Illustrations by Dermot Flynn
I want to put the heart back into the centre of our High Streets, re-imagined as destinations for socialising, culture, health, wellbeing, creativity and learning. Places that will develop and sustain new and existing markets and businesses. The new High Streets won’t just be about selling goods. The mix will include shops but could also include housing, offices, sport, schools or other social, commercial and cultural enterprises and meeting places. They should become places where we go to engage with other people in our communities, where shopping is just one small part of a rich mix of activities.
High Streets must be ready to experiment, try new things, take risks and become destinations again. They need to be spaces and places that people want to be in. High Streets of the future must be a hub of the community that local people are proud of and want to protect.
My goal is to breathe economic and community life back into our High Streets and town centres. I want to see all our High Streets bustling with people, services, and jobs. They should be vibrant places that people choose to visit. They should be destinations. Anything less is a wasted opportunity.
Please read through my full report below, or click here for a summary of my 28 recommendations.
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Comments
I’d love to hear your feedback. Please leave a comment below.
The prospect of a disproportionate fine if late back from parking in pay and display car parks keeps me away form the high street as I am not relaxed while shopping as I have to think have I got time or do I have to rush back.
Out of town shopping with free parking is much more relaxing.
Parking enforcement seems very heavy handed as it does not distinguish between those who have paid towards parking and are late back and those who have not paid at all.
While councils depend upon these fines as a source of revenue, they will hasten the demise of the high street.
Hi Mary
I don’t understand why the government is spending all this money trying to regenerate the high streets up and down the country. In my opinion the biggest killer of the high street is the amount of rates a business has to pay. Have you ever looked at the astronomical and unfair business rates the government is charging?? If the landlords are willing to give a property rent free for a year than why should the government not cut the rates drastically? Furthermore, there should be a sort of levy on online businesses. Only with reduced rent and rates there will be some sort of level playing field with online shops.
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I have always been a great admirer of your work. I have a small business on a dying high street, hence was very keen to watch your recent programs. You have addressed
Hi Mary,
I have watched your shows and find them very interesting and I applaud your grit, and determination and above all your passion for the high street. I run a hair and beauty salon in Whitchurch, Shropshire. (Old market town, now with virtually no market, lots of empty shops, rents and rates at a ridiculous level that does not align with today’s economy etc…etc…) you have heard this all before….. I would love some help/guidance for myself and for the town as I see no light at the end of the tunnel at all now. I am in a number of ways similar to yourself in terms of drive, ideas, guts, determination and I feel I have tried everything I possibly can to inject better c/service, new and interesting additions to my business..(i.e. thinking outside the box, not just hair and beauty) . Our level of knowledge and expertise in this field as a business is high…. and have good recommendations from clients however, I feel the main issues are a sharp deterioration in footfall and lack of money in general. No matter how well off or how poverty stricken people are we try to offer services that would suit most budgets and when speaking with clients/ people of the town the feedback I get is that they feel what I am trying to do (in terms of additional services/ complimentary therapies etc…to widen my audience,…) is a really good idea. It is unique in the town….. however, the town is dead, everyone is the same, we are one of the more busier salons but its still not enough to survive in the long term. We have 2 supermarkets, Tesco, which is in the town and Sainsbury’s which is on the outskirts. As with a lot of towns the parking is not great and there simply is not enough gong on or interesting shops/ spaces to attract more people into the town. The market has very few stalls now and is simply a joke …. The council seem to have no ideas as to how to get things back on track…. the business rates are extortionate and are just not in line with the economy and how most businesses are struggling…..
We really need a fresh new pair of eyes and somebody with some innovative new stratagies to help this town and subsequently many businesses like my own to carry on and improve and eventually prosper.
Keep up the good work ….. its something the whole country needs help with before many more town high streets are left deserted.
Hi to the team at Mary portas.
The whole retail Eco system is failing;
Too many supermarkets per head of population this needs a formula and limit applied
Too many online retailers whose business model is built on price! Eg online retailer shifts 1million units of an item at just £1 profit where a high st retailer sticks to the rrp and sells at £10 profit. There is no level playing field for consumers.
Business rates for all premises not just shops are a shambles.
Supermarkets, high st and online all have their place in the retail Eco system but the balance is not there. I really admire what Mary is doing but I think she is being made a scape goat. Scrape the surface and see the real problems.
