Report commissioned by PEP&CO with help from Savills Talking shops – Creating a new high street Championing customers’ expectations of the town centres where they shop, work and play

I’ve been proud to call St Albans my home for the past 25 years. It’s a historic place – Hertfordshire’s oldest town – with a vibrant high street loved by residents and visitors alike. Or at least until recently. Like many so-called secondary towns, St Albans’ high street found the last recession tough going. It wasn’t immune to the demise or shrinking of big household names. Woolworths closed its doors on St Peters Street in 2009, GAME followed suit, so did Thorntons. Independent traders struggled too as they found themselves caught in the crossfire of weakening demand and lower footfall. But St Albans, like many other places across the country began to reshape itself to reflect a new consumer – one that was certainly more frugal but prepared to embrace a smaller shop, closer to home, if her new expectations on price were met. It was against this backdrop that Andy Bond & I began thinking about fashion retail in these high streets. At the beginning of 2015, it seemed to us that the business case for PEP&CO on secondary high streets was compelling, and we had to move quickly. From Bootle to Bridgend, Dunfermline to Dartford, hard discount food retailers such Aldi and Lidl were growing market share rapidly. Non-food discounters, led by the pound stores were thriving in these kind of locations. But fashion retailers hadn’t yet adapted to this new consumer. 2

Squeezed between e-tailing and out-of-town megastores, fashion retailers were still struggling - in some cases moving out; in others, even checking out for good. But it seemed clear to us that those retailers who provided real, not phoney value could thrive as people looked to shop closer to home. That’s why we embarked on Britain’s fastest ‘scale-from-scratch’ retail launch, opening 50 PEP&CO stores in just over 50 days in Scotland, Wales and England. And despite the challenging timescales, we’ve been delighted at the commitment and co-operation of partners – landlords, councils, and shopping centres – to help us open our doors. There’s been a willingness to work together and that’s been rewarded as we’ve seen the stores’ early performance. It seems our hunch - that there was an appetite for discount family fashion - was right. So why is it still the case, despite the evidence, that the dominating high street narrative is one of decline and decay? “The death of the high street” is not just a cliché, it seems to have become an unchallenged truth. Sure, it’s undeniable that many town centres – just like mine in St Albans - have faced tough times as they sought to redefine their role in a changing world. And it’s certainly true they sometimes haven’t helped themselves. But it’s also indisputable that people love where they live. They want their high streets and town centres to do well. And, as we now know better than most, if the offer is right, they’re prepared to support them. So it’s important we listen to the people that live and work in what we euphemistically call “secondary high streets”. But when I look at the hundreds of reports from policymakers and consultants about 3

how to keep the heart of places like Crewe and Corby beating strongly, their voice is hard to find. So as we opened in 50 towns across the UK, in partnership with our friends at Savills, we asked former BBC Consumer Affairs Correspendent Nicola Carslaw to ask real people what they wanted to see in their high streets. This report, unvarnished, unfiltered, untainted by political or business agendas is a summary of what they told us. One thing I do know from a lifetime in retail, is that the best answers are those articulated by customers. Success is directly linked to your ability to listen. Retailers acting alone can’t create the kind of high streets people want. Nor can local councils, landlords or policymakers act in isolation from each other.

People are asking for real leadership, collaboration, ingenuity between all those that have stake in the places they love, so they can flourish and prosper. I’m proud that PEP&CO, from a standing start, is playing a small role in bringing back vibrancy to Britain’s high streets. We stand ready to listen to customers as we help shape the high streets they love. Adrian Mountford 12 April 2016

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SETTING OUT THE STALL Town centres and high streets are graphic symbols of the state of the UK economy and many thousands of words have been spoken, treatises written and initiatives launched on their decline, rejuvenation, revival and reinvention. What’s extraordinary is that studies have largely omitted the views of the consumers whose actions have such a strong impact on the state of our retail economy. This piece of reportage offers an insight into how customers think, what they want from their towns and how they envisage the future of shopping. It is not a piece of science, but we believe it fairly reflects the most comprehensive collection of customers’ perspectives on their high streets yet published in Britain; we think it is the first time that a report has been dedicated to the voices and recommendations of shoppers for the revival of their towns. As PEP&CO opened its 50 stores in the second half of 2015 we spoke faceto-face with customers in some 30 secondary or ‘B grade’ high streets and shopping centres. 5

The towns we visited had all been selected by Savills as providing the appropriate market conditions for retailer PEP&CO, a new brand setting up 50 stores during the summer of 2015, aimed at “mums on a budget.” Many shoppers said, unprompted, that they were pleased that someone was “at last” listening to their opinions. They hoped that the resulting insights would not be ignored by local and national governments, retailers, landlords, the leisure industry and businesses. It is clear that people love their high streets and want them to succeed. However, their expectations of anyone listening to them, let alone acting on their recommendations, are low. THE WORD ON THE STREET: Summary of shoppers’ views There is a danger when you interview “real people” that they will tell you their truth, warts and all. For this report hundreds of shoppers have expressed often trenchant views about their town centres and high streets. Some of the opinions will be unpalatable for centre management, landlords, local councils and retailers. Occasionally opinions are based on myth or perceived wisdom. But mostly the views are well-intentioned. You could call it constructive criticism; people see themselves as critical friends of their high streets and shopping centres. Take Jeanne, back from her holiday home in southern Spain and visiting her daughter in England’s midlands: “Compared to the continent so many town 6

centres here are disgusting. That’s not too strong a word. But we really want things to get better. We don’t want to have to spend time and money in a place so bad that it’s an unfair reflection on the people who shop here. We deserve better.” What emerges clearly in our nationwide vox pops is that shoppers are willing their secondary high streets to succeed. They like the convenience of the location, they get excited when they hear of a new store opening and they become frustrated when a shop closes, leaving a blacked-out shopfront and an unsightly To Let sign.

We want more choice… A near universal call is for more choice – a better mix of shops. From East Kilbride to Eastleigh, mums of all ages want not only a Primark and a Peacocks but a Debenhams or an “up-market” department store to give them a choice of “something of everything and for everyone.” Young men such as John in Kirkcaldy complain there aren’t enough menswear shops, while others share Kathryn in Falkirk’s wish for more plus-size clothing. 7

Think of the children… Up and down the country, customers talk about a lack of things to do for children, whether ambitious facilities such as a climbing wall and skating rink, or simple activities including face-painting or art workshops. Young mums talk about soft play areas for babies and toddlers, with one or two expressing a preference for a crèche where they could leave their baby while they shop or meet friends. Improve public transport and parking… Many find that buses into the town centre are not always frequent enough or are costly. For drivers, “too expensive” parking charges, lack of spaces, exclusive resident permits and antiquated or even “scary,” “smelly,” “too small” multistoreys are frequently cited as a barrier to shopping locally, as opposed to driving away to big “glossy” centres such as The Trafford Centre, Westfield or Milton Keynes. A frequent demand is for free car parking – and indeed there is free parking in a number of centres, including, for example, Cwmbran, Runcorn and Newton Mearns, and Bolton Market Place, where it is free for 90 minutes.

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Be part of the community… Those who drive into town or take public transport have to be pressed hard to think whether their town centre should also be a place for living and working in, although many define a town centre or high street as “a community area.” Those who live within 20 minutes’ walking distance of their high street, as in Runcorn, say that’s just how things should be: being near the centre “makes life so much more pleasant, so much easier.” Slip safely from day to night… Should the high street do different things at different times of the day? There have been mixed views about this across Britain, ranging from indifference in Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, to a clear desire in Eastleigh, Hampshire, and all eight centres visited in Scotland for the shopping centres to drift seamlessly and safely from day to night. Discussions on the doorstep – the detail We asked shoppers and centre managers five broad questions: 1. What is the high street for? 2. Where are the high street heroes? 3. What don’t you like about your high street? 4. What are your top five tips, hopes and expectations for high street revival? 5. Whose responsibility is it to deliver – and how?

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1. What is the high street for? Veteran retailer and author of The Vanishing High Street Bill Grimsey wrote: “When we talk about the high street we’re referring to an industry that comprises some 95,000 companies, employing £326bn of gross assets, borrowing £65bn and with a total net worth of £135bn. Think about that for a second. This compares with the entire UK education budget of £53bn, the defense budget of £24bn, the Business, Innovation and Skills budget of a mere £13bn – and it’s way more than the health budget of £110bn…” Based on our conversations the “traditional” high street is a real street outdoors, preferably within walking distance of the home. It is a town thoroughfare, with a bank, Post Office and a range of shops lining the pavement either side with trees to soften the urban landscape. By the same token, a “real” high street is, as Carmen in Glenrothes says, “a place just to potter as a day-tripper or tourist”. “It’s where you go for a one-off gift, a special meal out or to buy artisan bread from an old-fashioned bakery,” according to women such as Lynn in Eastleigh. Think Canterbury in Kent, St Andrews in Fife or Stratford-uponAvon. The focus of this report is not on “bijou” towns, but on what are known as “secondary high streets,” mostly undercover shopping centres, purposebuilt, maybe as part of new towns, such as East Kilbride Shopping Centre, or Cwmbran, or as stand-alone malls near a “real” street, such as Newlands in Kettering. 10

