Positive link between restaurant/leisure provision on our high streets and town centre regeneration.

[ChrisLewis]

So great news for STAFFORD...

Over recent years, the traditional high street has faced stiff competition, and many have entered a spiral of decline, with reduced levels of viability and vitality.

But changing outdated planning policies to help increase the number of restaurants can provide a significant boost, writes Clive Cunio who is based at the Altrincham office of planning consultants Caulmert.

It’s no secret that the high street is coming off worse in its fight against out of town shopping and the internet, which increasingly draw shoppers away from the high street.

Out of town shopping centres offer easy access with free car parking, whilst the large supermarket chains provide choice, price competitiveness and one stop shopping.

Latterly, the number of people who rely on the internet for their shopping and have their purchases delivered straight to the door has increased dramatically.

The Government is helping the fight back and has committed to supporting high streets as part of its long term economic plan to create jobs and boost local communities.

The 2016 winners of the Great British High Street competition, run by the Department for Communities and Local Government, were announced with Blackburn scooping the top award.

And former High Streets Minister Penny Mordaunt said: “High streets are a vital part of our economy, supporting thousands of jobs in retail and leisure, but they are also the heart of communities providing a great place for friends and family to meet.”

In addition to the Great British High Street competition, the Government has implemented a number of initiatives in England to try and halt this decline. For example, it has increased flexibility on the high street so that premises housing shops, restaurants and banks can change use between one another.

Changes also include allowing buildings with shops, banks and estate agents to change use to cinemas and gyms.

Whether this has had much of an impact in practice is debatable.

However, we are a nation of shoppers and the enjoyment of the experience can be a critical factor in determining whether people want to come back again.

Research shows restaurant and leisure offerings complement the shopping experience and can result in significantly longer dwell times.

Evidence from marketing technology and data specialists CACI shows retail spend rises considerably with an improved catering offer.

Freeing retail space for leisure can also produce benefits by reducing surplus floor space. The changing role of the high street provides an opportunity to break the spiral of decline and to increase vitality and viability.

In Greater Manchester, recent success stories include the listed Altrincham Market, which is helping to rejuvenate the surrounding area by offering new bijoux restaurant space, including a number of local operators, each providing the customer with very different food and drink choices.

Other examples include the Corn Exchange in Manchester City Centre, which did not succeed as a ‘quality retail destination’ but now provides a dining destination which complements and enhances the City Centre as a whole.

It is clear to see the positive link between restaurant/leisure provision on our high streets and town centre regeneration.

Outdated planning policies seeking to protect and maintain certain areas purely for retail provision can often result in significant decline to those areas.

There needs to be a comprehensive leisure-based strategy put in place for many of these declining high streets, focusing on the many benefits that restaurant and leisure uses can bring to the wider area.


http://www.northwestcaterer.co.uk/2...-the-new-driver-for-town-centre-regeneration/

 

[John Marwood]

DoubleSpeakQuangoHyperBull

 

[Trumpet]

Could we have a High Street Pie Minister?

 

[Gramaisc]

Could we have a High Street Pie Minister?

We had one just a hundred yards off...

 

[Goldilox]

That's interesting thank you @ChrisLewis.

Without reading the research firsthand it's obviously hard to know how rigorous it was, but it does seem a little at odds with my own personal experience, particularly a trip @Wormella & I made to the US in 2013 where we saw a number of downtown areas that had seen major regeneration following what I believe American planners call the 'donut effect' - severe decline following out of town developments. There was often a great swath of the city that was filled only with chain restaurants and felt very soulless & disney-fied. Now, if you are a town planner that's obviously far preferable to a big chunk of the city being left as derelict factories, but on the ground it felt a long way from the bustling urban centre that this article alludes to.

 

[Wormella]

'donut effect'

Mmm, doughnuts.....

 

[Gareth]

That's interesting thank you @ChrisLewis.

Without reading the research firsthand it's obviously hard to know how rigorous it was, but it does seem a little at odds with my own personal experience, particularly a trip @Wormella & I made to the US in 2013 where we saw a number of downtown areas that had seen major regeneration following what I believe American planners call the 'donut effect' - severe decline following out of town developments. There was often a great swath of the city that was filled only with chain restaurants and felt very soulless & disney-fied. Now, if you are a town planner that's obviously far preferable to a big chunk of the city being left as derelict factories, but on the ground it felt a long way from the bustling urban centre that this article alludes to.

But that is the issue, in this country at least.

Town centres and councils are flogging a dead horse with retail. Retail is a dying breed and the powers that be need to evolve with the consumers demands and their changing lazy or convenient habits as well the major retailors and out of town land being developed.

Those that don't will be massively left well behind ala hanley burslem, stockport, bury etc etc with years of boarded up shops being to deteriorate.

Retail still has a smaller part to play but with small listed buildings in town centres like Stafford, alternative means and uses need to be reviewed and changed. This will mainly come down to food and leisure.

Like or not, for towns to survive beyond what they are they need to move on.

 

[Feed The Goat]

But that is the issue, in this country at least.

Town centres and councils are flogging a dead horse with retail. Retail is a dying breed and the powers that be need to evolve with the consumers demands and their changing lazy or convenient habits as well the major retailors and out of town land being developed.

Those that don't will be massively left well behind ala hanley burslem, stockport, bury etc etc with years of boarded up shops being to deteriorate.

Retail still has a smaller part to play but with small listed buildings in town centres like Stafford, alternative means and uses need to be reviewed and changed. This will mainly come down to food and leisure.

Like or not, for towns to survive beyond what they are they need to move on.

I agree less floorspace is now required for retail in the town. It is disappointing that the council thought allowing more shops to be built in the last 2 years was a great idea. The chances of the town centre looking any better in the next ten years are slim. I can see few takers for the old co-op department store, the old m&s etc in the near future.

 

[Gareth]

Disagree.

Well before riverside was built many many folk were complaining Stafford had no big draw or big pull shops and not enough variation on leisure/ restaurants with a declining cinema. Let alone the town was losing people to other towns cities that did.

Without intervention the town centre was going to decline further.

In fact the council pulled quite a coup in developing and drawing big brands and well known names to the edge of the town centre instead of elsewhere, which is normally the case. There has already been a surge of businesses and there will be more once the site is finished and north walls is full, which it will be.

The guildhall are at last pulling their finger out.

So at last more shoppers will stay in stafford and it is an ever expanding town is a good thing, people will have more food and better leisure options. This will in turn have some upturn on independents and other smaller brand (the works, yours). More money in the town means further investment.

That is what councils up and down the country need to do, attract, invest and evolve and not sit on their laurels with their fingers crossed.

While most won't like it but stafford`s council, town partnership, businesses, entrepreneurs and other partners should actually be commended for the attempt to do something. Not everything will succeed but the town cannot be accused of not giving it ago and changing the format.

As townsfolk our job will be to give it a go and chance.

If the government can go further with rates that would be even better, we could also do with landlords wanting to do their bit to fulfill units especially on high streets. Look at where starbucks and pastiche sit, the owners of those builds have not covered themselves in glory, same can be said for the guildhall in recent years.

I guarantee there are many towns that are not bothering thinking why waste the money.