IN the lead up to Local Newspaper Week The Abergavenny Chronicle is to host a meeting for local traders to discuss ways of working together to beat the credit crunch.

If successful the initial meeting could lead to the formation of a regular Chronicle business club, offering the chance to discuss the issues surrounding local trade in an informal environment.

"The theme of Local Newspaper Week this year is 'building stronger communities' and we see it as a perfect opportunity to improve our links with the business community and to look at ways in which we can all work together to ensure that Abergavenny continues to thrive in spite of any new challenges which may be thrown at it," said Chronicle Editor Liz Davies.

"We hope that over a cup of coffee we can meet the owners and managers of a wide variety of local businesses and maybe come up with some new answers to old problems," added the newspaper's general manager, Mary Purcell.

"We'd like to think that if there is sufficient support for the idea we could hold this sort of gathering on a monthly basis.

"Abergavenny is very lucky in that it has a thriving Chamber of Trade, which does a very specific job very successfully. What we are aiming for is a much more non-political, informal gathering where business people can trade information and simply chat over a cup of coffee," said Liz.

The initial meeting takes place at The Abergavenny Chronicle's Nevill Street offices on Wednesday, March 25.