As this is the longest section, these responses have been grouped by region for ease of reading. East Midlands – Kettering and Corby The high street is essentially about a great shopping, working and leisure experience, according to Neil, at Kettering’s Newlands Shopping Centre. The market town of Kettering, 15 miles north of Northampton and 50 miles east of Birmingham, has a population of around 65,000. Neil thinks it’s also the place to generate a healthy environment and town prosperity and he is proud that 32 of 34 of the centre’s retailers report meeting or exceeding their sales targets. “After a period of prolonged hardship, it’s heartening that business is so buoyant,” he says. Newlands used to be tired, run-down and depressed. It was dark, drab, and dirty and had what Neil calls “a 1970s vibe, in a bad way.” There had been little or no investment for years. Then in 2011, new owners Ellandi took over and put their money where their mouth was. Newlands now looks forward not back, says Neil. “People in Kettering are fiercely loyal to their town. They treat it like a member of their family; they can moan about it but no one else is allowed to.” He’s adamant that there are fewer and fewer reasons to moan now: it’s no longer a struggle to let vacant stores. ‘‘With stores like PEP&CO opening 11

their very first UK store here now and JD Sports coming next. The Kettering high street is on the up.” For 22-year-old Kettering wine bar manager Becci, though, the high street is a place for buying stylish and fashionable clothes and also for meeting friends after work. She doesn’t feel Kettering has enough “upmarket” fashion and says having a Debenhams would be a great improvement. “I’m fed up with having pound shops and low grade places. Do they really think that’s what we all want? What about those of us who are young and want to better ourselves? We have to go into Milton Keynes or Northampton or even Corby to find the good clothes shops for my age group.” Lesley-Ann, a store manager in the Newlands Centre, expects a good town centre to be somewhere you can work and socialise. “The high street needs to be a fluid place where the environment, the atmosphere, the service all add up to giving people a good experience. If you work in the town you need a choice of places where you can pop out and spend your lunch break and perhaps grab a drink after work. The ideal high street is where you’d choose to spend a Saturday strolling around, shopping, enjoying the ambiance, perhaps going to the cinema as well as shopping with family or friends and then going out for a nice meal in the evening.” Sue, a grandmother who has seen Kettering’s fortunes rise and fall over the years, says she is now pleasantly surprised by the town’s latest developments. “There’s a proper high street with a range of shops (though 12

still too many cheapy ones) and there’s the Newlands Centre, which now seems lighter and fresher than it was in the past. A few years ago you’d come into town and it would throw you into a deep depression because of its gloominess, But now it seems to be happier and that gives me a lift, too! “I like a high street that is bustling and is a place for getting everything you want, whether food, clothing, gifts or household items. I also think a high street is for community events. You should be able to take the pulse of a place from its high street.”

In Corby, Willow Place is an open-air, purpose-built shopping centre with an antiquated multi-storey car park. Here Willow Place is the only high street – although as one expat shopper visiting from Spain remarks: “It is poorly signposted and you seem to stumble upon it by chance.” Susan is store manager in Willow Place. “The high streets have been squeezed out by shopping centres. Places like Willow Place are the new high street. The old High Street as we know it has gone. We’ve moved on.” For Susan who has worked in department stores as well as having been a traffic warden, a high street should be all about the customer and 13

reasonable prices. “Gone are the days when people shopped in a number of places. Now people shop around for value, and have choice which is a good thing because everyone, no matter their income, gets a chance to see what’s on offer.”

For Susan, the town should cater for people’s leisure time, too. For instance, in Corby there are plenty of swimming pools in the centre. However, she says: “There should be late-night shopping, so people who work can shop afterwards. There aren’t enough places to eat; we need more than a Burger King and a McDonald’s and a limited number of cafes.” Kirsty, sitting on a bench in the centre, doesn’t have a dewy-eyed vision of a traditional high street of the olden days. “There’s no point having one high street on its own, you need two or three shopping centres in a town to get what you need. It’s all very well liking traditional places, like Stratfordupon-Avon, but they’re so limited. “I like Milton Keynes for shopping, but I don’t want to be dodging other shoppers. I don’t want anything that’s all about money rather than customer service,” says Kirsty.

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South of England In Maidstone, Kent, young mum Dee with her baby and her friend Shelby, think high streets are purely functional. Ognyana and Andrea, though, recently in the UK from Bulgaria, think the high street is also for enjoying life and for leisure. They like to be able to walk to the shops and love Maidstone because it provides them with “good shops on their doorstep.” Meanwhile Wendy, a middle-aged woman who works at a local supermarket, says a local high street is mostly for food and clothing. “It needs to have a bit of everything and a lot of choice, all close together so you don’t have to walk a long way.” Working mum Liz thinks a high street should be so good that you need to go there; “a place for stuff you have to get and also where it’s nice to have coffee.” Liz stresses, too, that it is vitally important to have good parking at a reasonable price. In The Marlowes Shopping Centre in Hemel Hempstead, Rachel says: “High streets are for spending all the money we shouldn’t do on ourselves and our kids! Me and the other mums will meet up quite regularly with our kids either to go shopping or have a coffee.”

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Young mum Clare with two very small children agrees and says that high streets are also places for “mums like me with two mischievous kids” and retailers should therefore lay on activities such as painting for them. Krishna, another mother with two young boys, defines a high street as “for everything. There needs to be enough shops for adults as well as kids; there need to be activities, too, otherwise we’ll all get bored.” However, Sue, Janet and Liz, who describe themselves as middle-aged mums out shopping together, think a high street should concentrate on being a place for shopping and shouldn’t necessarily be a place for friends. “We can go to the pub instead - though it was a lot nicer here with the bowling alley and Leisure World back in the Nineties.” Sarah and Joyce, two grandmothers, think a high street should be “functional,” while Margaret says that if it’s a place for buying your everyday necessities then parking and transport should be free. “Paying for parking is a pain.” Moving on to the Swan Centre in Eastleigh, Hampshire, mother-of-three Kim defines the high street as “somewhere to get your basics, whether a loaf of bread or a saucepan. I expect to get a book, clothes, shoes and a lawnmower.” Eastleigh has a designated town centre, which includes two parallel roads, Market Street and High Street, book-ended by the Swan Centre, and a recreational park with a bandstand. 16

Kim’s friend Lynn says: “It should have a thriving market but it doesn’t seem to be able to attract retailers. Last Saturday there were only nine stalls. “We’re a satellite for Winchester and Southampton, and so we get overlooked. There’s a very big out-of-town shopping centre called West End in the outskirts of Southampton and every large retailer is there.” She complains about a lack of variety. “You can’t even buy a birthday present. There are lots of charity shops, lots of estate agents and lots of empty units. We don’t seem to have picked up after the recession and we have been swallowed up by Southampton.” Kim feels shopping has become a leisure activity for her. “I go shopping with a friend and have a few coffees and snacks. I’m not interested in full sitdown meals in restaurants during my day’s shopping.” Kim thinks shopping should be separate from where you live and where you work. “To me, a shopping centre is out of town or on the edge of a high street. I like a shopping centre to have independent shops and cafes, rather than the same-old-same-old.”

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Lynn says: “Currently Eastleigh feels more like a benefits town. A high rate of young mums, retired people and youth doing nothing, and more than our fair share of immigration. The dynamic has changed. We don’t seem to have any quality; it’s all cheap and not always cheerful.” To be “the heart of a thriving community: that’s what a high street is for,” says Marie, in Boscombe, Dorset. She believes there are too many gaps in the high streets in 2015 – “big empty spaces, which puts people off shopping” and she would like to see more independent stores filling those gaps. Marie says shoppers in Boscombe are governed by price although they appreciate quality – and that’s how the high street needs to be pepped up. Shopper Nina, originally from Brazil, thinks the shops shut too early and after work “they are already closed,” so she is unable to buy what she needs locally. In Bristol at The Galleries, Broadmead, Juliette, with three children under eight, thinks the high street should be all things for all people. She defines a high street as being outside rather than a shopping centre undercover and disagrees with those who say the mall is the high street of the future. She doesn’t think it should come to life at night because she has seen how elsewhere, there are so many pubs and clubs that the area becomes “a breeding ground for gangs.”

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Spotlight on Bristol The Galleries shopping mall in Broadmead, Bristol, faces competition from Cabot Circus, a retail complex at the other end of Bristol’s main shopping area. Cabot Circus opened in 2008 and features a Harvey Nichols, Apple store, many cafes and restaurants and a Showcase Cinema De Lux. Both retail areas also have to compete with Cribbs Causeway, an out-oftown, undercover shopping mall about five miles away just off the M5. It features 130 retailers including Marks and Spencer and a John Lewis and offers free parking for 7,000 cars. Families visit Cribbs from all over the West Country and South Wales to spend a day shopping and eating – especially when it is raining. In addition to the large-scale shopping options, Bristol has a number of out-of-town retail parks, including Imperial Park, Avonmead, Brislington and Emersons Green. Sue, who has lived in Bristol on and off for 22 years says: “Imperial Park has a DW Sports Fitness Club, which has a pool, a B&Q and an M&S Simply Food, so my husband can go to the gym, pick up his DIY supplies and pop into M&S for something for lunch. It is so much easier than going to what was a traditional high street and, of course, there is free parking. “Unfortunately, the seating and planting is nothing like the attractive retail parks in places in the States, such as Destin, Florida, where there are 19

fountains for children to play in, beautiful floral displays and Mediterranean-style paving. Imperial Park also has Boots, Home Sense, justforpets and Next. The place is heaving at the weekends and at peak times of the year, such as Christmas and bank holidays, there are traffic jams to get into the car park as early as 9am.” Bristol boasts one of Mary Portas’ improved high streets: East Street in Bedminster, which was regenerated with £100,000 in 2012. It was one of just two of the 12 schemes to report an increase in occupied shop units. An arts trail, street market and Christmas lights helped to perk up the dreary location. East Street, which used to have a Marks and Spencer and a number of the traditional high street shops, had become sad spectacle by the late 1980s, awash with take-away wrappers and, more recently, numerous pound and charity shops. There was – and still is – an excellent greengrocer’s and butcher’s shop, but Sue never shops there. “It does look better than it did, with planters and more seating and I know some of the traders have made an effort. But it is still quite depressing. The main Post Office relocated to another premises further down East Street and yet another betting shop opened in the old building. There are several charity shops, pound shops and at least two bargain booze stores. “Just over half a mile from East Street is North Street in Southville. North Street has been completely transformed by the creation of the Tobacco Factory theatre, café/bar and Sunday market in 1998. The building 20

includes space for small businesses and loft apartments. The site was the manufacturing base for Wills & Co from 1786, which later became Imperial Tobacco, and was a huge employer. “The company moved its operations to another area of Bristol in 1970 and the Southville buildings stood empty and most were later knocked down. By the mid-90s, the BS3 postcode was one of the ten poorest in the country. In 1994 architect George Ferguson bought the last remaining building and created the highly successful, multi-use example of regeneration it is today. “As a spin-off, North Street is now full of independent retailers, cafes, bars, bakeries, gift shops and delis and house prices in the area have spiralled upwards. The North Street stardust is slowly making is way down towards East Street – but it will take time. However, a vintage clothes shop, Jamaican diner, a trendy bar with an industrial feel and smart coffee shop are proof that retailing in the area is moving in the right direction.” The high street is for shopping and not living in, according to Carmen in Warminster, Wiltshire. She loves meeting her friends there and would like to see more designer shops, because “the closest they get to designer in Warminster is Peacocks and M&Co.”

