Lewes is an old market town which has turned redundant space to good use. .

Frome in Somerset suffered when its cattle market moved out and the larger towns of Bath and Trowbridge and an edge-of-town development sucked trade from the town centre.

Initiatives were established to overcome competition between five towns which was proving wasteful and counter-productive.

Woodbridge is a small historic port which has successfully improved the quality of the town centre in order to compete with out-of-town rivals .

Horsham has a long history as a small market town, but its position was threatened by the continuing growth of Crawley New Town only a few miles away. .