Bid to become a Portas Pilot

Grant Shapps, the Local Government Minister, has announced that 12 struggling towns and cities will have the chance to implement recommendations from my Review to help reinvigorate their ailing High Streets. The Portas Pilots will benefit from a share of £1million, as well as the support of the Minister, Whitehall, and myself.

I am thrilled that now there is an opportunity to turn my recommendations into reality by giving communities across the country the opportunity to come forward with their vision for breathing new life into their locality. I hope my Review has inspired people with a new vision for tomorrow where our High Streets are re-imagined as destinations for socialising, culture, wellbeing, learning, as well as shopping.

I want the first twelve Town Teams to challenge the old ways of working, experiment, take risks, and reaffirm their place at the heart of the community.

A place we all want to be, and can be, proud of.

Click here to find out how your town can bid to become a Portas Pilot.

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Shop! Mary Portas at The Kooples

What is The Kooples?’ is the question this week’s shop asks itself on the opening page of its in-house magazine. The answer is that, as well as possessing a ‘Franco-British elegance for urban living’, it embodies ‘a state of mind that has the sombre thoughts of night owls falling in love in the early hours of the morning’. Pardonnez-moi? Has something been lost in translation? Don’t get me wrong, I’m a big fan of creativity when it comes to retail branding, but mumbo-jumbo like this can only point to the language barrier, a moment of boardroom lunacy or a balls-up at the printers. But The Kooples must be doing something right. It was founded three years ago, just as the global recession was coming to the boil, by three French brothers, Alexandre, Laurent and Raphael Elicha, and their success has been staggering. The Kooples has grown to 180 stores worldwide with a turnover of €100 million while other retailers have been making excuses for dwindling profits. Their entrance to Britain in November 2010 was aggressive, opening 20 stores and running a hard-to-miss campaign that featured ‘real life’ (yet impossibly attractive) couples modelling the label’s sharply tailored clothing. Britain now counts for 20 per cent of The Kooples’ turnover. So, should our retailers be worried about le nouveau upstart français?

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Bid to become a Portas Pilot

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