England might be a nation of shopkeepers, but now shops are more likely to sell aromatherapy oils and yoga mats than fruit and veg. JO HAYWOOD takes a stroll down the New Age high street.

BUTCHERS and bakers are disappearing fast, but the number of candlestick makers has more than trebled in the last decade.

As a nation, it seems we no longer require fresh cuts of meat and newly-baked bread, but our need for somewhere to plonk our latest home-improving, life-enhancing scented candles knows no bounds.

According to Yellow Pages, which charts the growth and decline of trades through the classifications of its much-thumbed phone book, has revealed that the number of butchers fell by 40 per cent and bakers by 20 per cent from 1992-2002.

But both paled in comparison to the decline in greengrocers, which were hit by a fall of 59 per cent.

John Mannion, who claims his shop in Blake Street is now the only non-market greengrocer in York city centre, said supermarkets had to shoulder their share of the blame.

"We held our own against the supermarkets until Sunday shopping was introduced," he said. "Now Saturday is not the shopping day of the week. People can nip into the supermarket on Sunday or at ten o'clock at night if they want. Basically, we are not trading on a level playing field."

Mr Mannion comes from a family of greengrocers going back over a century. He has been in the trade himself for more than 40 years, with a stall in York market and, since 1986, a shop in Blake Street.

In that time, he has witnessed the decline at first hand, watching other greengrocers' shops and market stalls - which, he claims, used to take up as many as 27 stands in Newgate - fall by the wayside.

"York market used to be the grocery basket of York," he said. "But not anymore."

He has particularly forthright views about parking charges and pedestrianisation which, he believes, have driven York shoppers out of their own city centre.

"There was a time when there were lots of little free parking spots - only known to local people - where they could leave their car, dash into the market, get a few bags of groceries and dash out again," Mr Mannion said. "They have all gone now.

"Local people don't want to have to pay £3.50 for parking and then have to stagger back to their car with loaded bags. But nobody seems to care what local people want; it's all about the tourists.

"The fabric of York is better than ever before. It looks fantastic, but the feeling has gone. It's like sitting in the best room at home - everything looks spic and span but you daren't touch anything."

So what is taking the place of all the greengrocers, butchers and bakers on our high streets? Here's a clue: go outside and inhale deeply.

Aromatherapists have enjoyed a massive 5,200 per cent increase in the same ten-year period, followed by cosmetic surgeons with 1,780 per cent and dieting/weight control centres with 1,445 per cent.

Julie Sharpe, spa director at Alquimia Spa in Stonegate, York, which offers aromatherapy, said the increase was due to a dip in health and a rise in awareness of alternative treatments.

"People's health has deteriorated in recent years because of all the chemicals in our food, our cosmetics and our water system," she said. "There was a time when people would have automatically gone to the doctors, but I think now they have turned away from drugs - more chemicals - and are looking for natural alternatives."

She welcomed the increase in aromatherapists with caution, however, stressing that quantity did not necessarily mean quality.

"The European Union is trying to bring in a host of new regulations to govern aromatherapy and I'm all for it," she said. "This is not something you should do on a short night-school course and then set up in your front room.

"On the Continent, aromatherapy is on a par with the rest of the medical profession."

Updated: 08:58 Thursday, August 05, 2004