Whilst much has been made of the roadworks in Sidmouth town centre over the last few weeks, with the High Street and Fore street resembling the Gaza Strip, many will remember it has been worse.

The frustration will no doubt continue until the shiny new road surface makes an appearance and then everything that has been endured will quickly be forgotten about until a bag of flour is spilt over the new black surface.

The town is changing and we can sit back and look for someone to blame or we can get on with it and embrace the changes. New retailers have moved in and sadly some of the town’s established stores are calling it a day with Flutterbys in Fore Street set to close, to trade online by the end of March and a couple of other businesses up for sale.

We must hope that the businesses that are currently for sale are bought by forward-thinking determined companies with a long-term view on things rather than those who expect to trade for 10 minutes and then buy a 10-bedroom mansion and a Bentley and then sulk when they can’t. If the last two years have taught us anything, it is that longevity and adaptability is the key and whether we like it or not it, is something we must be prepared to accept.

Marketing, good P.R. and branding are all key objectives for anyone wishing to build a business and sadly many people in business are far too reticent in spending funds on advertising as it’s just not a tangible product that you can grab hold of and many consider it to have little worth for far too much outlay. One can argue its success can rely on its familiarity with the target audience which can take a while to achieve. Going into business underfunded and without taking various budgets into account can be costly. On more than one occasion I have been asked how I can afford to spend so much on advertising, and I simply reply, how can I afford not to.