My north London high street is just a shadow of its former self, as is nearly every other English high street that I have visited in the past year. Boarded-up shop fronts, To Let signs, graffiti and other signs of vandalism all combine to give a look of devastation and dereliction. These changes are the result of changes in individual lifestyles and in the ways in which people shop for goods and services at present. Society is dynamic and ever-changing, and its is unreasonable to expect familiar images of our town centres to be frozen in time indefinitely.
A net total of 2, 481 shops and other high street businesses disappeared from the UK’s top five hundred high streets in 2018. The corresponding figure for 2017 was 1,772. On an average, sixteen stores closed per day in 2018. According to figures from PricewaterhouseCoopers which were compiled by the Local Data Company, only 3,372 shops opened during that year, failing to offset 5,833 simultaneous closures.
Bricks-and-mortar retail businesses in town centre high street have been affected more than out-of-town retail parks, shopping centres and designer outlets. The overheads involved in running these businesses have risen from higher business rates, increasing rents, and higher wage costs-caused by the national minimum wage, the national working wage, pension contributions and apprenticeship levies. High business rates are a particular concern for retailers, having resulted from changes in the average rateable values of retail floorspace. These rates vary considerably between different local authorities, depending on the strength of the local economy.
Consumer confidence and consequently retail spending has fallen because of wage stagnation and rising prices caused by inflation. The patterns of shopping are also changing. Online retailers offer more choice and competitive prices, alongside the convenience of not having to leave one’s home to complete the transaction. High street shopping is being discouraged through a lack of parking spaces and car parks in the vicinity of high streets, coupled with high parking fines for any infringements of parking restrictions.
Within individual high streets, the balance of power is shifting. Closures have disproportionately affected pubs, restaurants, fashion retailers, electrical goods stores, post offices, bank branches, estate agents, travel agents and even charity shops. On the other hand, cafes. bars, bakeries, bookshops, betting shops, vaping shops, barber shops, beauty salons, tattoo parlours, and gyms appear to be thriving..
Changing patterns of shopping may reflect changing tastes. People increasingly visit high streets for the whole experience, as demonstrated by the increased numbers of places that provide indulgent treats and other entertainments. The purpose of the high street is being constantly redefined. It seems that combining retail spaces, leisure spaces, flexible workspaces and housing, along with the occasional green space, may provide a more vibrant and integrated environment that is attractive to visitors. What seems to draw people to these redesigned town centres is the added value provided by services that are not currently available online.
There are many differing views about what is necessary to reverse the decline of the high street. On August 17 2019, Labour Party Leader Jeremy Corbyn stated his desire to avoid a “retail apocalypse,” a term that is by no means new. He recommended that local councils be given the power to reopen retail units in premises that had been left vacant more than a year, of which there are currently 29,000. These newly reopened units were then to be offered to new businesses and community services to rejuvenate the locality in question.
Given the widespread changes in our town centres, there is an opportunity to re-examine the purpose of the high street. It should be possible to learn from the few remaining successful high streets in Britain and to challenge existing conceptions of the role of the high street. A shift to a destination that provides a total experience, including dining out and leisure and entertainment facilities over and above mere retail therapy may well be the way forward. A paradigm shift is awaited.
Ashis Banerjee (avid retail shopper from the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s)