I have 3 retail independent footwear stores and would love Mary to come to Ayrshire .
Just watching Mary Queen of High Streets and was inspired by Mary to try to forward to Mary Or the government here.
So many of our shops are owned by large organisation (pension companies and the like) which form Property Portfolios to generate capital growth on the assets along with rental yields on the property.
These companies have traditionally not cared if the properties are empty, as the values have increased year on year regardless. These companies need to wake up to the current state of the market rather than sitting on over valued assets.
If I was in government I would double the rates on any property that had stood empty for more that 6 months. This additional revenue (which these property funds can afford) could be ringfenced towards free parking in our town centres.
The combination of thes 2 things could start a change a give our towns a heart again rather than us speeding our time queuing to get onto free car parks for our out of town retail parks!
This government is trying to take serious steps to awaken our economy and I hope this idea is heard, considered and with the right political clout implemented before its to late.
Laurence Tunnicliffe – Freehold Business Owner Stone Staffordshire
[...] Arrived home to discover that our mates at CLG had, as eagerly anticipated, issued their guide Re-imagining Urban Spaces to Help Revitalise Our High Streets, published on 20 July 2012, in the wake of the Portas Review. [...]
The High Street North in East Ham (Newham, east London) certainly could do with some Portas advice and wisdom. The main downfall of the high street has been a proliferation of betting shops (there are quite a few more through the East Ham (i.e. “E6″) post code. The other downfall are all of the £1 ‘nick-nack’ shops, and kiosk/booth-type stalls that sell mobile phones, mobile phone covers, and phone cards. Thank goodness we still have a Sainsbury’s, Argos and Wilkinson. Any help, gratefully received.
I left Stockton on Tees 30 years ago but still make regular visits back to see family. In fact I was back a couple of weeks ago. There seems to be no visible progress on the increasingly depressing high street, full of betting shops, drunk hopeless people and cheap boozers (as well as the obligatory charity shops, pawn shops etc)
My daughter and I went into a well known clothes retailer that would be mobbed on a normal Saturday afternoon in other towns. There were 2 people in the whole shop. That was us. When I expressed my dismay to her she pointed out the blindingly obvious: if you haven’t got any money on a Monday/Tuesday/Wednesday/Thursday/Friday afternoon then you haven’t got any money on a Saturday afternoon either. Poverty is the problem with this high street. The only people visiting it are probably people getting the bus down to it because they haven’t got a car/petrol to get to Teesside Park, the out of town shopping centre, or Yarm, only 5 miles away and one of the loveliest high streets in the country. The only busy shop is Lidl.
I’d love to know what the plans of the Town Group are because there is no click through to who they are on their page, nor any numbers given for the shops vacant buttons and the blog hasn’t been updated for the best part of a year since Stockton was selected. That’s a disgrace
Hi Mary,
Am a tourist from Japan, heard about Mary so just came in London’s Hse of Fraser to buy a bag I saw online. Loved ur brand n had been shopping @ the Manchester Mary, so far was good until today.
It’s the bright yellow Tote i m after, saw there r loads when i hit the ground floor consession@ Hse of Fraser so when excited to take the escalator to 2nd floor. When i got there ur staff was busy w other ladies which was fine, waited for abt 2 min before a member showed up to ask if i needed anything. Told him i want the yellow tote but i didnt see it in the shop floor, the first reaction he told me is that tote, while avilable in all other colors, is not available in yellow! I told him i saw it online n just on G floor- he questioned me and asked me if i m sure (or daydreaming) as if i m entering the borader of USA! Was not pleasant and he even asked his colleague (who is still busy serveing the other ‘big customers’ n that lady staff just yelled back and said NO!
So i saw this male staff a picture of the yellow tote i just took @ G floor- he is shocked n said well we dont have it here n the G floor has been taking bags from us to sell downstairs. I asked him so does that mean if i shall go down all the way to purchase there? He said yes n continued to defend himself not seeing the bag for a while.
It is not a happy experience, n now i m downstairs not having anyone to serve me to get the bag. Think i’ll just not waste the time.
Ur product is great mary but ur staff is not Mary. N apparent according to my experiece ur staff mmembers r quite reluctant to approach me, asian face in her mid twenties, because apparantly i m not wihtin ur target age group?
