Preston and the effects of the Credit Crunch

Looking at the 'Global' Financial Crisis through Red Rose tinted glasses...

As everyone is well aware the financial crisis is in full swing, banks being driven to the brink of collapse, governments across the globe are throwing vast sums of money at companies and financial institutions in order to keep them afloat. It may seem a million miles away when you hear the news about the American hedge funds collapsing, but over the last year the financial crisis has crept into our day to day lives and has taken control of the way everyone thinks about money. It affects everyone no matter what your circumstances, and even the young, who usually can expect to escape the immediate effects of a recession, will be feeling the long term implications for many years to come.


In Preston, there are certainly many businesses that have fallen as a result of the crisis. Some of the worst hit have been in the Property and Motoring industries, with estate agents and car dealers suffering one of the largest slumps of economic history in this country. These, alongside the retail industry, have seen sales plummet after a period of 'boom' for the economy turns quickly to 'bust'. Now, before I begin to sound too much like a Tory backbencher, I will elaborate on my plan to commentate on the impact of the financial crisis in Preston.

As I said above, the three industries that are among the worst hit are:

• Property and Construction
• Motoring
• Retail

As you can probably guess, it is these three industries I will concentrate on for this exercise. How are these sectors (in Preston) fairing in a global crisis? I am sure that anyone who watches the news will know just how bad it is for these industries on a world scale, but are the businesses in Preston suffering as much as the global industries as a whole? That is what I hope to discover with the following exercise.

Any economist will tell you that you measure a recession not in days or weeks, but in months and years. That is why each section will be divided into two halves. One will be looking at the crisis in December 2008 and the other will return to the same areas five months later, in May 2009 to examine how the economic crisis has evolved.