It’s just great to see.
In Crewe town centre this week with #TheVacantShopsAcademy so a first chance to visit this new community-focused pop up art gallery, and talk to the ArtSpace team about their experiences so far and plans into 2025.
It’s another illustration of the important role arts & crafts, creative, culture can play in tackling #highstreet vacancy projects, and a real positive for Crewe.
Very early days and a huge amount to do but this is a location that had a vacancy rate several points above the national average at the beginning of the summer. Since then it’s seen new openings, units going under offer and, we’re told, “strong interest” in others. To add to that – and accepting again that it’s only a beginning – a number of local groups are meeting up to explore how they can be part of the story’s ’next steps’ too.
That’s why – even at this stage – it feels worth sharing as an example of how places, including those with mid / high teens or over 20% vacancy rates, can move forward on this issue if agents, landlords, businesses, community, cultural organisations, councils, BID and Chamber where there is one, work together, with each bringing skills, experience, capacity, resources, enthusiasm, whatever they can to the table.
It’s also why our approach – especially where #retail and #hospitality don’t currently have your town high on their target lists – is to reach out to community groups and organisations, ask what role they can and would like to play, ‘encourage’ them to believe it’s possible, and try support them to make that happen.
No-one’s underestimating the challenge here or in other town and city centres with significant empty ‘shops’ numbers, but…
#HighStreetPositives
