It was just one of those special town centres days…
An insightful, enjoyable and encouraging trip to meet the team behind the Dewsbury Arcade regen story and some of those who’ll be a crucial part of its next chapter as “the UK’s very first community-run shopping centre”.
So I was invited to talk about tackling #highstreet vacancy generally, the crucial role of a ‘place partnership’ and the opportunities that looking to arts & crafts, creative, culture, community, history & heritage, leisure, education, health and health & wellbeing, as go-to options for empty units, can bring.
Being able to do that in a previously empty shopping centre unit which the Arcade group have turned into a combination of pop up shop, history & heritage exhibition, art gallery, community engagement hub, workshops & event host and more, was great…
…especially since also there on the night were the talented owners and support teams of four businesses that are among those considering taking on space when the Arcade opens.
It was energising to see so many people in the room interested in their town centre, how it moves forward and the part they can play, to see the wonderful heritage buildings they have, hear about the Dewsbury Market regen project alongside and take a quick walk-see of some of the positives re-uses already underway.
I finished the presentation with a question for them. We believe that by running with our ‘audit, engage, encourage, promote’ approach and getting a ‘place partnership’ on the case, town and city centres can halve their headline vacancy rate in 18 months.
“Can you…?”, I asked Team Dewsbury. I reckon they can.
