RETAIL guru Mary Portas was given the guided tour of Dartford today (April 30) during a trip which coincided with a drop in the number of empty shops in the town.

The town was awarded a £79,500 share of cash through the Mary Portas pilot towns scheme aimed at rejuvenating Britain’s struggling high streets.

Since it was chosen as just one of 12 Portas Pilots in May last year, Dartford’s shop vacancy rate has fallen from 30.8 per cent to 24.5 per cent in the past 12 months.

Dartford Council leader Jeremy Kite, who met Mrs Portas in the town centre this afternoon, told News Shopper: “It was a really positive visit.

“We exchanged a lot of good ideas and she loved Central Park.

“We are starting to show some results, signs of general uplift.

“We’ve got a long way to go, £79,500 won’t change the world, I never said it would, but there are positive signs that it’s turning around.”

The council and the town team responsible for the rejuvenation project faced strong criticism from a national newspaper in February after it emerged they had spent £1,610 on a market appearance from children’s TV character Peppa Pig.

Cllr Kite said: “We talked about the general cynicism and general down playing of the Portas bid, not in the local media but the national media.

“She talked about the energy and friendship in the county and said other areas don’t have the same spirit as us.

“We were very fortunate with the weather. The town always looks great in the sunshine.”

One idea discussed was the possibility of setting up a crèche in an empty shop where mums could drop off their children while they go shopping.

He added: “We don’t want to get overly commercial. In another Portas town a mother set up a crèche where a mother charged £3 and she looked after other people’s kids.

“There were some very interesting ideas.”