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Janet, who has lived in Warminster all her life, says “as long as the high street is busy and the shops attract customers” she is happy. “A high street with atmosphere and attitude would be a bonus so that you can really enjoy it.” Zoe likes to see “affordable shops that appeal to everybody”. She is concerned that Warminster has “no upmarket high street chains” and there is “no happy medium”. The best you get in Warminster, according to Zoe is “Dorothy Perkins or M&Co”. Cathleen looks for the essentials when she comes to Warminster – “Boots, Poundland and a pub.” That is because for Cathleen the high street is for your essential shopping and for meeting your friends. Wales In Bridgend, roughly half an hour’s drive from Cardiff and half an hour from Swansea, Helen defines her “high street” as the as “two roads where the clothes shops are in the centre of town.” She doesn’t include any local purpose-built shopping centres as part of the high street. “The high street to me is where people go to spend money on clothes and eating out. We have some really nice restaurants – Italians, Tapas and a great pub, for instance. People go to supermarkets for their food shopping – and Bridgend has plenty of supermarkets like Tesco’s and Lidl etcetera.” The county borough of Bridgend includes the town itself, with a population of around 39,000, as well as Maesteg and the seaside town of Porthcawl. 22

“There has been major investment from the government and businesses, I know – but I would say that our high street is really struggling at the moment – and has been for around five years. There are too many empty shops. “People here are so excited when a new store comes. There was so much interest in PEP&CO – there’s nothing else like it here and everyone hopes it is leading a revival in Bridgend’s fortunes. “ Gwent Square in the Cwmbran Shopping Centre, Torfaen, houses some of the UK’s biggest high street names. Unlike many of the secondary centres we’ve visited, Cwmbran is known as a popular destination in its own right, according to its shoppers. Purpose-built as a new town at the same time as Milton Keynes, it is mostly under cover and has some 900 shops and more than 3,000 free car parking spaces. Cwmbran's main bus station is in Gwent Square and the railway station is just north-east of the town centre. Children’s entertainer Tony says: “Cwmbran is a good example of what a high street is for. Its purpose is to be the centre for shopping but also be near where people live. It’s a progressive place, there’s a good vibe. The buskers have to audition to perform in it; it caters for your leisure time, with cinemas, bowling alley, good choice of restaurants, entertainments, themed events. Coach trips pay special visits to here. “It’s privately owned and so they’re imaginative and think with a commercial hat on. They actively look for ways of keeping Cwmbran

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interesting and looking good. The only thing they haven’t done is book me as family entertainer centre attraction!”

North-West England The Market Place Shopping Centre, Bolton, Greater Manchester, is currently going through a £19 million development, introducing restaurants into the basement in the Victorian Vaults, and a nine-screen 1,200-seat cinema is being built. Bolton town centre is home to more than 276,800 mainly blue-collar workers and is one of England’s largest towns. There’s a fast-growing student body, a diverse population with more than 40,000 Asian people and a significant Eastern European presence. For Sarah, who works at BT and is on a day off with her husband-to-be and their toddler, “it’s not yet somewhere for bringing the children because there’s not much for them to do.” She also thinks the centre “needs to be a more attractive place for people to come and shop. There needs to be more of the upmarket, exclusive and boutique shops you would find in Manchester City Centre or the Trafford Centre. If it had them I’d never shop anywhere else!” 24

What’s the high street for? It depends who you are, says John, waiting for a friend in the Market Place Centre. “If you’re a retailer then the high street is for making money out of people like me. But, I’m retired now and I wouldn’t normally come here for anything other than shopping. That’s because it doesn’t feel safe. “All we have is charity collectors and buskers. It’s not really very good and it can be quite off-putting. “At one time the centre used to be a place you’d come to in the evenings. There were a lot more pubs, cafes and restaurants, but a lot of them have closed. One of my favourite pubs is now a bank. You get the feeling that people only want you to come into Bolton to spend your money. It would be much better if there was more to do, like it used to be.”

Retired couple Patricia and Derek are delighted with the centre’s plans for new restaurants and a new nine-screen cinema. Pat says Bolton already has a thriving theatre, which she’s sure brings people in in the evenings, and the centre’s development will breathe new life into the town.

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“We come to the Market Centre for breakfast and also visit the cafes every now and then and see the high street as a destination for those of us who don’t necessarily want just to shop.” Like John, they want the place to feel safer for everyone – and they say it should be cleaner, but generally they feel positive about Bolton and want the council “to fulfil its responsibility to keep the town an attractive place for people to visit.” At The Strand, Bootle, Merseyside, Margaret lives up the road and comes here because it’s so convenient for her. “The butcher’s very good and you have Asda across the road. I think people would come here for other things if they were available, but most people use it for shopping.” Karren is keen to see a high street that provides for all her shopping needs. But here, she feels, there is very little choice. “You can’t have a shopping centre where all the shops are disappearing, where there’s nothing to do, no entertainment, not enough places to eat and no activities for the children. The high street should be for children. It wouldn’t take much – some paper and crayons maybe – so the children can be kept occupied while we can get on with what we need to do.”

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Another shopper, Maria, says: “I think ideally shopping centres like this should be destinations. Somewhere you would say, ‘Oh let’s go there, it will be fun,’ but you can’t really say that about this place. It doesn't have much to do.” In the Port Arcades, Ellesmere Port, Cheshire, Zena, who travels on the bus to go shopping with the family, says she comes to the centre mainly for Home Bargains. “There isn’t anything else here. A lot of the really good shops have moved out to Cheshire Oaks [a designer outlet], which is right on the edge of town, so it’s left a bit of a void around here. “A high street for me is one with a bit of life in it. It should be a place where people do all sorts of things – eat, drink, shop, enjoy themselves – but here it is the same faces just wandering around aimlessly between charity shops and pound shops.” Patsy, shopping with a friend at Birkenhead Pyramid Shopping Centre, Merseyside, defines the high street as: “Somewhere for shopping, clothes shopping. I love the shops here. I also like having a walk round, meeting up with people and maybe stopping for a coffee on a nice day.” She travels to the centre by bus and finds it pretty reliable. “I think there should be things to bring people to the centre of town. How about a statue or a fountain – a piece of public art that people can really appreciate? I am also a big fan of music, so I love to come and watch the buskers. It’s free, or for a small donation, and some of them are really

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good. It makes a difference to the day. I do come here at different times of the day for shopping and socialising.” Should the high street do different things at different times of the day? “Yes, why not? This place is always quite busy, which is why we like it. There is plenty to do during the day and people come back in the evening as well,” says Patsy. Seventeen-year-old Amy works in Ashton Arcades, Ashton-under-Lyne, Greater Manchester. She catches the tram to work, finds it reliable and it stops right outside her house. “Here is where I come to work but I also shop as well. I would come to meet friends and socialise if there were more places to meet up.” The centre serves a population of 46,000 people. It’s not an affluent area and mainly comprises skilled and unskilled workers and people on benefits; one of the big draws is Wilko, according to centre manager Lynne. “Many people see Manchester City Centre as their first port of call for shopping, so this is where our main competition is.” The Arcades’ parking charge is £1 for an hour – £1.80 for up to two hours and £2.50 for all day. That does not affect retiree John, shopping and meeting a friend. He gets the bus to go into town. “It’s fairly reliable, but not 100%.”

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In Crewe, Cheshire, retired grandmother Mo thinks public transport is very important. “We rely on it to get here because we do not have a car. It’s very frustrating though because the bus companies run a reduced service after 5.30pm, so it can make it difficult for us to get back into town.” Ann, in Crewe with her sister, Joan, also says public transport is important to her. “I don’t drive and my husband works during the day. You can’t really rely on the buses, so if I am coming into town I usually have to get a taxi.”

She adds: “It would be good if there were more restaurants for people to use during the evening. If there was more going on, I might actually come here of an evening, but at the moment, there is no reason to.” For Mo, the high street offers her and her husband a bit of everything. “We like to come here and shop during the day and then in the evening we will come back and have a drink and a meal at Wetherspoons. We see this place as somewhere to spend our leisure time as well as being a place to go shopping. “We are quite happy with the choice of leisure activities here but if there were more, for different age groups, then it would be even better – and busier.” 29

Jean, who works in Pound Bakery, says that for her the high street is a town centre where you work and go shopping in your breaks. “The high street needs to do lots of different things, not just shopping; there needs to be more art activities and things for children.” Public transport isn’t important for Jean because she lives nearby and walks in. But, she says “all the buses seem to stop after 6pm at night so it’s not something you could rely on anyway.” She thinks that’s a shame because the high street should do different things at different times of day. “There should be attractions to bring people here throughout the day and in the evenings. There should also be more for younger people to do.” In Salford, Greater Manchester, Pauline is shopping with her mother on a day off from work. “We sometimes have something to eat, but that’s usually part of a shopping trip. I wouldn’t come here just to eat.” Pauline thinks if there were a variety and choice of different things to do then the high street could be used for different things at different times of the day. “If it were entertainment or cultural activities it would have to be free or cheap. I can’t really see people coming here for an expensive night out.” Salford Shopping Centre dates from the 1960s, is undercover and has a separate multi-storey block of flats above it. Les says the people who use the centre are predominantly demographically Cs and Ds and the centre serves a population of 233,900. The three car parks have 443 spaces and 30

offer the first two or three hours free, with the Pendleton Way car park charging £1 per hour after the first three hours. The main anchor tenants are Wilko, Home Bargains, Argos and Boots. The centre currently has 95 retail units, with eight of them empty at the time of writing. Ann lives in Tyldesley, near Wigan and occasionally visits Salford with her husband. “We have come here today to do our shopping and for a change of scenery. Going into town or to the high street shouldn’t be just about doing the shopping, it should be a bit more enjoyable too. It’s a chance to get out of the house and see new things. You never know what’s going to happen or who you might meet.” She’s another who says a high street should offer different options at different times of the day: “It should be a place to go to do something or to do nothing and just take it all in. I think more entertainment and leisure facilities would help to make the high street more attractive to visitors.” In Warrington, Cheshire, Jonathon, shopping with his wife and two young children, is a firm believer in keeping shopping simple. “I’ve just spent two and half years in the Middle East and I’ve seen lots of those vast mega-malls where you can do just about everything without stepping outside. It’s all a bit too much really; they are so over-the-top that it doesn’t seem real. It’s not for me; they are trying too hard.” Mary, out shopping with her mother Helen, thinks a high street is for shoppers and workers during the day and then a place to go at night. 31

“Really there should be something happening on the high street all the time,” she says.

