As the Queen of Shops, Mary Portas prepares to lead an independent review into the UK’s troubled high street, Action for Market Towns looks at examples of towns already taking action and the tools they’re using to do it – from benchmarking to local loyalty cards.
Walking a fine line A popular shortcut connecting two shopping areas in Crewkerne town centre ran through a service yard area owned by a number of landowners. The area was an eyesore with no clear separation between vehicles and pedestrians. When Mackays announced that they were intending to move into Crewkerne and extend an old [...]
Employment advice with a smile Gillingham Work (Job) Club aims to help unemployed people make the most of local knowledge to identify opportunities and resources in their communities to gain employment, experience, training and support. Launched in November 2010, the club provides help in a warm and welcoming atmosphere to anyone of any age who [...]
The follow-up to the 2005 report ‘Clone Town Britain’ has been published by the New Economics Foundation (nef). ‘Reimagining the High Street’ takes stock of the UK’s town centres in the wake of the recession. It finds that the chain stores have proven fair-weather friends to many high streets, leaving a trail of boarded-up shops [...]
A small businessman in Pocklington has started a campaign to get people to support local shops in the town. Guy Scott, of Scott’s Fishmongers, is encouraging local traders to take part in a monthly discount day to attract visitors and residents into the town centre: “Once these people have been in, they will find out [...]
Cabe has published a report looking at the pros and cons of supermarket-led development.
‘Supermarket-led development: asset or liability?’ examines 30 major schemes and discusses the jobs and investment this type of development can bring, as well as the perils of transposing an out-of-town supermarket model into a town centre.
© Action for Market Towns 2010
