Valentines Day - another potential goldmine - was no better either for the owner of Kay-Flora in Canute Square.

Things have got so bad that two-and-a-half years after she opened her doors for trade, Kellie is leaving town.

"When I first got my own business I thought I was going to earn a decent living," she said.

"But I would actually make more money stacking shelves at a supermarket."

Now the young businesswoman believes other traders will be forced out too unless rents and rates are cut.

"I would like to see more shops and life breathed into the place," she said.

"Landlords can't expect what was the going rent five or 10 years ago because the town isn't as busy now as it was then."

Kellie said if landlords were more flexible with rents they could help out tenants who were struggling.

"It would be good if we could show them the books and they then review the rent," she said.

But Knutsford business premises are in demand and landlords expect profits from their property investments.

"We always have people inquiring about shops but we don't often have any free," said letting agent Alec Guthrie of Guthrie Bond.

"Entrepreneurs get an idea so they come into town and give it a go."

Mr Guthrie said Knutsford had a lot to offer potential businesses with its location near two motorways and passing tourist trade.

"I think people often forget that," he said.

Business people negotiate the best rent deal that they can from Guthrie Bond - but if the price is too high they walk away.

Terry Wood, of The Studio and Studio 2 in Minshull Street, said potential traders had to do their financial homework before signing on the dotted line.

"Retailing in Knutsford, like all small market towns, is hard work," he said.

And business rates, as well as rents, are another cost that traders have to look at before securing a lease.

Last week after it was revealed that Timpsons in Princess Street was leaving town, Chamber of Trade president Val Weatherall, president of the Chamber of Trade, predicted other shops would shut after a rate increase in April.

"The rates are already incredibly high so I can see more people are going to have to close when they go up," she told the Knutsford Guardian.

This rise could make life even harder for town traders already struggling to make ends meet.

"The increased rating level is going to have a knock-on effect for smaller businesses who are already finding things tough," said Mr Guthrie.

"Whether the rise has a crippling effect is yet to be seen."

Knutsford's uniform business rate is calculated by the Government by the same formula that applies to every other town in the country.

It is collected by Macclesfield Borough Council and the monies are sent to the Government.

The cash is then redistributed through grants.

Business rates are based on the comparable rental values of premises as they were on 1 April 1993.

Units worth more than £10,000 rent a year pay slightly more than those that fall below.

But six years later the number of customers in the town has dropped.

Town traders have blamed this partly on out-of-town shopping centres such as Handforth Dean and The Trafford Centre.

"The enemy retailers have to face is out-of-town shopping developments," said Terry Wood. "There is only so much money in the county for consumers to spend."

Michael Blank, a surveyor from The Elliott Partnership in Manchester, believes Knutsford business rates should be lowered because of this effect on trade.

"The huge impact of The Trafford Centre has led to a reduction in rental values of shops in surrounding towns," he told the Knutsford Guardian.

He hopes to make representations to the Inland Revenue - which sets rental values - to reduce town traders' business rates.

"The only way of getting a reduction is revaluing the rental value and getting in the lower band," he said.

Similar cases have led to big cuts but it could be two years before traders see lower bills.

"Shops in smaller towns surrounding Handforth Dean got a 10 per cent reduction," he said.

But Kellie Jepson said more customers, not a rate reduction, were needed to keep Knutsford's shops open.

"Things are going so bad that a 10 per cent reduction isn't enough," she said.

"If we had more customers shopping in Knutsford we would have more chance of making a living and keeping prices low."

Converted for the new archive on 13 March 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.