Another Mary says: “I generally come here for shopping, particularly at Asda and Home Bargains. They’ve got a good choice. I can see how people might want to come here for other things, like to bring the kids when the schools are off, but for me it’s mainly for shopping.” Ten miles north-east of Manchester, in Oldham, Jack works in The Spindles Town Square Shopping Centre, which comprises the jointly managed Town Square, open since 1981, and the Spindles, which opened two years later. For Jack, the centre is about working and shopping. “They are the main two reasons I come here, but I think it should be a destination as well. This place is pretty big and plenty of people come here to meet up and socialise, which is how it should be.” Jack says that the centre caters for all: “People come here to use the shops during the day and they go out here at night.” The centre comprises some of the major high street stores – Debenhams, BHS, H&M and Boots. There have been a number of major lettings this year, including the return of TJ Hughes. The footfall averages 200,000 people per

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week. The centre has 400 parking spaces and parking is £1.10 for one hour, £1.80 for one to two hours. Rita, shopping in The Spindles and waiting for her granddaughter, describes the high street as a place where you are always able to get what you want. “We will want to get some lunch here and people come into the town centre to go to the cinema or maybe to bingo. There is quite a lot going on and it is at all times of the day.” In The Mall, Stretford, Manchester, Beverley, who comes here by bus with her daughter, defines a high street as a place for people to spend the day and the evening – “a destination that should do things at different times of day and you need to be able to get everything you need in one place, particularly clothes – and fashionable, affordable clothes like at Primark.” Beverley also thinks it is somewhere to sit and eat and where children can be looked after while their mums go shopping. Here in The Mall, she says: “I like to bring my daughter along and there should be something for her to do as well, without having to spend a fortune in Peacocks! They do have an ice rink the size of a postage stamp at Christmas, but right now it is the middle of the summer holidays now and nothing is going on.” William, who’s retired and has just done his grocery shopping at Tesco, says a high street for him is a place where people can work and shop during the day and then meet when work is over. However, he believes

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being so close to the Trafford Centre means that centres such as Stretford will never be able to compete. Marie, out with her daughter, says the Mall, with its Tesco, is for everyday shopping. “If it was Manchester, then it would be as much a destination as it would be somewhere to go and shop. But there is a lot more going on in Manchester so people will go and shop, then do something to enjoy themselves or the other way round. “ The Runcorn Shopping Centre, Cheshire, is in the heart of the town. It was opened in 1972, is currently home to 70 retail stores and is undergoing redevelopment. It already has attracted a new anchor store, The Range, due open for Christmas 2015. The centre has four large car parks offering free parking to over 2,200 cars. With footfall of 110,000-120,000 visitors a week shoppers here are very loyal and come to the centre three to four times per week. Engaging the community is key, according to Karl, who says trade is currently more than 10% up on last year with all the major stores reporting strong sales. The current “average transaction” across the centre is £45. Charli, aged 19, out with her toddler Emmerleigh, uses Runcorn for all her shopping: “Food, clothes, everything. I don’t go out much, so it’s important that I have somewhere close by that gives me what I need.

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“I think it would be good for places to be seen as destinations other than shopping. I have come here today partly because of the holiday activities for the children. It keeps them happy.” It takes me about 20 minutes to walk it here with the pram, so that’s just perfect for me.

“It would be good if they had activities for children in the afternoon and early evening as well. Especially during term time. A kids’ club would be good. They have them at school but if you been at school all day, you don’t really want to stay even longer. So if I could bring the children here after school and do my shopping, that would be great.” Mike, who has come to Runcorn to see his daughter starring in the Summer Camp activities as Elsa from Frozen, also lives within walking distance of the centre, which he really likes. “I use this place for banking and for the travel agents to exchange currency. That’s about it. I don’t use it for weekly shopping. It’s all about the kids, really. If places like this spend a bit of money to put things on for the children then that’s more than half the battle won. The parents would come and shop here because they’d know the children were having a good time.

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“I can’t really see this as being a place for adults to come of an evening at the moment, but it used to have a pub and a snooker hall, which were very well used.” In fact, Mike thinks there is the potential for Runcorn to offer different activities during the day. “But again, because of the people who come here, you need to target things that involve children. Something like crazy golf that everyone can join in with and have fun. Those sort of outdoor activities are really big in other countries. People could come here and enjoy themselves into the evening, especially during the summer.” Jordan, a young mum with six-year-old Lucas and baby Bella, lives within walking distance of the centre, and uses it for her weekly shopping and also if she needs items for the children. “So I use it for pretty much everything. One of the things that has brought me here today is the Summer Camp, which has activities for the children. It’s really good because it means I know they are occupied and active, so it has already worked as a destination for me. I knew the activities were on so it made sense to come here and shop and the children could enjoy it as well.” She says any shopping centre or high street – “call it what you will” – must be somewhere where people can enjoy themselves and not just see it as a chore or part of the weekly routine. “Because I live locally and don’t have a car it’s really the only thing around here so it’s important that there is something for the children to do. And when they do have activities on they need to publicise them more.”

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Scotland The global financial crisis devastated Britain’s high streets and town centres in 2008, causing a collapse in consumer confidence and sharp falls in GDP. Across Britain, according to the ESRC, nearly 75,000 employees were affected by 54 major retailer failures in 2008. The number of empty shops more than doubled over the next five years. In Scotland, almost one in every nine retail premises is still sitting empty. Although numbers of shoppers in retail parks is up, footfall in Scotland’s high streets and shopping centres is in decline - much more severely than across the UK as a whole, according to the Scottish Retail Consortium. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-business-33940821

So which centres are bucking the trend? East Kilbride was designated Scotland’s first New Town in May 1947. Its purpose-built shopping centre, EK, is the nation’s biggest undercover mall. It used to be very smart in the 60s and 70s but was then “run into the ground,” according to Ian. “The sad thing is customers will not realise it’s now on the up. Retail tenants are reporting sales rising – and that’s in the face of a general downturn across Scotland, the economic recovery having been largely based in South East of England. “

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Ian explains that 15 years ago, high streets comprised 5% food and beverage and now its 15%. “As people are now prepared to travel further to spend the whole day in a shopping centre if it can’t offer you three to four hours of shopping and a meal, it doesn’t stand a chance.” The Centre has announced a 70,000 sq ft leisure scheme which will include a gym, 10 new food and drink units alongside the existing ice rink and ninescreen Odeon Cinema. EK comprises a series of different sections, each with different environments, which change to reflect the shopper’s age and social demographic as they walk through. Centre West, where people arrive from the multi-storey car park, complete with its parking charges, is upwardly mobile. The shops located towards the bus station, which is in decline, cater more to people on a budget. “Customers ask for IKEA – it’s top of every wish list,” says Ian. “But that ain’t going to happen,” he adds, saying that the older community want a “butcher, baker and candlestick-maker – a return to the old high street of their youth. But there’s no market for that.

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“Whatever decision you take as a centre manager you get a great deal of criticism from customers. You can’t win.” Shoppers Nicola and Warren are a case in point. They dislike what they call the “social engineering” of the shops. Nicola says: “If you arrive at the multistorey car-park, you enter the part of the mall that has more upmarket brands like Zara and River Island. If you continue walking, you pass through the food court and down to the bus-station end, where budget shops like Iceland and the pound shops are located.” She and her partner Warren, out with their newborn son, Chase, in his pram, cite EK’s “social separation” as the number one element that needs to be changed about East Kilbride. “A lot of people feel like they’re being segregated. People are snobby about coming down the budget end. We don’t need to have high street brands, then food, then budget. In the ideal high street all these types of shops would be mixed together.” As a result, Nicola says: “We only come here when we really need to.” They see EK as a location for shopping and banking, not as a day-out destination. Nicola isn’t a fan of the modernity of EK Shopping Centre, preferring the “more traditional” Glasgow, with its older buildings. “It’s always full, unlike East Kilbride, and there’s more to it, not just shopping.”

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But young mum of two children under the age of two, Nicole, shopping with her 11-year-old brother, visits EK Shopping Centre weekly and considers it her high street. “Everyone’s always in this area and there’s everything here I need,” she says. “I live across the road and this is what I’m used to; it’s like home.” Nicole has never left East Kilbride and, for her, it’s ideal, except for the lack of affordable clothing and toys for her children. Her brother agrees: “We need more stuff for babies and younger kids, like a ballpark, maybe soft play, and a crèche.” A few miles away, The Avenue in Newton Mearns, Glasgow, has a totally different demographic. Significantly, the shopping centre, owned by New River Retail, does not impose parking charges and there are more than 1,000 spaces. Robert, his wife Julie and daughter Wendy, think that’s The Avenue’s greatest plus point. “The parking’s great and there’s a good selection of shops and restaurants. The only problem is that it’s impersonal: there aren’t enough small shops like a greengrocer’s.” Michelle says the average age of shoppers is 59. They tend to be retired business professionals and Newton Mearns has the largest Jewish community in Scotland. She says there is a great deal of affluence – the average house price of £360,000 is high for Scotland – although there is a council estate and mixed housing within a 30-minute catchment.

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The Avenue comprises an undercover shopping centre plus a row of shops outside – 50 shops in all, with three empty. Sales are mixed, says Michelle, with the majority of stores reporting sales up. She says: “People are looking for value; the biggest footfall driver is Asda adjoining the centre, but customers want a Primark. PEP&CO is opening in a former Next, while there is an upmarket Gerry Weber on the other side. It’ll be interesting to see what happens – though I think PEP&CO should do well here.” At the Howgate Centre, Falkirk, mums Joan, who has three children, Kathryn, who has four under five, and Claire, who has two babies with one more on the way, have strong opinions about their hometown. “You see lots of people who just seem to gamble, drink coffee or get fat,” says Joan. The three, who don’t drive, come to the Howgate to meet friends, but claim that it’s too expensive and difficult to get to. “It’s cheaper for me and my two kids to get to Stirling on the train than it is for me to travel alone to Falkirk by bus,” says Joan, and that’s part of what makes Stirling her ideal high street. “There’s a far bigger mix of shops there.” “There should be more affordable places to eat as well,” chips in Claire. “We used to have three different reasonably priced places to eat, but now it’s just all fast food restaurants and coffee shops.”

