FRIDAY'S arrival of a Subway is further proof that Halstead town centre is thriving, it is believed.

The fast food outlet, which opened in the Co-op in Weaver’s Court, is the latest big name to come to the town, following Costa Coffee last year and Lidl in the near future.

A Subway spokesman confirmed the concession has created 10 jobs.

Halstead Town Team believes the introduction of popular brands indicates the town is prosperous.

It has carried out an audit which reveals only five out of 144 shopfronts on the High Street are currently empty.

That figure of below four per cent of stores not in use is far below the average in Essex and further afield.

Town Team chairman, Jonathan Lidster, welcomed Subway.

He said: “It gives people more choice which is always important.

“Obviously it may have some effect on our independent eateries, but we can’t confirm that at the moment.

"Subway has a target audience, and that target audience isn’t the same as some of our sandwich type stores.

“When you look in a Subway, the majority of the time it is teenagers, that is not the same target audience as the likes of Quinteassential.

“It creates diversity within the town, which is what we want. Choice is a good thing and will only help the town thrive.”

Mr Lidster said larger brands coming to town showed Halstead was on the right track.

Mr Lidster added: “I think if we look at the number of shops in our town that are empty, there are very few in comparison to the total number of shops we have.

“At the end of the day, if people weren’t being attracted to Halstead and using Halstead town centre then the retailers wouldn’t be here.”

Plans to build a Lidl on Kings Road are still being discussed, but the Town Council and fellow supermarket, the Co-op, have raised concerns about the proposals.

He added: “Even though it is taking its time with planning, having larger retailers like Lidl attracted to our town but attracting the big names shows we are prosperous.

“We don’t want to flood ourselves with big chains, we do like the independent stores. Big organisations like that don’t just decide willy nilly to put a store somewhere.

“There is time put into it and research conducted that if they are going to spend a lot of money building a store then people are going to use it.

"If you look at a lot of the independent retailers on the High Street, a lot of them have been here for a number of years.

"It means they are doing something right, the Town Team are doing something right and the council are doing something right.

“These things take time but at the moment I think Halstead is in a healthy position.”