Author Archives: Iain Nicholson

Has the last bank left your town centre…? Are you down to just one…? 🤔 What’s the impact…? And if you’ve had #highstreet #bank closures what’s happening to the buildings….? Are they sitting long-time empty or back in (alternative) use…? … Continue reading →

🤳🏽 …the message I sent to a friend and local champion for the place of my first #highstreet out & about visit of 2024. And it is in many ways, as the set of images below shows – just a … Continue reading →

🎥 …to borrow and adjust an old movie title. That’s how many places we visited with #TheVacantShopsAcademy in 2023, racking up what our app reckons is a decent CO2 saving. 🤔 Where next…? The majority of those visits were on … Continue reading →

It feels like a huge year ahead for the #highstreet… 🤔 …what do you think…? From a #TheVacantShopsAcademy perspective it’s one we very much hope will see more places – councils or BIDs where there is one or a combination … Continue reading →

So how are you going about tackling empty shops issues in your town or city centre…? 🤔 Do you need to demolish…? Will some have to be re-purposed to resi or office…? Maybe. Or might they re-let…? 🚈 We had … Continue reading →

Wellbeing.” “Living Well Locally.” “People, place, planet.” 🤔 Which words and phrases do you most relate to our work in towns and city centres…? 💭 If we’d done a ‘word cloud’ of the early sessions of the 2023 Scotland’s Towns … Continue reading →

Do you still have a large former-department store sitting empty in your #highstreet place…? 🤔 Are the discussions rolling on about re-purposing, future uses, splitting up, conversion…? Meanwhile you’ve a big, deteriorating, wasted space creating negativity, when instead…? Meanwhile…! ✨ … Continue reading →

Here’s a first, I think 🤔 🤳🏽 Out & about in a #highstreet location and got back with just one picture of a vacant unit in my phone library. …and it’s not that there weren’t any others. 🎨 It was … Continue reading →

Should a #highstreet place, a town or city centre, have its own commercial agent…? …like an individual empty unit has but for all the vacants in that location. 🤔 It’d be interesting to hear what #property and #placemaking colleagues think…? … Continue reading →

“What reasons are there for optimism about our high streets…?” 🎤 It’s a question I was asked at a panel event this week, and every day since we’ve seen examples from different places that well illustrate my answer. You could … Continue reading →