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Price is key when it comes to these shoppers. “We also need more affordable clothes for plus-sized women. The prices in Debenhams and Marks and Spencer are too high for us,” says Kathryn. The three have little or no pride in their town centre. Falkirk is a burgeoning tourist centre and its most recent addition, The Kelpies, are the largest equine sculptures in the world. But that doesn’t impress Kathryn. “What’s the point of putting Falkirk on the map when the shopping’s no good?” Jade, looking after her niece and nephew for the day, thinks that Falkirk is “not as good as it used to be. There are no children’s shops and limited clothing shops.” Like Joan, Kathryn and Claire, she would normally go to Stirling, because it has a Topshop. What counts for Jade is whether the shops are pram-accessible and how efficient the parking is. She praises shops in Falkirk for their wide aisles, but thinks that parking could be expanded. Jade, though, thinks Falkirk is good for restaurants, but could benefit from more baby shops that aren’t within department stores. NHS worker Louise and her two children Craig, eight, and Sarah, ten, “only come up for the opticians and the independent boutiques. The high street used to be a social place, where I’d bump into people all the time. Now it’s not the case.” Sarah pipes up: “There should be more for kids to do, like an ice rink.”

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Louise claims that she wouldn’t live on the high street. “I can understand the benefit if you don’t have children, but for old people and kids, the high street’s not the place.” On the outskirts of Glasgow, Paisley, the former centre of weaving and home of the distinctive Paisley pattern, is one of Scotland’s largest towns. It has a misplaced reputation for being rough, however, says Maureen, who works at the Piazza, off Central Way. It’s the more modern of the town’s two shopping centres – the other being the nearby Paisley Centre, which has its own multi-storey car park.

“In 1995, the BBC produced a Panorama programme about Paisley, depicting it as troubled by guns and drug wars, which has tarnished the town,” Maureen explains. “But in fact Paisley is on the up and that bad old image is outdated. Paisley’s not the horror story that a lot of people make it out to be.” Despite the struggle against its proximity to Glasgow and the two large destination centres only a ten-minute drive away, Silverburn and Braehead, Paisley’s retail sales in the Piazza, seem to be growing, according to Maureen. Transport links are good – 80% travel by bus – and the current number of weekly visits is higher than average. The branded retailers in the Piazza, according to Maureen, who works for centre management, are within the 43

top ten in their region, some even hitting the top five. She says sales are up and occupancy is 100%. The Piazza is also a place to live and work. It’s attached to an office block that houses the local council, whose employees use the centre on a daily basis. There is currently a residential block being built in the town centre. “There’s not really a leisure element to shopping in Paisley: it’s an old Seventies precinct. Nearby Braehead and Silverburn are both attached to leisure parks – they’re where you combine shopping and leisure, ” explains Maureen. The day to night transition is important to Maureen. She bemoans the lack of entertainment in Paisley at night. “There are a few pubs and cafés, but otherwise there’s very little to do.” Paula moved to Paisley from Saltcoats two months ago and works in a bank on Paisley High Street, outside The Piazza. “For me, this High Street’s for everything and I use it all the time. I work there and go for bits and bobs on my lunch break.” “Paisley needs better shops. The bank clerks and I only really go to Marks and Spencer’s. All the big high street brands have shut down. If it doesn’t get busier, and provide more jobs, then it’ll become a ghost town, like Saltcoats in Ayrshire, where I grew up. There’s nothing there but charity shops and pound retailers.”

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Young mum of two Susan also works in the Paisley Piazza, in a card shop. “There’s a difference between the High Street as a place and high street brands. There’s Paisley High Street, but all the brands are in the shopping centres.” Susan thinks that the High Street should combine everything that a traditional street and an undercover mall provide. Susan agrees with Maureen that Paisley’s nightlife could do with improvements. “It used to be much better at night. There are two nightclubs and a pub every second place, but if you don’t want to drink then there’s nothing for you.”

In Dunfermline, at the Kingsgate Shopping Centre, Kenny feels passionate about the importance of a good town centre. “The high street should be like the fireplace or the telly in your living room. The hub of the home and the community.” He thinks Kingsgate, with its 26 units of which six stand empty, could do with more variety: “Currently it’s all women’s clothing, phone shops and coffee shops.” He says: “PEP&CO has very worthy aims and good luck to them, though of course it will take much more than one shop to lift the high street.”

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Kenny thinks Dunfermline could and should be thriving. “Dunfermline was the capital of Fife for 400 years. Robert the Bruce is buried here. No one knows about it. Our city needs more marketing, better signage, more brand awareness.” Kirsty, her mum Jean and young daughter think Dunfermline “kind of” counts as a high street. It’s all about shops and spending time together. They travel here by bus and find it’s “moderately easy to access.” Gemma, mum of one, and Ashley, with two children, say: “There is a distinction between the high street and shopping centres, but the two combined make up the heart of the town.” The Kingdom Shopping Centre, Glenrothes, has 110 tenants on a 30-acre site and is in a catchment area that serves 60,000 people. July’s footfall was up on the previous year. Robert says “Obviously all high streets have been through a tough time and neighbouring towns especially have been suffering badly. In six years the majority of shops that have closed have done so because of national circumstances. We’re at the mercy of things beyond our control.” He says the landlord’s policy is to fill empty units even if it means with popups. “They’d rather have temporary shops in operation than empty units. Our owners, Mars, have pledged to fill every empty unit. PEP&CO is the latest to have signed up and we have three more shops that need to be let. The percentage of empty units has gone down since the new ownership.” 46

He also cites new signage and a purple K logo as helping to raise awareness of the centre and says there’s now more of a buzz, with “transformative plans” in place, including the creation of a “fashion corridor”. “We’ve listened to our customers and we’re open to the community.” For instance, there is a heritage centre in the shopping mall and, in response to a request from the council, a “teenage market” is held in September. There is also an environment day in Lion’s Square. Social media is used as a marketing tool and Robert says this appeals to the younger generation. The centre also runs art competitions for schools in an effort to become the heart and soul of the town. The centre has 1,500 parking spaces, with 360 pay and display spaces or £1 a day. Robert added: “We have good security here, we sponsor a police officer, and we have no troublemakers. There is great potential.

“We pride ourselves on looking after our customers. On Saturday a wheelchair-user’s battery died. We helped the lady into her car and then drove to her home to help her into her house when she arrived.”

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Lesley and her daughter Rebecca say an undercover centre doesn’t have the heart that a high street outside has. Lesley says: “Kirkcaldy’s a high street, with bigger brands. It’s got a high street and a centre. In Kirkcaldy the bigger brand shops are outside, not inside. The high street is for shopping and leisure; and there should be nightlife, like there is in Kirkcaldy.” Carmen, and her children Charlotte, 12 and Chloe, seven, say they wouldn’t call this a high street, either. “High streets are Edinburgh and Kirkcaldy.” Carmen says: “We don’t come here often, but today we came to buy clothes – school uniform. We tend to go to Dunfermline or Edinburgh for real shopping. In Edinburgh it’s sociable – a place to meet people – which is what a high street should be for. But Glenrothes is handy if it’s really bad weather.” Charlotte though, disagrees with her mother saying even though there isn’t the Primark she wants, it is a great place to meet her friends. In neighbouring Kirkcaldy, the undercover Mercat Shopping Centre sits side by side with the high street. Mercat has 41 shops, eight of which are vacant (August 2015). Security guard John says: “The shopping centre is the new high street,” because it’s here people come to shop and also to meet friends and family, sitting on the benches.

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He thinks Kirkcaldy needs more stores for him. “There is a very poor selection of menswear. For example I’m going on holiday in two weeks time and I did all my shopping online as the shops just do not cater. There's BHS and M&S and that’s it; the Officers Club has shut down.”

Joan, a woman in her 50s, thinks of “outside” as the high street, but also thinks the “indoors” shopping centre is important. “I find it sad to see a lot of the shops have been closed down, because I want a town where I want to go to shop, to meet friends, socialise, and have entertainment.” “It is important to have public transport. I actually stay local and I do have a car so I’m very lucky, but my niece needs the public transport,” she says. In Irvine, public transport links are important and good, according to the mums who rely on buses to get from A to B. Buses serve the centre every seven minutes. Mums like Emma and Jade enjoy meeting up at the centre, but would really like to have more night life. “There are not many places here to dress up for to go out in the evenings,” says one young woman. Her friend adds: “You couldn’t do that here in Irvine anyway as people would look at you funny.”

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When we ask young parents Karen and Scott with an eight-year-old son and nine-year-old daughter what they feel the high street is for today, Scott says: “It’s a place to get what you need and then leave.” His partner, Karen, agrees because “the kids got very bored being dragged about” and she wishes there was more for that age group. “There is soft play – but that’s no good for older children.” Scott adds: “Down at the local leisure centre a couple of weeks ago they had things like mini tennis, golf, squash and gladiator bouncy castle things, which our boy liked, plus Connect 4 board games. It was on for a couple of hours and it was mostly for little kids. They’ve been doing it for a couple of hours each day during the summer holidays. These kind of things would get us going to the mall a lot more.” For Scott and Karen what matters most to them is that there’s up to three hours free parking in Irvine. Scott says: “If I had to pay we wouldn’t come here. I’m from Kilmarnock and up there you have to pay to park. I’ve been to Kilmarnock town centre maybe twice and it’s not good and the paying for parking is a reason I come down here to Irvine.”

