Over, the course of the last few decades the popularity of the traditional British town centre has dwindled, with mega malls, such as the Trafford Centre and retail outlet parks taking the place of Britain’s town centres.
A report from uSwitch.com, last week, has fired a vicious warning regarding the state of Britain’s town centres. The report stated that just 49 per cent of Brits are proud of their local town centre and 25 per cent of people used to be proud of their town centre, but no longer are.
The general aesthetics of commercial property was stated as a major factor for the lack of pride in town centres, with boarded up and vacant commercial property cited as the main perpetrator.
Director of Consumer Policy at uSwitch.com, Ann Robinson, said: ‘Britain’s High Streets should be the lifeblood of the local community – instead they are dying on their feet. High rents, rates and the recession have forced many retailers off the High Street altogether, while preventing new independents or start-ups from taking their place. Consumers often blame the larger retailers for the lack of choice on our High Streets, but the reality is that very often it is only the draw of a larger store that is keeping some town centres alive.
Despite this, people do want their town centre to contain good quality commercial property and say they would visit if this was the case. Ann Robinson continues: ‘The good thing is that 97% of consumers care about their local town centre – they want to see it thrive and they would like to be able to spend their money there. We are living in financially difficult times so anything that can relieve this pressure, such as free car parking for shoppers, will go down well. Yes this would cost local councils money, but we would all see the reward in a boost to civic and community pride.’
The situation regarding commercial property in Britain’s town centres may well be a case of, what came first, the chicken or the egg?