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I’d simply like to say “good on ya, Mary”. you are making a big difference and clearly care. despite the criticism and small-mindedness you stick to your guns and keep moving forward. communities is where it’s at and we have had more than a bellyful of multi-nationals raping our purses and minds. hope you continue and don’t lose Faith. we need people like you. you are jeanne d’arc to our governments sootie show! maybe just watch the sarcasm though?
although i do feel its a very noble cause trying to save our high streets and regenerate these ghost towns such as Margate clearly is there are so many odds stacked against you …1 the film crews will give a short lived boost as people will turn up to a letter opening if they think they will end up on tv… 2 most shop owners are not only being cut to pieces by internet sites such as ebay on prices they are then skinned alive by rents and business rates etc by their own councils and landlords and never get the response the likes of someone with a film crew would get if they have any issues or ideas to better things , most people wouldnt get to speak to a person at their council as their credit would have run out before they get through the recorded messages systems put in place by most councils , 3 many people in britain today struggle to survive week by week even by buying knock off goods let alone the high prices any shop with normal ripp off overheads needs to sell goods for ( hence the sharp rise in shoplifting ) ….4 most working people when they get a day off ( myself included ) are so frazzled a trip to margate etc is the last thing on their mind and the thought of sitting in another load of traffic is the last thing they need after battling with it all week to earn a few quid 5 my last point and i can hear you saying thank f**k , things have changed and its hard hard hard to earn a penny today especially with f all to back you up and no money to fall back on as someone in your position clearly has as you clearly made a killing when times were good and good luck to you on that point i myself done ok in property whilst it was booming ( you couldnt lose at one point ) , but things have gone bad really bad and i havent even gone into the realms of parking tickets etc to spoil your shopping experience ….any way good luck you need it !….
Mary, since you came and visited Rugby more shops have closed. Wallis and Evans have both disappeared, so now not many ladieswear shops left here now. Local paper announced last week they are going to build another shopping centre when they can’t fill the one one they built a couple of years ago, the high street is almost empty next to it now. Would love to see our town thriving again. I rent space in a shopping collective in Daventry (the next town) which means you have an interesting and fresh mix of traders and reasonable rents, it would be great to see something like that in Rugby. Love your programmes, don’t give up!!!
Listening to your interview on Radio 2 this afternoon, I thought “Oh PLEASE come to Crewe & see just what the devastating effects are of letting a town centre go to wrack and ruin. This place is definitely the A***hole of Europe. It would make a good “Before and After” feature. This was once a thriving Railway town with lovely town centre & old shops. Now it is a soul-less Hell-hole with half the town centre shops boarded up. It makes one feel totally depressed. I only go there once a week to go to the bank. If I want to “shop”, I go to Chester or Stoke. I avoid Crewe as it makes me feel almost suicidal. It would be lovely to have a nice town centre again withdecent shops and maybe a department store (or 2!)
Mary, Please take a look at Newmarket. You are such a great great lady offering fantastic motivational support! Newmarket has such a great reputation and so much to give – unfortunately our high street is now littered with betting shops, take always and charity shops. I would love to shop on my high street but it has failed to inspire for 10 years now.
I have to convey my passion for your kind-heartedness giving support to all those that have the need for guidance on this one study. Your special commitment to getting the message around became rather beneficial and have regularly helped regular people much like me to achieve their endeavors. Your new informative report means so much to me and especially to my peers. Thank you; from all of us.
Hi Mary,
Just been catching up with your new show on 4, and feel over joyed to have someone as passionate as you leading the way to support and revitalise our High Streets. I’m disappointed id not had the chance to drive my support to change my high street here in Sheerness Kent which is, I kid you not the worst high street in Kent!!!
Its sad to see that this once bustling seas side town fall to rack and ruin and the high street simply waste away to nothing with only Hair dressers and Pound shops to entertain, with what could be a fantastic array of quirky boutiques, coffee shops and culture that’s so desperately needed it what is a lost town. I do feel that there is no support from our local council who seem to spend every penny to support the Faversham area which is tied to us in boroughs but not when it comes to generating the local area, and driving its potential.