As to whether a high street should be a day and night destination, Karen says: “I’ve never really been at night, but I’ve heard there’s a new 50

Wetherspoons opened, which could hopefully make it more lively at night. That should be quite good.” 2. Where are the high street heroes? Does the ideal high street exist? It’s a question we’ve raised with our shoppers across Britain. Roughly half those we’ve been speaking to are stumped by this question; the rest say they have a favourite place which meets their expectations; usually, but not always, it’s within half-anhour’s/an hour’s drive and is a major purpose-built shopping destination or big city centre. Here’s a representative selection of shoppers’ views and their high street favourites: Cwmbran in Wales: “Cwmbran is more like an American mall and offers something for everyone. It’s a 25-minute walk from where I live, but if I drive to it there’s free parking and if I take the bus I can go direct to the bus station in the centre. There’s a positive vibe and it also feels safe and secure. For example, teenagers who hang about together and could potentially intimidate or crowd out a place are always moved on. We’re very lucky in Cwmbran to have this centre.” Tony, Cwmbran and 4 others in Wales Birkenhead – The Pyramid: “It’s got everything I need. I’m a big fan of Shush, which sells label clothes and accessories but at really cheap prices. Whenever we are in town we head for it to see what bargains we can find 51

and that’s part of the fun really. Everyone loves a good bargain. I suppose if they put on free events and activities that might be good, but for shopping and socialising this place great.” Lynn, Birkenhead and four others there. Bolton and Bury. ”There is a really good choice of shops. We like the market in Bury. It’s really big and really friendly. Going there is more like a day out as well as a shopping trip, you can combine the two.” Janet, Crewe, Anne in Salford Burton-on-Trent: “It’s a town with a great mix of shops to suit all tastes. “It’s my ideal town centre. It’s a place people can meet up, with smaller boutiques stocking one-off styles of clothing as well as bigger chains such as Topshop that appeal to the teenage shoppers. There’s a park and fresh air, a cinema and supermarkets – a real sense of community, somehow.” Lesley, Kettering Chester. “It’s a beautiful place with a very relaxed atmosphere. There are always plenty of tourists but that adds to its appeal because most people are there out of enjoyment rather than being at work. If we are talking about buskers then the ones in Chester are amazing. Real talents and well worth staying around to watch.” Patsy, Birkenhead and 2 others Crewe - Victoria Centre: “I prefer it to the High Street because it has everything in one place, particularly the Asda superstore, which means you can get everything under one roof.” Anne, Birkenhead

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The Trafford Centre and Manchester City Centre: “We’re lucky to have them so close because they have everything. Town [Manchester] is just a tram ride away and it has so much going on. It would always be my first choice place to go. It’s great for shopping and there are plenty of other activities as well. Amy, Ashton-under-Lyne and 15 others across the north-west Harrogate: “Harrogate’s affluent and is always booming. It’s full of different independent shops that you’ve never heard of” – echoing the assertion of many others that the ideal high street needs a variety of independent retailers. “Tourists flock to Harrogate – it would be great if Paisley could attract tourists.” Paula, Paisley Wimbledon, southwest London: “It has everything. There are good shoe shops, clothes shops, cafes, restaurants – everything within walking distance. It’s my ideal high street.” Becci, Kettering Scotland Dundee: “It has more shops, more for the kids.” Jane, Joan and Polly, Kirkcaldy Braehead and Silverburn: “These centres just have all that you need.” Carolyn, Paisley.; Jean, Pauline, Paisley Dunfermline and Glenrothes: “I think there’s just more than here. More shops, more cafes, more facilities, everything is bigger. It’s sad to see here 53

in Kirkcaldy that so many things have closed and things are slower to open up. Woolworths have gone, Tesco’s have gone, it’s unfortunate to see what’s happened to the town. Kirkcaldy’s such a good place and quite busy and active, I think a lot more people would come here and use it if there was just more.” Penny, Kirkcaldy Edinburgh: “It’s sociable, it is bustling; it is diverse; it is sophisticated. It has lots of different high streets as well as John Lewis in a centre. It’s a proper place!” Jenny, Irvine Glasgow: “It’s the ultimate high street – in fact I want the future of the high street “to be like Glasgow.” “I love its hustle and bustle.” “I’d skim some of the cream from Glasgow and spoon it into Kirkcaldy – that would be good,” John, Kirkcaldy Livingston Designer Outlet “There are loads of shops in one place and under one roof. “But its miles and miles away.” Kirsty and Jean, Dunfermline Perth: “It has a nice atmosphere, wide pavements, benches, statues and relaxed ambiance.” Polly, Kirkcaldy Stirling: “It has everything.” John, Falkirk Southern England Bluewater and Westfield: “Shopping centres with all the high street brands. What more could you ask for!” 54

Canterbury. “It has everything. Independents, quirky, shopping centre blending in with rest of town over several streets around the cathedral and Post Office all within walking distance. Good car parking for reasonable prices, 60p an hour. It’s more than twice that in Eastleigh.” “There aren’t too many big brands but there are lovely independent shops and cafes.” Lynne and Kim, Eastleigh Fremlin Walk Shopping Centre, Maidstone: “ I like it that there are better, more ‘upper class’ shops; it’s clean; there’s a wide variety of choice.” Shelby and Dee The Marlowes Shopping Centre, Hemel Hempstead. “It’s compact and easy to find.” Krishna, Hemel; “I have everything I need here.” Margaret, Hemel Milton Keynes: “It has absolutely everything. Whatever you need you can get in Milton Keynes.” Sue, Janet and Liz, Hemel; Becci, Kettering Watford and Nottingham are also favourites in this region, as well as favourites of shoppers in Maidstone, for the sheer size and variety on offer. Elsewhere in southern England, customers rate Reigate, Surrey, because “you can live there and walk from home to high street to railway station and in the park.” Market Harborough, Leicestershire and Romsey, Hampshire. “Basically, I like a small market town with a nice selection of independents.” Jan, Maidstone 55

In the south-west of England, fovourites singled out include Castle Point, a shopping centre on the outskirts of Bournemouth: “It has parking, and it always has what I’m looking for.” George, Boscombe Trowbridge: “ You can park underneath and all of the shops are under cover; everything one needs is there.” Janet, Warminster Bath: “There’s everything you need, from Primark to Jolly’s.” Zoe, Warminster Salisbury: “It has all of the bigger shops” like BHS and Marks and Spencer - and they are often better value for money.” Pauline, Warminster

3. High hopes for the high street It is striking that no matter where in Britain you hold your conversation with shoppers, the same complaints arise and the same hopes are expressed. Having held conversations with shoppers in 30 high streets in England, Wales and Scotland, the top five tips to transform the high street are remarkably similar and the same remedies are universally proposed: Shoppers want  Variety – lots of different sorts of shops, including myriad places to eat, catering for all budgets and all ages; later opening hours. 56

 Playtime - leisure facilities and activities for children and young people.  Haven for cars - free, safer and more accessible car parking.  Access - reliable, cheap and frequent public transport to and from towns, daytime and evenings.  Comfort – a good atmosphere, plenty of seating, free reliable wifi; a destination with an upmarket, bustling ambiance. Shoppers’ retail remedies include  Lower business rates  Lower rents  Free car parking  Appointment of “collaborative and imaginative” centre management  Partnership between landlords and local authorities  Shoppers getting involved – people power for revival Their top tips Shoppers across Britain care deeply about their town centres, whether malls or streets, and the key word that crops up is “variety.” Marie in Stretford: “I would like this place to be more like where you go on holiday. If you go to somewhere like Spain or anywhere in the Med the whole shopping culture is different. It’s relaxed; no one’s rushing to get it done. They also seem to involve their children more in everything 57

and there’s lots for them to do. Here I think children are tolerated at best, not really included. “So it needs to be more pleasurable and enjoyable – if that means adding more leisure and cultural activities then it can only be a good thing but it’s more about a state-of-mind really, and changing the way people think about shopping.” George in Boscombe: “A supermarket is crucial to a good high street as I enjoy my food. I’d like to see more men’s clothing shops. I was disappointed when I went into PEP&CO and was told it was only for kids and women. I’d also like to have easy access to the shops. In many places the parking should be more accessible as it is often a nightmare to park.” Catherine in Bristol: “I don’t want a high street where people also live as it can kill the shopping element of it because there’s nowhere to park and residents’ parking only deters visitors. So I just want a better mix of shops – butchers, bakers, greengrocers.” John in Bolton: “I want more security – you have to feel safe when you are shopping or you won’t return. People don’t want to be looking over their shoulder all the time. The council should employ security guards in the town centre. “We need to encourage more local people to start their own businesses in the town centre. A lot of the property in Bolton is owned by businesses 58

from the continent – places like France and Spain. It’s too expensive for ordinary people to open shops, they are being pushed out. “Better variety of shops like Bury. If you want people to come to your town centre you need more than just banks and building societies. More entertainment – it’s a thing of the past, but we used to have dance halls and lots of cinemas, but now there is nothing. You have got overpriced coffee shops but that’s it. A better market, like the one in Bury.” Mo in Crewe: “In the past we had a dance hall and a cinema in the town centre, so it would be good to see things like that returning. We are lucky enough to have Crewe Theatre, but there needs to be more than that.” Jean in Crewe: “There isn't much in the way of fashion or clothes shopping on the High Street, so that would be a start. There needs to be more things for children to do. If you are bringing a child to the shops then it needs to be fun for them as well. There are no play areas or amusements to keep them occupied. We need more buses at different times during the day. If you want to attract people to this place, then they need to be able to get here. “And how about longer opening hours, so you can have more choice over when you come to do your shopping, as well as a greater variety of places to eat.”

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Ann in Crewe: “I want better shops – something with a department store feel to it like you get in the big cities. There needs to be more for young people to do – not necessarily children, but teenagers and young adults. “Too often people see them as a nuisance and try to move them on, but they are the shoppers of the future and if there was a place for them to meet here, I think they would stay loyal to the area. How about a library or museum right here on the high street? That would bring people in.”

Pauline in Salford: “Make the shopping centre physically bigger so there’s more to do and more of offer. There needs to be a greater variety of shops. They also have to make it more convenient for people to spend time here. So more and cleaner public toilets and other amenities. I think you also need a supermarket on the high street – an Asda or Tesco.” Susan in Corby: “Reduce car parking charges. Here it’s £10 a day, which is too expensive for the workers. We also need better signposting – better promotion of the centre and what we offer. We can’t tell you where we are, so people can’t find us! There should be better security policy – and we should ban people wearing hoodies, for instance. Finally, please dress empty shop windows and get temporary tenants if you have to, even if it means getting lower rents.”

