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…?

🎤 Looking forward to talking through all these issues at an “Invigorating the Community” building societies conference in Leeds on Monday.

As #property and #placemaking colleagues who are working on tackling vacancy will know, these units can often be tricky to get back into use:

🏢 They’re often in large, prominent buildings with frontages less suited to retail or hospitality use;

• Many are in heritage buildings which have additional re-use challenges, including empty rates relief;

💷 The outgoing banks typically pay a higher rent, and if they’ve been there a while that can be above current market rate so hard to replace;

• The requirements of banking inside mean that sorting the layout, fitout etc. can be more significant;

🗝️ Banks often leave before lease end so that the very tricky assignment process is in play to try get the unit occupied.

One encouraging development is the group of, largely #hospitality but some #retail, brands doing great work in repurposing and re-opening this kind of empty.

🗣️ It’d be great to see examples, and to hear how your town or city centre is overcoming these challenges…!

Do let us know…