The former Frome Town Centre Manager, has been diligently putting in details of all the openings and closings of shops in the town into a fascinating map.

Katy Dukes lists all the commercial places in the town as they open and close and provides an incredible story about how Frome is changing.

Her work was highlighted with the news that the Rotary Club will be taking over, at least temporarily, the empty M& Co site in the Westway.

That led to a huge discussion over whether Frome is home to too many charity shops and not enough 'real' retail remains.

Katy explained to Nub News that when she was Town Centre Manager for Frome they always had a a printed Shopping Guide, but when she in 2007 that lapsed.

She said: " I then kept it up to date on the Frome Towntalk site but that was deleted suddenly. So I made an App with free software which they then decided to start charging for. So I opted to re-do it all in map form, partly as it works really well on phones. Just as a support to the town centre shops, but born from frustration. Most other directories are partial at best."

You can see Katy's work by clicking HERE :

The history of the town's ebb and flow of businesses is a story of retail resurrection and people-power.

In the early '90's Frome's commercial heart was in decline, shops became vacant and shopping habits focussed around the 'weekly shop' rather than frequent town visits. This made Frome, and especially Catherine Hill, a lot less popular. In 1992 the Cattle Market moved out of town and Sainsbury's were given planning consent to open their store over in Wessex Fields.

The County, District and Town Council got together and started a Task Force, refurbished the central car park and appointed a Town Centre Manager.

On Catherine Hill vacancies dropped from 60% to 15% by 1998.

As explained HERE the Frome Shops site together with building repair grants and joint efforts between all the authorities and the Frome Chamber of Commerce, the town gradually became a lovely place again.