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Nichola in Glenrothes: “I just want a crèche where I can leave the kids while I shop or have a coffee.” Mums in Howgate Centre, Falkirk: “We want fewer bookies, a TK Maxx; better access – move all the shops to the town centre, more activities for teenagers, otherwise they just hang out in the parks or the bus station and we definitely want free wifi or an internet café.” John in Kirkcaldy: “I think the security needs to be upped. Let’s have more police on the street to be reassuring and deter crime.” Polly in Kirkcaldy: “I think they [shopping areas] are aimed at a lot more at children of an older age rather than a younger age. You’ve got Next that is for the kids, but there’s not a lot more around here for them. Also, I want more things for the kids to do IN here, as you can see they get bored very easily.” Becci, in Kettering, says the answer is “simple” – the town would be so much better if there were:  A Debenhams or John Lewis department store.  An Oasis ‘for older women’ and a Zara for all.  A more metropolitan mix of restaurants, cafes and bars.  A really busy night life.  More shops with appeal to “young people like me and my friends who want to better ourselves.”

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Kim in Eastleigh: “I’d ban drinking and smoking in public places, clean up the centre by making sure it was rid of take-away wrappers; have more independent retailers, free parking on the high street; more bank branches and more places for kids.” Lynne in Eastleigh’s solutions for future prosperity are:  Making the whole town centre pedestrianised.  Building underground parking “like they do abroad”.  Reducing parking charges.  Having a better mix of shops, cafes, residential.  Having more local and independent specialists. In Irvine, three mums shopping together: “Our top recommendations are to have ski slopes for the kids, more entertainment; more places to take the kids as there’s no where else to take them, because the council only put things out a few times a year, but not for long. And we’d like a few designer shops, to have the choice if you want to spend a bit more to dress up.” Jeanette, aged in her 60s in Irvine, wants more benches. “The only options are to sit in cafés and sort your bags and there aren’t many cafes to do so. I also want more shops for young people because it’s so nice to see everyone in here, I’m a bit older and it’s nice seeing people buzzing around. I’d also like more greenery, shrubbery outside, a high street that’s more alive, like Edinburgh or Glasgow. I’d like to think we could expect that. I think we shoppers deserve more than we get.”

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Helen in Bridgend feels strongly about the future of her town. “I love it here. It’s my home. My heart is in Bridgend and I want everyone to love it just as much. We need more retailers to bring in more customers – so it can really thrive. Shoppers are so excited that a new PEP&CO is opening here and we have high hopes that with the millions of pounds’ worth of government and industry investment already going into the town things are definitely going to be great here.” 4. Whose responsibility is it to deliver? Most people focus on the centre managers and the local authority in equal measure. Centre management “sets the rents too high” and “doesn’t do enough to attract the range of shops” and “doesn’t lay on enough for the kids.” The council “makes the rates too high” and/or spends and invests in “the wrong things.” Lynn in Eastleigh says residents need to be more vocal, and local authorities “less blinkered”. She says: “If shoppers don’t make their feelings known loud and clear then the local authorities and centre managers can’t respond to them appropriately. They invest instead in the wrong things and this causes resentment. They should get their priorities right.”

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She has an extreme response to what she calls Britain’s town centre decline which, she says, affects her quality of life. “We’re voting with our feet, we’re taking our pension pot and giving it to Angela Merkel. We’re going to live in the perfect little German town called Zell. It has everything there. It’s got a big Aldi and a Lidl, but everyone supports the local high street shops.” Jonathon in Warrington says: “It has to be private enterprise. The people who run the shops and the shopping centres have to be responsible for the changes. Can’t really expect the council and the council tax payer to foot the bill for everything.” Amy, aged 17, in Ashton-under-Lyne says: “Who’s responsible? The council because it’s their duty. We elect people to make decisions that will improve life, so that’s what they should do.” She thinks retail parks dealt a big blow to the viability of high streets; it’s convenient to drive out of town and park easily. But now many town centres like Kettering are improving their parking and making life easier for drivers, as well as recreating a community atmosphere and environment that retail parks just cannot have. 64

Becci, the wine bar manager in Kettering, is delighted that a branch of Pandora is opening in the Newlands Centre, believing that’s a good sign that the market is on the up, but she expresses a degree of frustration when she asks: “Whose idea is it to have all these pound shops, discount stores, retailers appealing to the lowest common denominator? Why? We’re not all scrimping and scrounging around for the cheapest stuff, you know. But it seems we don’t count and so we are all forced to go elsewhere to shop because we can’t put up with what’s on offer at the moment here in Kettering.” Who does Susan in Paisley think is responsible for improving the high street? “It’s Renfrewshire Council, who keep raising the rent. The shop owners aren’t to blame.” For Mo in Crewe, as well as Jean, responsibility rests with the local council. Susan in Corby says centre management should take responsibility for pepping up the high street. For Pauline in Salford, changes need to come from the people who own the shopping centre or the shops on the high street. “If they want to bring more customers in, it’s up to them to invest.” Indeed, in East Kilbride Ian says it will always be centre managers who come under attack. "They get criticised for not inviting the right shops, but the stores have to want to come in. If there’s anything killing the high street, it’s the rates, not the rents…. And there’s horrendous council tax.” 65

Ian says, though, with some confidence, that “East Kilbride will do fine. In the next five years we’ll have leisure hubs, 10 restaurants, an ice rink, climbing walls, all within the centre. “There’s no such thing as a traditional high street. EK is effectively the new High Street.” In Glenrothes, shoppers think either the centre managers or the council should do more to attract businesses and fill empty retail units. “We need bigger brands. A pound shop isn’t a place to buy nice presents.” Kim in Eastleigh asks: “Whose responsibility is it to create a living, working, breathing high street? Everybody’s. Councils should lower the expensive rates, but basically local people should take responsibility and look after what they’ve got.” Lesley-Ann in Kettering also thinks everyone plays a part – or should play their part – in the success of a town centre. “Believe in what it is you want for your town and go for it,” she advises. Lesley-Ann used to work for an independent boutique in Lichfield and says listening to what customers wanted was vital. “Our customers influenced 66

what products we stocked. People’s feedback was really important to us – and it always should be,” she says. For Polly in Kirkcaldy, it’s the council’s job to improve the town centre. “We’ve been to the council already and protested for a long time to have a cinema built here. When they decided to move buildings for the old swimming pool, we asked for a cinema to be put there or down the front and every time it has been rejected. “But I think it’s just something that we need around here. If there were more activities for young people to do then there wouldn’t be as many of them hanging about on the streets. There are not enough community activities for them to do.” In Kirkcaldy, Alison, the mother of girls aged 11 and 12, says it isn’t just the council’s job to pep up the high street. “I’d say it’s the centre management because they’re the ones in charge of getting all the retailers in. Fife Council could only do so much, and I think it’s centre management who have the final say. There are too many charity shops now – they’re brilliant and they’re useful, but we need bigger retailers. We’ve got New Look, River Island, but Topshop moved out and, apart from Next, that’s about it.” So, what about the businesses that operate in the high street, do they have a role?

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Alison in Kirkcaldy says it boils down to retailers’ choice of location. “They need to stay here,” she says. “The thing that’s killing a lot of high streets is that they’re all moving up to the big retail parks. Years ago, when I was young, we used to all meet down here on a Saturday afternoon and go for something to eat. “We used to come here because we came from different directions but all went to work here, so we’d either meet in the morning before work or in the afternoon after work. But now there's isn’t nothing really; there’s a café during the day, then it stops for a couple of hours then it’s a pub.” THE SHOPPING FORECAST In conclusion, we asked our shoppers: What would you want your high street to be like in five years? How do you think expectations will change over the next five years? Will they be the same? Is it hope or expectation that this high street develops in the way you would like it? Lesley-Ann, in Kettering, said she would like to see a vibrant high street full of variety and a diverse mix of places to eat – ie Mexican alongside Mediterranean. An ‘urban’ outdoor café society vibe is essential, too, she says. And yes, it could be achieved. “Where there’s a will there’s a way.” Jack in Oldham wants the high street five years in the future to have more shops, cheaper prices and a greater variety of things to do. However, he

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says: “I think price and choice will always be at the top of people’s lists so I can’t see these expectations developing into reality.” Kofia at The Spindles, Oldham, says the future high street “needs to feel more like the Trafford Centre. A real day out. Plenty of great shops, lots of things to do, lots of really nice places to eat. It’s the only way this place can compete with The Trafford Centre – is to offer the same things it does. “However, I realise that you’re probably not going to get a Trafford Centre in Oldham. It would cost too much money and there probably isn’t the need for another one so close by. So just to see a little bit more variety. I think this will be even more important in five years’ time because as you get older, your tastes change.” Mary-Helen in Warrington says: “I would like to see more shops and better shops. I think it is important that the high street feels safe and clean. It would be nice to have not just more restaurants but better ones. Not just cafes but something a bit more upmarket and exclusive. “I’d also like a high street to offer more for children and young people to do. If you go on holiday to somewhere like Spain they involve children in everything. They are with the adults all the time. Here they are often seen as a bit of an afterthought. But if you get the children’s interest you get their parents on board as well.

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“Five years from now it would be good to see a bigger, better, cleaner and tidier town centre. Somewhere we can all be proud of. It could happen, you know.”

Zena in Ellesmere Port says: “I would like to see a balance between goodquality shops and affordability. People need bargains because times are hard, but it doesn’t always have to look cheap and tacky. If the shops took more time and pride in the way they present themselves and made a bit more effort, they might get more people in. My expectations won’t change but if things get better, I’d be made up.” Jean in Crewe says: “In the future, people will expect more from the high street. It needs to be a place that can bring the whole community together. So, we would need to see the range and quality of shops improve, but also there needs to community events that will bring people here so they can shop and enjoy themselves.” Like so many of the shoppers we have spoken to around the UK, Mo in Crewe says she looks to a better future for the high street more in hope than expectation because “I can’t really see things improving.”

