NEVER mind market town, Brentwood is fast becoming a supermarket town.
Sainsbury's dominate William Hunter Way, Tesco are popping up with convenience shops around the outskirts and now rumours are rife that Morrisons are planning a move into the High Street.
Surely we can find a spot for Asda.
The upshot of a retail giant moving into a town like Brentwood is that local independent traders will suffer.
With multimillion-pound marketing budgets at their disposal, they have us all believing that they sell everything cheaper.
Of course that's not true, but most consumers struggle to see past the supermarkets with their loyalty cards, celebrity TV ads and headline promotions.
CHARITY begins at home, they say, and Brentwood is certainly homely.
The Brentwood Half Marathon comes around again on March 24, and good people are queuing up to take part once again to raise cash for good causes.
A whole range of charities are set to benefit from the selfless efforts of participants in both the half marathon and fun run, and we suspect the race might be quite the spectacle once again, with many crazy costumes on show.
And of course this Friday it's Comic Relief and the folks of Brentwood are never shy when it comes to fundraising.
The Gazette hit the High Street on Friday to offer red noses to residents and we were overwhelmed, not just by the amount of people who donated, but the amount of cheer and good will.
It is heartwarming that so many people want to help when asked, and we believe Brentwood folk are at the top of the tree when it comes to supporting good causes.
STORIES about struggling rail firms seem to come in more regularly than the trains themselves.
Commuters who have been forced to stomachrising fares year after year for getting from Brentwood, Shenfield and Ingatestone to London will be miffed to hear that the firm behind Greater Anglia, Abellio, has won an award for its efforts.
Last month it was voted by service users as the second worst rail firm in the country and now they're getting a pat on the back.
That is while customers continue to suffer delays and cancellations.
Some can't a even get a seat after paying through the nose for a ticket.
Handing Greater Anglia "Train Operator of the Year" at the annual Rail Business Awards for 2012 for "punctuality, customer service and station improvements" is an insult to customers and makes a mockery of the awards themselves.
We thinkGreater Anglia might have done themselves a favour if they had refused the award, saying: "We're not interested in praise until the job of getting people safely to work on time is done."
Oh well, one can dream.