I do feel we are the poor mans Margate in many ways and would if ever you decide to do a similar project or if you happen to ever be in Kent to pop down to the isle of sheppy and see Sheerness high street for your self, and hopefully you’ll be able to turn this place around.
All the best
Ryan
Hi Mary
New Tesco being built in Stourbridge on site of old multi-storey car park. Completion Winter 2013. Dudley Council have now decided to make the parking spaces in Drury Lane “disabled”. These are round the corner from the current Waitrose. There are very few spaces available on Market Street and indeed two of those have also been made “disabled”. The effect of this will be to prevent people shopping in Waitrose. There is another multi-storey car park but the spaces are very small even for my Fiat 500! Why couldn’t they wait until the Tesco car park had been built? I don’t object to the Tesco shop but I’d like to be able to shop in Waitrose too. This could well close Waitrose before Tesco opens.
Prime example of a council not thinking about retaining the good will of the High Street retailers or the shoppers.
Dear Mary
Can you please come and save Edinburgh from the huge retailers the council prefers,when I visit London I see thriving energetic street markets all around and Camden is a great place to spend time. Here in dour old conservative Edinburgh we are only allowed a few markets to operate for 2 weeks around christmas and none are local. I want Edinburgh (and scotland) to embrace the english street markets, they are needed to offset the large supermarkets, to give cheap start ups and bring the diversity needed..PLEASE VISIT EDINBURGH AND SAVE US FROM THE COUNCIL…PLEASE
Don’t know another way to contact Mary, so please can you pass this message on? Dear Mary, PLEASE can you draw attention to the Elephant & Castle area (shopping centre and streets around the Tube)? I went there today, and it is a disaster on just about every level. I arrived at lunchtime with 45 minutes to kill, and there was nowhere nice to sit and have a coffee and a snack, nowhere to browse and possibly spend some money. Just the odd, sub-standard caff (I managed to get a microwaved sausage sandwich – need I say more?) and, in the shopping centre, the usual tatty shops like Poundland plus a large greasy cafe that absolutely defies description. This area is home to a university and should have tons of cafes and restaurants round about! Not to mention bookshops and clothes shops and sweetshops … I hope you can cover it if you haven’t already! Best regards, Beverly Allen
Mary you have not got a clue about regeneration of the high street,the one thing we need to get rid of is the steady march of the charity shop,they pay no rates,no tax,no vat,no wages are nearly all ltd companies with directors that want fat salaries,the one next to me has seven shops gives £19,000 a year to charity £50.00 per week per shop my rates are £100.00 per week,the next thing is that dinosaur called a market trader,most sell tat will not take card payments,not prepared to move with the times,again find me one that pays tax,registered for vat,I no plenty that run new sprinter vans ,do five markets a week for twenty years and still not hit the vat threshold,the council in my area have paid for radio advertising for them,when do they ever help retailers never.
Hello Mary, thank you for the time that you give up to help the high streets. I live in Stafford and our shops in our town and high streets are becoming less as the rents are so high. Businesses are having to close due to this which is such a shame as some have been there for years. One shop had to fight to have their rent reduced from £80,000 to £60,000 a year for their small unit. Stafford is supposed to be the county town of Staffordshire, there are plans for new shopping complexes but they are out of the town centre taking away custom, also the retail parks too. The parking is far too expensive and and not enough of it. What can we do to save our town?
Mary please help high street b312ns northfield
!
It’s easier to get untouched with the council than you
Hi Mary, Dont know whether you will ever read this, or you will have time to reply before we our evicted from our hairdressing business that was first established in July 1963. We were once part of one of the oldest markets in East London , Rathbone Market. We wanted to be part of the regeneration and choose not to leave the area but carry on throughout a massive building project. Do yourself a favour look on facebook on memories of Canning Town and Canning Town today. The blame lies with the council , was interested to see how the council at Roman Rd reacted to you and your cameras. Are you suggesting for one moment that ordinary joe bloggs would have had the same response you had, I think not. We are asking for your help in highlighting this matter. Regards Capri Hair and Beauty.
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Have you noticed what the Berwick upon Tweed team are doing with the portals money? Blooming boat trips which are away from the main high street. How is this going to improve the town centre? Yes it might bring in tourists for a boat trip but they won’t stay in the town after it is finished. It’s just another stupid idea by the numptys in charge of the town.
