The Forum of Private Business is urging consumers to avoid large shopping

centres this Christmas and, instead, buy their freshly baked products from small independent bakeries.

With less than a month to go before 25 December, shops across the UK are gearing up for the Christmas rush, but so are the larger retailers’ marketing machines. The FPB believes that, for a truly personal service and homemade touch, traditional high street bakeries are still the best.

Consumers can help support the campaign to halt the demise of the high street. Due to their buying power, the supermarkets can offer lower prices and have an advantage. Their size and scale can undermine small bakeries.

Despite expensive Christmas advertising campaigns to convince us that larger retailers, such as supermarkets, provide the best range of food, drink and gifts, the FPB believes it is high street shops that offer unrivalled levels of service, choice and quality. The FPB is urging shoppers to step in where the Competition Commission has so far failed, and snub the supermarkets.

Last month, the Commission published the provisional findings of its inquiry into the groceries market. The inquiry registered concerns that larger retailers were able to transfer unexpected costs on to their suppliers, but the FPB believes that it has not gone far enough to prevent the abuse, or protect the anonymity of suppliers giving evidence.