Olympic Torch sparks Shropshire cash bonanza

Shropshire and Mid Wales enjoyed a huge economic boost as 100,000 people lined the streets to welcome the Olympic Torch to the region.

Delighted shop owners reported brisk trade before and after the procession. The Torch made its way from Oswestry, through Welshpool, Shrew-sbury and Telford, to Newport.

The route also included a lunchtime stop at Much Wenlock, the birthplace of the modern Olympic movement. Each town along the way was packed with residents, visitors and school children.

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Pub beer gardens were packed with spectators making the most of the unexpected sunshine which replaced the forecast rain. Coffee shops and restaurants also put on special offers to entice torch watchers.

In Shrewsbury 40,000 people lined the streets, with an estimated further 10,000 each in Oswestry and Ironbridge, 7,000 in Welshpool, 6,000 in Telford Town Centre and thousands more in Newport.

Businesswoman Jools Payne said: "This can only be good for Oswestry to have so many people in the town." Spectator Carole Main added: "If everyone in Oswestry spent just a pound in the shops, it was a great day for all."

In Ironbridge long queues formed at shops selling ice cream and drinks and Shrewsbury was packed with people visiting the shops as they waited for their turn to see the torch.

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Also enjoying the surge in Olympic interest was Telford-based toy company Golden Bear, which had staff out on the streets of Much Wenlock with replicas of official Olympic mascot Wenlock, named after the town, to help promote the souvenirs. Sales director Julie Taylor, 41, said: "Since the torch relay started, the red, white and blue Wenlocks have really taken off.

"We have taken on more people as a direct result of the Olympic mascots." Wenlock Olympian Society archivist Chris Cannon said there had also been an increase in interest in the town's connection to the Games.

He said: "The Much Wenlock Museum has been averaging 250 visitors since it reopened but today we've had more than 1,000."

And Shropshire will have a permanent reminder of the Torch relay thanks to the county's oldest torchbearer.

Ron Miles, 83, from Jackfield, who carried the flame through Wenlock, said he planned to donate his Torch to the Ironbridge Gorge Museum, where he has worked as a volunteer for many years.

He confirmed he would hand over his Torch to the museum in a special ceremony later this year.

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