go into smaller towns," he said, "they prefer larger towns so I don't think there is a romantic reason why Marlborough's High Street does well.

"There are also lots of smaller shops tucked away of the High Street which helps."

The index revealed that Cambridge was number one, the home of Harrods in Knightsbridge came third, with Bath at number 13 and Clifton in Bristol at 27.

The town council were very pleased with the result of the survey. They said: "The Town Council is delighted with the ranking and that Marlborough sits proud on this list.

"Its shops match the best. We need to be mindful too though that these remain difficult times for traders with the ever changing shape and demands of the High Street and the costs associated with being part of it. "

Independent stores like the newly opened Packaging Not Included run by Hayley Lambert and the long standing record shop Sound Knowledge managed by Roger Mortimer create an eclectic mix of stores.

Mr Mortimer said: "Marlborough is a market town and a destination on the A4 and retains a traditional feel of a market town.

"The big stores gave up on vinyl but we never stopped and continued to embrace records."

He said as an independent store they had not followed the trend of shops like HMV but had continued to stock all music genres in vinyl meaning people travelled to the town to buy music.

Vitality say they assess the top 1,000 shopping areas by the proportion of upmarket shops; the proportion of value-led shops; the vacancy rate; and the proportion of low quality retail operators – such as pawnbrokers, money lenders, and bookmakers.

Last year Malborough had been number nine in the list suggesting a slight drop but Bath fell three places and Cribbs Causeway in North Bristol was further down at number 18.