FARNHAM has been defended as "a jewel, with a great deal to offer" after an independent think-tank labelled it a 'clone town', where identikit chain stores have replaced independent shops, spreading dull uniformity as they go.

The New Economics Foundation, whose motto is 'Economics as if people and the planet mattered', has looked at 87 towns outside London and identified 41 per cent as clones.

For full story, see this week's Farnham Herald.