The high street: what next?
We are over-retailed, but yet we cling to the old ideas of what a high street 'should' be.
The high street plays a critical and beloved role for many in the UK.
However, over the last couple of decades, a familiar story has taken place across the country: out of town retail, and now online shopping, have led to the demise of the ‘once great’ (zzz) British high street. Plonk a pandemic on top and the picture can look pretty damn bleak.
The number of people visiting the High Street has dropped by 20.5% over the past decade, according to figures from retail analyst company Springboard. The pandemic resulted in a further 39.1% drop during 2020. Yeesh.
Much of the misty-eyed nostalgia for the high streets of ‘the good old days’ is misplaced. Many town centres have been slow to adapt, hampered by old behaviours; out-of-touch councillors; greedy landlords; a general lack of vision. If there’s a positive to take from the last 12 months, it’s that it has shaken some retailers, councils, and landlords to rethink what they offer and how.
Last week the chairman of JD Sports, Peter Cowgill, was on the radio talking about the need for ‘a complete overhaul of business rates and rents if the High Street (is) to survive’: "It is basic economics," he said. "Bricks and mortar retailing is becoming uneconomic."
It’s worth bearing in mind how ‘over-retailed’ our high streets had gotten. "Retail has only ever been a part of the functions of a town and city. In the 1980s and 90s, we got a little bit fixated on retail and we just thought that the whole town and the whole city was all about retail,” says Cathy Parker, co-chair of the Institute of Place Management (IPM - affiliated with Manchester Met Uni).
Simply put: properly functioning high streets need to serve the needs of the people. This may mean less shops, more homes, more work space, more green space. If that keeps people coming to the high street, great.
We are at an inflection point for the UK’s high streets and we need to be paying attention to the changes coming and underway. With the High Street Taskforce in place we might have the opportunity to help shape this future.
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“We should end up with much more diverse places, closer to the needs of the communities which they serve.” - Mark Robinson, chair of the High Streets Task Force (Financial Times)
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CHECKOUT
Historic England has a new podcast called ‘High Street Tales’. There’s an accompanying eBook too, free to download. This is part of a four year campaign with plenty to provoke and inspire, by the looks of it. Great to see that it covers a wide-spread of the UK - we need more of this kind of research and insight.
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I really enjoyed The Booksellers documentary, focusing on New York’s antiquarian booksellers (though I would have liked to have seen more of the new guard of book retailers). Another new documentary on the final days of a Parisian newspaper kiosk also looks rather nice.
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Ps. I’d love to hear from you. I’m now freelancing as a brand strategist / customer experience specialist so always up for chatting ideas and potential new projects - just hit reply :)