Category Archives: News Centre

Really enjoyable #highstreet #placemaking out & about in Chepstow. A town with awesome visitor attractions, a mix of #indie and national brand #retail, #hospitality and services, encouraging evidence of new investment, and signs all around the town centre that it … Continue reading →

Really enjoyable time at the Warwickshire Towns Network #placemaking conference in Warwick, with chance to be out & about in an attractive, largely #indie, heritage town centre. An opportunity also to share #TheVacantShopsAcademy ‘audit, engage, encourage, promote’ approach to tackling … Continue reading →

Day 2 of our #TheVacantShopsAcademy out & about running ‘audit, engage’ in 8 South Gloucestershire #highstreet locations – Kingswood and Hanham this time – and picking up the theme of uses mix in a place. Interesting to see some of … Continue reading →

First of a series of out & about days in South Gloucestershire #highstreet locations. Downend and Staple Hill first and a real strong sense of their #indie #retail and #hospitality group, mixing the new with established, traditional with of today. … Continue reading →

Hugely enjoyable #highstreet #placemaking out & about in Reading town centre this week. It’s a place that mixes history and heritage, #retail, #hospitality & more, national brands and a strong #indie group, some of them very long-established. It also has … Continue reading →

One of the things that makes tackling #highstreet empty shops issues commissions sooooooo interesting and inspiring is the variety. In a single #TheVacantShopsAcademy day out & about this week… New lettings taking shape, the first signs of refurbishment getting underway … Continue reading →

Thrilled to say that 3 more organisations (with 11 #highstreet locations in-scope between them) have signed to run the ‘audit, engage’ elements of #TheVacantShopsAcademy approach to tackling empty shops issues. It’s really good to have new places keen to understand … Continue reading →

Another week, one more list of incoming #highstreet finance sector closures. Another town, and more conversations about the role the place could play in getting ex- #retail bank or building society units back into use. It’s a regular recommendation in … Continue reading →

Really enjoyed being out & about in Henley again. Just so much to see and learn and think about from a #highstreet #placemaking perspective, and always very well worth a visit… Stunning riverside scenes, and a significant draw for rowing, … Continue reading →

Oxford City Council has issued 93 licences to hospitality businesses, an almost ten-fold increase from the previous year.