Category Archives: News Centre

I’m thinking on a train trip back to write a list of places that need, somehow, to get MORE units. What…? But we keep hearing about the highstreet struggling, reading the still-dominant ‘death of the…’ narrative and being told that … Continue reading →

“High Street units wanted.” “Please do get in touch with the team about any new opportunities.” These, from two different national retail brands, are the latest published new location asks we’ve seen. The first is from Screwfix for their new … Continue reading →

The high street is evolving… But there’s also… …and a retail name (see lead image) that we thought was gone, is back (in 32 locations – so far…?). Just a small sample, from one location on a single out & … Continue reading →

4 new openings this year on a single town centre street… …is just one of the encouraging stories emerging from locations we’re working with on tackling #highstreet vacancy. What’s new from independents in your town or city centre. It’d be … Continue reading →

But I think I’m okay to go walk-see Banbury town centre. It’s a place that I’ve always thought has a huge amount going for it: heritage buildings, a sizeable independents group, lots of pedestrianised space, proactive shopping centre team, the … Continue reading →

What would you change…? With the government promising to publish a ‘High Streets Strategy’ later this year, I thought to share again the tackling #highstreet vacancy-focused ‘manifesto’ I drew up in May ‘24 in the run up to that year’s … Continue reading →

Let’s get places to try halve their headline vacancy rate and drop the long-stuck national empties percentage into single figures. Reading that the government is planning to publish a ‘High Streets Strategy’ later this year, I thought to table again … Continue reading →

I’ve started wondering if we should maybe switch how we think about it…? To explain first, it’s a phrase being used to describe people answering #highstreet surveys, commenting in the press and posting on social media about how their town … Continue reading →

…or why it’s so valuable for places working on tackling #highstreet vacancy to take a team inside empty units to work out how to get them back in use. That’ll be the focus of the next in our series of … Continue reading →