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For Ann in Crewe, in the future “this place needs to become more inclusive for everyone. It needs to attract a wider variety of people by offering something for everyone. There needs to be better shops because at the moment it seems to be full of cheap and bargain shops. People do need value for money and will always go to somewhere they think they can get a bargain, but will that make them stay around and make a day of it? I don’t think so.” Ann says her expectations won’t change over the next five years because she doesn’t think this place will alter. “Or if it does, I think we are going to get more pound shops and pie shops.” Lynne in Eastleigh’s expectations of a high street are that it’s a place to live, work and play. “I want residential, office, retail outlets all integrated. A sense of community and café culture as opposed to an isolated shopping centre. I’d like the centre to drift into the evening so people would stay on after work for an evening meal.” She says it’s good to have a local theatre, cinemas and tenpin bowling, but hopes for some more “intellectual” activities at her local theatre. “Unless you’re into contemporary dance, you’re stuck. We need more dramas, more book club-type events, more visiting speakers. “The biggest problem is that the individuality of our town has gone. There’s no variety or mix of what’s on offer – no quirkiness. My hope is that town centres will become communities with their own individual characteristics. My expectation is that this won’t happen and they’ll all end 71

up being homogenous malls housing the same-old-same-old brands. It’s the individuality that’s gone.” In Hemel Hempstead, shoppers hope – but don’t expect – that their town centre will be a destination “not just for locals”. They want it to be “bustling” with “more activities,” asking for it to be “better organised” and with “no more empty shops”. One shopper asks for it to be “greener”, another wants “wifi that works” while another hopes it will be better for the elderly. John in Kirkcaldy says: “I’d like to see it a lot brighter: brighter lights, brighter plants, fewer blank spaces, more benches. Like it was ten years ago, with fewer charity shops.” A young mum in Kirkcaldy, Kayleigh, with three children under the age of eight, says: “I want my high street of the future to be somewhere for a fun family day out, where the kids aren’t dreading being here. This morning my daughter didn’t want to come down because she knows there’s nothing for her to do; as soon as she’s picked her toy that’s it, she just wants to go home and play with it because there’s nothing for them to do here. It’s the same thing every week when you come down, same old routine, and they’re bored.”

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Ian in East Kilbride Says: “People probably won’t say this – it’s possibly unsayable, but the fact is people choose to go where they feel comfortable – they look around and want to be among people like them. So we cater to that; everyone should cater to that - acknowledge that a good shopping centre reflects British people’s different shopping habits.” Over in Paisley, though, Carolyn does “say the unsayable.” Ian’s analysis clearly resonates with her. “I look around the high street here and I see how people are and I hear how they speak and, without meaning to sound snobby, I think, ‘where on earth did you come from?’ and I just don’t want to be associated with people like them in the shops where they go. “It’s such a pity that this place with its impressive history, grand buildings and proud heritage slowly but surely over the decades sank into a drab, dull, rough and uninteresting town centre. I’d like to see it somehow lifted back up, making more of its amazing history and becoming a thriving high street again.” Realising change From our conversations across Britain there is clear evidence that even in areas farthest away from London and the south-east of England, where post-economic crisis is strongest, there is some optimism of a recovery and revival of town centres and high streets.

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This is in line with analysis by Deloitte in April 2014 that “far from being dead, the high street appears to be showing great resilience and a capacity for re-invention.” In May 2013, The Centre for Retail Research published its analysis of how UK retailing will have changed by 2018. Entitled Retail Futures 2018, it says: “Customers now 'shop' in multiple ways, checking a store's website, visiting one or more stores, looking at product reviews, viewing the prices of competitors on a smartphone whilst standing outside a store, and choosing finally whether to buy the goods in-store or online and collect it in-store or have it delivered to a nominated address. Retailers have to make clear strategic responses to the changing patterns of how consumers shop, including: deciding the proper number, type and location of stores (and the speed of any necessary disinvestment from stores); and how to integrate fully their physical stores, the online sites and other channels such as social media coherently.” The High Street of the Future High streets are an essential part of town centres, creating employment and vitality; the best of them bring tourists and shoppers in - developing services, leisure and entertainment markets as well as retailing. Retail Futures 2018 argues that high streets are threatened by the current changes in retail structures and shows that the town centres of 153 UK 74

towns (41% of the total) will experience a rapid decline as a result of changing retail patterns and need to shrink to survive. Some smaller and less successful secondary and tertiary sites may disappear almost completely. Retail Futures 2018 recommends that a pump-priming fund of £320 million is required to start redeveloping these problem town centres to turn failing and empty shops into good residential accommodation, create more service/entertainment/leisure outlets, and/or provide offices, doctor's surgeries, classrooms/meeting rooms or other facilities for which there may be a local demand. As a result of this policy perhaps 15,000 - 20,000 new homes could be created over four years. Don't make a transformation into a crisis Although retail change might seem to concern only retail employees and change-averse retail businesses, the transformation will have unintended consequences for the many hundreds of £billions tied up in retail property by pension funds, investment companies, shopping centre owners and retailers themselves. The current business model is intimately involved with real estate: a significant fall in property prices caused by major falls in the demand for stores (and store profitability) will affect all property assets for many years to come. One response will be to reduce rents (and therefore the profitability of developments). It is already having a significant negative effect on many UK high streets and a detrimental impact on town centres. Action now will prevent the transformation of

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retailing from becoming a long-term crisis for property markets and town centres.” No-one really expects a fairy godmother to wave a magic wand and revive Britain’s high street fortunes. And indeed the feedback we received suggests there’s progress being made that many citizens are noticing. But can landlords, councils, governments and retailers continue to make shoppers’ wishes come true?

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APPENDIX 1: The backstory “Queen of Shops” Mary Portas conducted a review for the UK Government of the future of the high street back in 2011. Veteran retailer Bill Grimsey was frustrated by its content and its progress and wrote his own report, published a couple of years later. He was unconvinced that Portas Pilot initiatives would revive troubled high streets, quoted saying that the ideas were very good but that “a lot is a waste of time and money. Like other retail specialists, he painted a gloomy picture of inevitable decline, blaming the shift in our shopping on online purchasing and malls, such as the Trafford and Westfield - essentially the impact of changing consumer behaviour. https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_ data/file/6292/2081646.pdf http://www.vanishinghighstreet.com/the-grimsey-review/ In the midst of that, the Scottish Government commissioned architect Malcolm Fraser to review Scotland’s town centres. He came up with a number of proposals designed to breathe new life into them, including broadening their appeal with a mix of leisure, public facilities and homes. http://www.gov.scot/Publications/2013/07/7250 The international urban design and planning specialist Adrian Griffiths discussed the decline of the high street in secondary towns in a report published in April 2015. He also examined what could be done to reverse this trend. 77

Griffiths said: “It must be stated that the demise of the majority of our secondary town centres was pre-internet and, whilst this will have a further negative impact, it is not the cause of the decline of our town centres. “The damage created by all these changes to our shopping and living patterns runs much deeper. The family businesses which were the social glue to our centres are mainly gone and these properties are now often in the ownership of distant landlords whose only interest is to extract rent. “This multiple ownership structure with landlords who do not have passion for the properties has created a system of decline. The fundamental management of a town centre where all the families were in effect working together has long gone and arguably will never return.” He continued: “The fundamental requirement in the delivery of a successful town centre is one of management, a lesson clearly learnt by just looking at the success of not only the department stores, but also our successful shopping and designer outlet centres. “The local authorities must understand they do not possess the skill set or passion to manage a town centre and should recruit or work with the managers of our best shopping centre owners. What we need is a local authority to grab the batten and bring in a mixed-use shopping centre specialist with the right design team who is willing to take on their town centre and create the success it can be.” 78

(http://www.chapmantaylor.com/en/insights/article/uk-retail-savingour-secondary-towns-high-streets/en/ ) Some of the most thought-provoking insights have been published as collected essays in the Economic and Social Research Council paper, Evolving High Streets: Resilience and Reinvention. Authors looked at town centre planning policy; the rejuvenation of many ‘”secondary” town centres during the economic downturn, with the growth of convenience stores, as well as investigating the rise of the night-time economy beyond pubs, clubs and binge-drinking to the growth of the restaurant sector and aspirations to encourage town centre living. http://www.riben.org.uk/Cluster_publications_&_media/Opinion_Pieces_ Southampton_Nov_2014.pdf Anne Findlay and Leigh Sparks concluded in their report on high streets and town centres policy, in the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) paper Evolving High Streets: Resilience and Reinvention: “…understanding how we can re-focus and re-imagine our high streets and places is becoming increasingly vital. New approaches to place management, community engagement, innovation and creativity, ownership, and marketing are needed at the same time that government policy redresses the wrongs of the taxation and costs systems and refocuses on the need to make town centres places people are proud of and where they can live, work and play. “

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Sources https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_ data/file/6292/2081646.pdf http://www.vanishinghighstreet.com/the-grimsey-review/ (http://www.chapmantaylor.com/en/insights/article/uk-retail-savingour-secondary-towns-high-streets/en/ ) http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/retailandconsumer/ 9484402/The-high-street-as-we-know-it-is-dead-says-Simon-Freakley-atZolfo-Cooper-Europe.html http://www.riben.org.uk/Cluster_publications_&_media/Opinion_Pieces_ Southampton_Nov_2014.pdf http://www.gov.scot/Publications/2013/07/7250 http://www.retailresearch.org/retail2018.php Where we’ve had our conversations 1. Newlands Centre, Kettering 2. Mercat Centre, Kirkcaldy 3. EK Centre, East Kilbride 4. Willow Place, Corby 5. Kingdom Centre, Glenrothes 6. Swan Centre, Eastleigh (telephone interviews) 7. Kingdom Centre, Glenrothes 8. Kingsgate Centre, Dunfermline 9. Howgate Centre, Falkirk 10. The Avenue, Newton Mearns 11. Rivergate Centre, Irvine 12. The Piazza, Paisley (vox pops plus 2 phone interviews) 80

13. Crewe Market Centre 14. Salford Shopping Centre 15. Forest Walk, Runcorn 16. The Strand, Bootle 17. Dewhurst Shopping Centre, Warrington 18. King Street Mall, Stretford 19. Market Place Shopping Centre, Bolton 20. Milton Pavement, Birkenhead 21. Arcade Shopping Centre, Ashton-under-Lyne 22. Mercer Walk, Ellesmere Port 23. Town Square, Oldham 24. Broadmead Galleries, Bristol 25. The Marlowes Shopping Centre, Hemel Hempstead 26. The Mall, Water Lane, Maidstone 27. Three Horseshoes, Warminster 28. Sovereign Centre, Boscombe 29. Cwmbran Shopping Centre, Cwmbran (telephone interviews) 30. Caroline Street, Bridgend (telephone interviews) Acknowledgements I would like to thank the following for their help in gathering content and proof-reading: Tom Calver Sue Campbell Heather Catchpole Laura Fowler-Watt Phil Green, of ReportagePR Kim Harrison Sophie Wade We also acknowledge the generous support of real estate provider Savills, which advised PEP&CO in securing their first fifty locations, enabling them to open them all in just over fifty days.

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