The Vacant Shops Academy

“The number of empty town centre units reduced from 23 to 3 in 18 months.”

A special day to be back in the town where our tackling highstreet vacancy journey started and to meet some of the business owners and community leaders we worked with then…

Sooooo much of the ‘audit, engage, encourage, promote’ approach we’re now taking to town and city centres around the UK, I learned and first tested here.

When we started in 2013, Wantage town centre had 23 vacant units – not the most we’ve ever worked with, in fact at what was then around 12% of the total it was similar to the national average, but too many for an Oxfordshire market town. 

With team work, collaboration between groups and organisations, some innovation on pop up shops, a community space and more, the 23 empties reduced to 3 in 18 months. We were lucky enough to win a Great British High Streets Award, a number of other places took note and the rest, as they say…

Heading back a dozen or so years on, it’s great to see a number of the businesses that moved in during that period are still there;

+ Arbery Arcade, which started as a cut-through with 3 large units and bits & pieces of unused space, has continued to be the indie hub it became, more than once acting as an incubator to give shops a start that then moved into spaces in the town centre itself;

+ The brilliant community space The Mix is still running too;

+ …and there’ve been further new additions and arrivals.

Challenges too, as so many town centres have had across that time span, including the departure of three highstreet banks, tho all their units are now re-let.

Thank you Wantage…!

It’d be interesting to hear from placemaking and property colleagues on the changes your town and city centres have seen if you reflect on visits and / or working there in the 2013-16 period. Do let us know…

It was great to meet another wife and husband team who are part of the growing group of new independents opening up in town and city centres we’re supporting on tackling highstreet vacancy…

Our lead image is Bea and Adrian at HoneyBea “creating beautiful candles made from natural beeswax” in their shop on Castle Street, Tredegar, one of 3 new openings on that street already this year with another to follow soon.

Like one of their near neighbours, The Painted Lady Tattoo Parlour & Art Gallery and a number of the new openings in other locations, they’re going beyond retail to offer classes and workshops and they’ve also just added the offer of sales space to help local crafters begin their own town centre journey.

As they put it: “At Honey Bea Art Gallery, we know how difficult it can be for new artists and crafters to get noticed and start selling their work. That’s why we want to create a space that helps you take that first step.”

These stories are part of a HighStreetPositives theme we’re seeing from both independents and some brands…

• Add variety to your offer by sharing space and collaborating with other businesses;
• Build new audiences, strengthen your community and draw on the interest in experiential with classes and workshops;
• And do one or both to create additional income streams, attract customers at different times of the day or week and, maybe, make use of parts of your building – typically upper floors – that you otherwise might not.

From a tackling vacancy perspective the part of our ‘alternative’ / additional uses list that is arts & crafts, creative, culture, community looks, for a number of reasons, to be a really promising go-to option for ‘place partnership’ teams thinking about ways to fill empty spaces.

It’d be good to hear examples from your town and city centres…

It’s always super encouraging to see new retail, hospitality and services businesses opening up when we’re out and about in town and city centres on tackling highstreet vacancy commissions…

…and especially so as we’re tracking a number around those locations that have opened up already this year, so early in the 2026 lettings season.

There’s an interesting variety of business types across the set and stories and circumstances to explain the ‘why’…

Some are ventures taking on an extra unit in their own place or expanding after success in another, others are making a first highstreet start after working from home, selling online, trading on a market, taking part in trade shows or similar, maybe being part of a collective in a bigger unit spinning out on their own or with friends;

• There’s also movers. Businesses that started on the edge of town and / or in a smaller unit, swapping that for somewhere more central or bigger.

Whatever the story these are HighStreetPositives and very much help us – while recognising that it remains challenging too – to switch the narrative about where the highstreet is at.

What’s extra heartening is the very positive and supportive feedback we see as we’re following their adventures via social media, at a time when (sometimes) those platforms can be tough on our town and city centres and those working in or for them.

It’d be great to hear from property and placemaking colleagues or owners and their teams about the new openings you’re seeing or are involved in…

One of the (many) joys of the role we have is the opportunity it gives us to meet the people behind the highstreet businesses taking on vacant units, and hearing their stories.

The latest example was meeting Janna and Sami at their new Tava Turkish Cafe & Restaurant in Stirling – and it’s very well worth a visit if you’re in this part of the world.

One HighStreetPositives element of their story is that Tava is the fourth venture they have between them, which includes Janna’s hugely popular bakery.

It’s also always really encouraging and inspiring to read their own posts and updates, again well worth checking out.

Here’s a little of the new opening one:

“Standing there with Sami, seeing our team lined up outside, watching the ribbon being cut… it was emotional. Truly emotional.

“Thank you to every single person who came, who brought flowers, who shared kind words, and who believed in us. Stirling has welcomed us with such warmth — and we are deeply grateful.”

We’re seeing a number of new independent openings in town and city centres we’re working with on tackling #highstreet vacancy, and I know many other places are too, so we’d love to hear some of the people stories you have from those.

Do share…

How much of a role can our older, landmark, interesting buildings play in highstreet regen projects, and what as…

It’d be great to hear examples from your town or city centres of these buildings being brought back into use.

