Let me get lot's of things straight here.
I actually "like Frome"
I have lived here most of my adult life-BUT i have seen it over the years fall into rack and ruin less Jobs/opportunities for local folks HENCE why the mass Excedous on the A361 most sat morns to "THE SHIRES".
when a Town loses it's appeal i.e The town center through negligent planning as is the chaos of the High street bus parking as it is at the moment,people will then avoid as i do like the plague.
I tend to go down to Argos,shoezone,pink planet,pondstretcher, ect either first thing in the morning or a Sat afternoon (when i know most are in trowbridge).
Frome at the moment is marketing itself as some Arty Farty place for the rich and famous to come once in a blue moon.
THIS DOES NOT CREATE JOBS.
Frome is on it's knees in lack of employment/housing/services that are closing or have closed i.e Social services christchurch street/the magistrates court/Age concern for the poor elderly-but to name a few.
IN ESSENCE Frome culterally is just a MASSIVE housing estate/satellite town for Bath/Bristol (obviously raking in lot's of LOVELY council tax to rake in for NOT NEEDED new offices for MDC and £150,000 for new FTC offices).
Get a grip all of you and see the issues of front of you.

Yes many people use Frome as a commuter town, I do, but why not? Its a great place to live and bring up kids and so people use it as such. I don't understand why people would need to go to trowbridge to shop though?Frome has everything most people would need - and mostly independant shops to boot. Butchers for meat, bakers for bread, market or veg stores for vegetables, whsmith for newspapers and magazines, book shop and music shop on cheap street, hardwear store at the top of catherine hill and you also have homebase and tipadel, a few decent pubs, a few decent restaurants, schools are pretty good. There is a cinema, theatres, gig venues for entertainment. 100's of hairdressers, shoe shops and also some clothes shops (some fairly inexpensive and some pretty pricey but the choice is there), nicnak shops and cafes galore etc etc. We also have asda, sainsbury's, a small tesco, lidl, coop. lts clear to see that frome town centre and the out of town shopping centre is packed every saturday and that shows people are using it.

Lots of 'artyfarty' (as you put it) independant shops do create jobs, they are creating their own jobs and people are responding to them. Yes, there are very few industrial jobs of old in frome anymore (i'm sure people out there might prove me wrong on that) but we have such good links with bristol and bath, trowbridge, westbury and other surrounding towns that those jobs need not be in frome for people from frome to get to them to work.

My brother in law talks like you (moans with no answers) and says there are no jobs in frome and its hard etc etc. Yes there may not be jobs in frome but there are jobs elsewhere nearby and if you really wanted them you will go and find them.

Frome is not dead on its knees at all, and I will say it again, take a look around you on saturday lunchtimes (if you can bring yourself to venue out) and at the FTC minutes and agendas on their website to see why that isn't the case and what people are doing about it.

TRAFFIC POLLUTION LEVELS as of 2011 FROME TOWN CENTER
(probably far higher now,with the bus stops situated where they are)/

http://tinyurl.com/b3pg5n8