There’s much conversation when we get to the 3rd – ‘encourage’ – phase of our approach to tackling empty shops issues, about the different types of businesses and organisations we might try attract as a place to fill vacant units.

My summary list typically features: arts & crafts, culture, creative, community, leisure, education, health & wellbeing to go alongside the more traditional #retail, #hospitality & services. Yours may add others…?

So thought it’d be interesting to focus my just-visiting out & about in Bicester and Banbury on some examples.

It’d be great to hear others from #property and #placemaking colleagues…!

Can existing #retail and #hospitality businesses play a part in helping their #highstreet place tackle vacancy…?

It was a question I was asked at a meeting of business owners and managers in the very lovely town of Henley-on-Thames.

And the answer is 100% yes they can.

This is one of the towns with only a few vacant units tho admittedly some of them may be tricky being ex-banks in large heritage buildings.

But still…

The first way is direct. Thinking thru what business types would add to the existing mix and working with the town centre manager to help ‘encourage’ those here.

But we focused the conversation on two other things.

• ‘Promote’. Being the very best they can be on social media as individual businesses and by sharing, liking etc each other’s posts to create a collective town buzz across platforms.
• …and a range of #placemaking things around having the town centre ‘look’ amazing. One small example I gave was starting their next meet at the rail station then key car parks, and making the journey in as a visitor / customer, identifying anything that’s not right and helping improve that.

Both can help boost footfall, extend dwell-time, create new ambassadors for the place, and attract inward investment. And all of those can impact on vacancy…!

Thanks to Town Centre Manager, Paul Carey, for the invite and all those there for their insights.

What positives do you take away from a #highstreet #placemaking visit to one of our town or city centres…?

Street art, the floral displays, the attractive buildings, its natural and heritage attractions, a strong mix of #indie #retail, #hospitality and services businesses, high profile national brand additions, the partnership working…?

Much to choose from on an out & about in Poole town centre as the images show – and I’ve only chosen 5 of many…!

Thanks to Jacqui Rock at Poole BID for the invite and insights.

So how many of those visibly vacant units in your place are being proactively marketed…?

We’ve just run some data based on current #TheVacantShopsAcademy commissions, and wonder how many #highstreet #property and #placemaking colleagues might be surprised.

Feel free to take a guess before you get to the line with the numbers.

It feels important as part of our belief that the place – whether council(s) or BID where there is one – have an important role to play in tackling vacancy and that it’s not “just an agents – landlords thing”.

It also, I think, plays in the discussion about High Street Rental Auctions, and whether or not such a power is even needed.

So here goes. Our ‘audit’ stage found 316 visibly vacant units across 17 locations we’re involved in. What percentage had no visible agents board…?

Just over 40%.

In other words, if you’re a business out looking for potential units to expand into, for every 5 empty units you see there’ll be 2 that give you no clue as to how to find out more. In some places the figure is 50%.

Now it’s worth saying that in some cases there will have been a sign now removed because the unit has let or it has a tenant that’s left but is still paying rent on an unexpired lease, but that’s not much help to a would-be occupier.

For many others it suggests little or no effort is actually being made to find a new tenant. That surely contributes to long term vacancy and isn’t helping places.

So how close was your guess…? Is your place at that 40% average figure, better or worse…? Or don’t you know…?

It’d be interesting to hear.

What’s your view on this incoming “…new power for local authorities to require landlords to rent out persistently vacant commercial properties to new tenants, such as local businesses or community groups.”

Have you taken part in the .gov technical consultation…?

It’s been a kinda theme for me of late as The Institute of Place Management has set out a rationale for the new power to be introduced as part of a wider, partnership-focused approach to tackling vacancy, along with questions from members around the way it might work: “Institute welcomes ‘culture shift’ of new high street vacancy measure”. There’s more on that via comments.

And The Association of Town & City Management kindly invited me to host a workshop on the topic – “Needs Must or a Step Too Far?” – as part of their #SummerSchool2023. It was fascinating to hear different perspectives there.

And I’m keen to learn more from #placemaking colleagues in councils and BIDs who are working on tackling #highstreet empty shops issues, and those in the #property sector where I know there are reservations (is that the word…???).

Maybe something we don’t talk about enough in #highstreet #placemaking is the welcome at our town centre arrival points – whether that be by rail, bus, car, bike on foot or other means – and the impact on us of the journey from there to the ‘shops’.

Whether that’s the views, buildings, wayfinding, or activation and animation touches, it can surely make a difference to our sense of a place.

It was in my mind on a recent out & about in Leamington Spa which, as well as having its station (where I began my visit) make it to the national final of the Rail Delivery Group and Community Rail Network ‘World Cup of Stations’, has much to enjoy on a walk to the centre and back. Do try it…!

With thanks to the team at BID Leamington for taking the time to meet up…!

Office, resi, #retail (rarely now), #hospitality or leisure, storage or nothing at all…?

Are we under-using or totally wasting space that could bring in valuable extra uses and potentially additional customers for town or city centre businesses…?

Are the uppers a barrier that’s holding up lettings opportunities for the ground floor…?

Are they all peeling paint and emerging greenery that’s letting the street down…?

Could the upper floors be split off to reduce unnecessary costs for the ground floor occupier…? Is there a way to deal with access, waste etc…?

These are questions we now regularly ask as part of our tackling #highstreet empty shops issues commission ‘next steps’ reports, as a suggestion to carry out an upper floors ‘audit’ and then draw on the results to tackle the challenge strategically.

Interested to hear from #property and #placemaking colleagues about work they’re doing on this issue, and any barriers they’ve encountered and overcome…!

A very enjoyable #highstreet #placemaking out & about across two days in Richmond and Leyburn, North Yorkshire, a stunning part of the world and very well worth a visit.

Much food for thought too…

…including returning to the thread of an earlier conversation about the best ways to connect a town’s #retail and #hospitality offer with its #heritage and visitor attractions, especially where some of those are around the edges of the centre.

Signage, wayfinding, promotion, joint events and initiatives, connecting travel options…?

Interesting to hear how colleagues in different places are making this work.

So, what are we thinking for the trickier of our former #highstreet #retail bank units, especially those in multi-floor and #heritage buildings…?

Returned to the theme on an out & about in Richmond and Leyburn, North Yorkshire which both have examples of repurposing as well as opportunities to bring others like them back into play.

What are the barriers…? Do we need regulation change, public funding support, education or health & wellbeing sector involvement…?

As always, interested to hear what #property, #placemaking and community colleagues are doing on this issue in other parts of the country, as it’s a very real challenge lots of our places have right now.

There was a valuable insight this week in a longer agent’s post about new #highstreet lettings which again illustrates that the picture can change significantly if you drill down beyond the headline vacancy numbers and how things appear if you simply rely on a place walk-see.

As it was about a city I visit often and had been to that day, it was an extra reminder of what is a regular feature of our #TheVacantShopsAcademy ‘audit, engage’ work.

The post highlighted some new openings and expansion moves and added: “…with 8 more properties under offer across the city centre.” Eight.

To be fair, things can still fall through at this stage but it’s a sign that there is demand which may – especially when you establish if that’s #retail or #hospitality, brand or #indie – change the vacancy story, sometimes significantly…!

And it’s why we’re so keen to see more places take up this approach, understand the actual status, backstory and barriers to let for what appear as empty units, and then work with agents, landlords, businesses and your community to tackle the issues.

Councils and BIDs, where there is one, can for sure make a difference this way…!