Hopes that the credit crunch would lead to a boom for tradesmen as homeowners look to improve their properties have been dashed by new figures showing the North of England as the worst hit.
UK job auction website, eGenie, which deals with hundreds of daily requests from householders looking for tradesmen to carry out building, repair or decoration work on their homes, revealed that trades people in the North are bearing the brunt of the economic downturn.

Having monitored activity on the site over the past few months, it found that more than half (57%) of requests for work are coming from the South, compared to just 28% from the North and Scotland.

The results show a marked change from earlier in the year when demand was far more evenly spread throughout the country.