A nugget of information caught my eye this week courtesy of The Daily Telegraph, which last Monday revealed the results of its research into the fate of the independent trader on the high street (see page 8).

Surprise, surprise - apparently greengrocers (to my knowledge they always preferred the more upmarket term fruiterers) have been closing at the rate of five a week over the past 11 years.

Most wholesalers have been painfully aware of that fact for some time now, and it has been corroborated by analysis from the likes of retail giants such as TNS and Mintel.

This latest claim, endorsed by HM Revenue & Customs, shows that the number of VAT-registered greengrocers (fruiterers) fell from 6,916 in April 1997 to 3,948 today - hence the headline. As an interesting aside, the survey concedes that the falling number had been apparent for some time previously, but was proving difficult to quantify.

Keeping score has always been a problem, as many fruiterers, even when they could be counted in prime numbers in the 1960s, were often difficult to track. Many operated on short-term leases and then moved on. Others had multiple branches, making a head count equally complex.

When there were a theoretical 40,000 outlets, such factors prevented even the Retail Fruit Trade Federation, their representative trade organisation, from being able to provide accurate figures for the fruit marketing boards that wanted to distribute point-of-sale material.

There is certainly no denying that the number of independent traders has been collapsing almost as fast as an orange with blue mould. But today, if one is to believe NGO Friends of the Earth, there is a new mode of thinking abroad.

One of its campaigners, quoted in The Daily Telegraph, has claimed that independents now actually offer consumers better value by charging less than their big brothers - the price difference allegedly being as high as 45 per cent.

If this is the case, it is a complete reversal of the image that this substantial sector unfairly had to contend when it was fighting for survival, as the multiples began to make inroads into retailing fruit and vegetables.

At that time, fruiterers were often criticised for selling from the back of the display and taking advantage of seasonal shortages to jack up the price, and were generally considered to be more expensive.

But even if the reverse situation now spells good news for the remaining independent traders, I think it highly unlikely that the progeny of these past retail professionals - as they also liked to be described - will rush back to the industry.

Apart from the cost of equipping a shop, rentals are more and more exorbitant. There is also plenty of evidence to show that other independent fresh food retailers must also be present in the marketplace.

And today there is increased competition: farmers’ markets; farm shops, many of which sell a range that, when on top form, can compete with Harrods or Fortnum & Mason; and, of course, the supermarkets’ own expansion into high-street formats.