Hi mary. Just watched you on this morning. Just wanted to say how great it is to see someone like yourself taking an interest in our future highstreets. We live in a small town called congleton in cheshire and with a young baby love to stroll into town. Recently a local charity rubys fund liaised with the local council to try and open a playcentre for local special needs children but that also all parents with young children could use. They spent a long time trying to find premises in the centre of town and eventually chose somewhere on the outskirts of tiwn (which has still not opened) which a lical entreneur donated called dawn gibbons. The council seem to miss the point that by having something like this in the town centre it would attract people to cone into town and perhaps they would go for a coffee afterwards or pop into the local shops. However what will happen when it opens is that people will be forced to drive 3 or 4 miles and wont shop locally. They will either go elsewhere such as leek or macclesfield or just come straight home. We moved to congleton nearly 10 years ago over which time there have been plans to build a new shopping centre. However this is based on the sorts of precincts built 20 years ago. As a mother with young children I really think the heart to a shopping centre has to be some kind of indoor pkay area which would attract parents unto town. Congleton has a lot of regular mums and tots groups held on most days of the week in different village and church halls. They afe well attended showi g parents like these kind of groups. However one permanent central location would be much better and perhaps sone of the older retired volunteers who run the groups would enjoy organising activities as they do at the mums and tots groups. The library could even be incorporated into this place as again alot of parents use these facikities and infact ourlocal library even run a couple of weekly sessions rrhyme time and story time which again are extremely well attended. Congleton has lots of empty shops and it amazes me how often new businesses begin trading only to shut down after a year or two. Its great you are getting involved with the government and talking such common sense. We love your programmes! The series on the knicker factory was fascinating! Keep up the good work! Take care. Mandy x
Can you help. I live in Northwood Middx and TFL are in the process of selling off land opposite the station and I understand that there is to be a large Sainsburys supermarket built on the site. You say you want to save the High Street. On the site at the moment are individual shops, many have been there for many years. None of the shops are empty and appear to be thriving. The whole village atmosphere of our little village will be destroyed. We do have a Waitrose supermarket and also a One Stop shop, which is surely enough for a small place. I have written to my MP Mr Nick Hurd in the same way and hope that something can be done to keep the indivuality of the local shops. Hoping you can help in some way
Many Thanks
C Sherman
Looking forward to watching the new series on the Portas Pilots next week and getting some ideas for Andover.
Mary do come and see our local shopping lane- Pitshanger Lane in Ealing, W5.It is a genuine community, but then most of us round here do support it.The traders and shoppers also organise “events”- Party in the Park, Light Up The Lane, etc, The prices may be a few pence more than the big boys down at Ealing Broadway and West Ealing but the big upside is the social aspect of it. Even if I am just popping out for a newspaper or some milk I invariably do not get back home for at least 30-45 minutes as I stop to chat to other locals about local affairs. Several years ago when I did my knee in some traders popped in with food I liked. Of course all the shops are independents apart from the Co-op.
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One advantage of supermarket shopping is the TROLLEY. High street/farmer’s market shopping with loads of bags can be hard work. Bring back the little trolleys that ladies of a certain age used to use – would make high street shopping much easier on the arms…. they could become a style icon.
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I am a Junior Business Analyst and i am enjoying the career path, but my problem is that I have a fear of raising my point when i am in a meeting with the higher structures of the organisation, this makes me think i do not have good communication skills.
Certainly this has got to be a better option than the creation of more generic shopping malls. These lifeless centers of commerce add nothing to our daily lives. I am intotal agreement with your ideas.. We need more community in our high streets, rather than just pure commercialism.
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Since the Portas programme visited charity shops we have been disappointed that our favourite charity shop in Faversham (hospice shop) has had a revamp and as a result is no longer interesting enough to shop in. Whereas in the past we knew exactly where to reach for a box selling old blankets or sheets we could buy to rip up for cleaning bicyles or whatever, or a rack of school clothes including sports wear, these have vanished. In their place are boring items folded neatly so you can no longer ‘ rummage’ – it’s taken all the fun out of searching for a bargain!
Where are the balls of wool? the kinitting patterns? old enamel ware that I can buy and decorate? I’m sorry but some of us actually preferred charity shops the way they were, especially those who find the new prices too steep.
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