Shopping in Alnwick is appalling and the town needs new supermarkets according to the results of a survey published today. The survey, commissioned by Porkmice, was undertaken by the highly esteemed Grief, Bridle and Lercher Group to study the impact of trading monopolies and associated planing decisions on consumers. The results of which are based on a questionnaire completed by over seven thousand local people. One of several major findings is that a large proportion of local people shopped out of the area at places such as Ashington, Blyth and Cramlington and that price of goods due to the lack of competition was the main reason for the exodus. The report concluded that there is scope for the development of up to four new supermarkets in the Alnwick area and proposes four ideal sites for development. Alnwick market place is one along with the pastures below Alnwick Castle and land currently used by Alnwick Golf Club but the site most favoured by the overwhelming majority of those polled is Allerburn House considerd perfect because its the largest redundant building in the town.