GONE are the days when you could walk down any Hampshire high street and find a butcher, baker and a candlestick maker - as the old nursery rhyme goes.

In fact most of us seem to think our main shopping areas are fast becoming a clone of every other city in the land.

Surveys in Southampton and Winchester show people believe they are becoming bland imitations thanks to the domination of chain stores.

Nearly 70 per cent of more than 100 adults surveyed in Southampton resent the way every high street is "beginning to look the same," according to the findings.

Two in five believe the city has lost its identity in the past five years and more than three-quarters said locally-owned independent stores added value to the area. More than half claimed that big-name supermarkets are the second highest threat to our south coast culture, next only to increasing crime.

The opening of WestQuay in 2000 put the city on the retail map, and big hitters like John Lewis, Marks & Spencer, Habitat and Monsoon attract millions of visitors a year.

Alan Toft, from the Federation of Wholesale Distributors, who carried out the report A Call for Balance, Choice and Diversity, said: "The vast majority of people in this country blame increasing cultural suffocation on the large retail chains. They are no longer just on the out-of-town retail parks, but are now seeping along high streets."

That view is echoed by small traders in the city, who say they've been forced out by soaring high street rents and the policies of civic bosses.

Richard French, who owns W J French and Son shoe shop, in Bedford Place, said: "Southampton has been decimated by WestQuay. The council seems to be blinkered towards always promoting Southampton on the back of WestQuay but it's to the detriment of small traders like us.

"Without a doubt, Southampton is losing its identity. If I was in charge, I would be looking to encourage the smaller shopping areas, like the Bargate, Shirley, Portswood and Bedford Place, to attract entrepreneurs and bring something a little bit wacky and individual into retailing."

Winchester has been branded one of the dullest high streets in the UK, coming sixth in a national poll by the New Economics Foundation.

A detailed survey by the Daily Echo showed that of 95 shops in the high street, from the Man on the Horse statue to The Broadway, there were only 14 independents.

Graham Love, city centre manager, said: "Winchester is far from being cloned. There is a good offering of national and independents."