Author Archives: Iain Nicholson

Which words do you most often see or hear first if someone is just about to write or say #highstreet landlord.  Greedy. Absentee. Not interested…? How about we replace those with… Struggling. Anxious. Trying (the making a big effort sort, … Continue reading →

Would a National Early Vacancy Insurance Scheme work…? I’m hoping it’s something #legal and #property colleagues might have some thoughts on. The idea is to help us overcome two especially tricky kinds of empty unit: + Those where the tenant … Continue reading →

So the 2024 #highstreet lettings season is pretty well done, time to reflect on how your town and city centre did on reducing empty units. Though there’ll still be more in the pipeline for some places, it is typically a … Continue reading →

We should use poetry more often to help tackle #highstreet vacancy. It’s an idea sparked during an insightful and enjoyable visit with #TheVacantShopsAcademy to Grimsby town centre. The poem in the lead picture is one of the locally-focused features of … Continue reading →

What does your place look like after dark. Are your historic buildings, waterways, art installations and other features highlighted. Is your town or city centre worth a late visit just to see them, and what’s its offer…? In particular, from … Continue reading →

What’s behind the shutters, boards, maybe vinyls of those vacant units in your town or city centre. Take a look (if you haven’t already). It’s something we’d really encourage ‘place partnership’ members on tackling #highstreet vacancy projects to do. Get … Continue reading →

Tackling #highstreet vacancy. It’s not just about the numbers. Several of our recent #TheVacantShopsAcademy commissions are in places that have – by comparison – relatively small empty unit counts. But they do warrant the tackling vacancy-focused ‘place partnership’ approach as … Continue reading →

Bit small for a shop, maybe. Maybe. What is your town or city centre doing with its decommissioned red phone boxes…? The question came up this week as part of a wider conversation about the (much bigger…?) role arts & … Continue reading →

A really enjoyable day visiting Brackley & Towcester – two really strong indie towns with #highstreet #retail businesses it’s well worth stopping by to see if you’re in that part of the world (of which more in future posts). As … Continue reading →