It can be tricky for a number of reasons…

• their original use may be very different from what’s needed and would work today, and repurposing, especially for older buildings, can be challenging;
• historic features we need or would like to retain might be harder to incorporate;
• they may – especially if empty for a long time – be in a poor way and so more costly to refurbish;
• listing and other heritage-related factors may play a part, maybe greatly reducing potential re-use options.

We’ve been thinking through this again while in the city of Dunfermline which has its own intriguing set of this kind of building – some already back in productive use, others still to find their way forward.

We did spend a bit of time in particular talking about former churches as we’ve seen a few of those for sale on recent Scotland trips.

As ever we’d love to know how you’re overcoming the barriers and whether there are really promising use types that could be candidates for more places.

Do let us know…

How much is your cultural and industrial heritage remembered, reflected and playing a part in your town or city centre today…?

Excited to be out & about in what is now the 45th location we’re supporting on tackling highstreet vacancy since starting The Vacant Shops Academy…

…and learned a lot on our visit to Cinderford.

It was fascinating to dip into Forest of Dean history, after seeing the mining references at the heart of the town, including the awesome Antony Dufort sculpture in the lead image and the traditional miner’s lamp-design clock tower in my second.

Our walk-see also took in…

• a strong group of independent shops and hospitality venues;
• a number of striking wall art examples which also had a strong local heritage theme;
• the historic, family-run independent cinema;
• the former bank conversion into a state-of-the-art, community-led music hub;
• The Triangle – its main town centre dwell-time and performance space – which also features a neat way to incorporate local dialect.

Oh and the “Unbelievable” bit…?

…that’s a reference to the blue plaque recognising hometown nineties band EMF and their big hit single (which if you’re like me, you’ll now have humming around your head for the next few minutes).

Cinderford also has an intriguing mix of buildings and we’re very much looking forward to working with the local team there on options and opportunities.

Watch this space…

In London via Oxford to help showcase a pathfinding project from Aberdeen…

…but it’s an approach that we reckon could be taken up by many of the town and city centre teams that were represented at the Association of Town & City Management ‘Place Management Conference’.

Our part in the ‘Multi-Agency Approach to…’-themed day was ‘Bringing Long-Term Vacant Property Back Into Use’, and focused on Aberdeen’s Union Street Upper Floors project.

At the heart of it is bringing together council planners, building control or standards teams and conservation officers (for heritage buildings) with private sector architects, developers, property agents, BID where there is one, and others involved on this issue locally, to ‘get the keys’ and go look inside those large, sometimes long-time vacant, maybe deteriorating empty buildings.

Together they’ll consider occupier options, assess barriers to getting the space back into use and importantly the role each partner can play to help make that happen.

As our Team Aberdeen panellists explained in really insightful comments and answers, it’s a positive way to go and there, as in other places starting to use the approach, they’re seeing encouraging progress including on some buildings that have lain vacant for a looooong time.

It’d be great to hear from other places working on this already, and especially from colleagues who’d like to understand how it might work in your town or city centre.

Do let us know…!

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 nationally we’ve 40% more retail space than we need.

Thing is, to get to any of those you have to ignore totally the places that are getting short of units to meet demand…

…town and city centres that don’t have enough available units for retail or leisure brands who’d like to be there to move into. Imagine that. High profile brand X, who residents or existing businesses would love to have here, cannot find a unit. It’s happening, and we’re not talking isolated instances either.

Same is true for independents keen to expand or switch to a stronger spot in their town or city centre. Or for uses on our ‘alternative’ / additional list that runs from arts & crafts to health & wellbeing. Struggling to find somewhere to go.

It’s because, thanks to a combination of policy with unintended consequences and decisions being made as if ‘death of…’ was a thing, some places are all out of suitable empty and available units.

Some have been knocked down, others converted to resi or office or taken up by varying business types encouraged by the change in use class guidance, because at the time it was thought not to matter what units were let to: “it’s better than being empty”.

So now that list of places – and it’s not short – could do with finding some new units. Build them…? Reclaim them from uses that aren’t really adding to the mix…? Try to re-purpose un- and under-used upper floors…? None of that’s easy.

But we need find a way.

It’d be great to hear your thoughts…

“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 ‘City’ format and includes a 30-strong list of target places. The second, by Savers Health Home & Beauty, was part of a post celebrating their three new store openings in a single week.

Thanks to connections with commercial agents and property directors, we’re seeing a lot like these and as well as contributing to the positive sense I have about the highstreet going forward, there’s also a very practical reason they’re great to be across.

They’re a big motivation for our efforts to encourage local place teams to work on reducing their headline vacancy rate together. Getting a heads up about who might by looking to invest in your town or city centre, knowing what units you have available that might suit them, and then reaching out with those details can make a difference to the outcome.

It’s often the case that the target list is longer than the final set of new stores they actually open, so in a way it’s competitive.

Does your town or city centre routinely reach out to would-be occupiers – not just brands, but also independent occupiers or those from our arts & crafts to health & wellbeing group of ‘alternative’ / additional go-to use types.

I’d love to talk you through the ‘place partnership’ approach that this is a key part of…