What will become of our city and town centres?

[rattymol]

So many towns and cities in my region have centres that are no longer working. Empty shops, charity shops and bookies have taken over, and much reduced footfall.
So what happens now?

In our borough we're getting fast food joints and vape shops where the banks used to be. It looks really classy 🙄

Lots of chicken shops and charity shops.

Probably be turned into yet more housing.

So town and city centres would disappear?

I think it will be about accessing in-person experiences that can't be online. That will vary by local demand but will be based a lot on eating/drinking and beauty experiences etc.

We have a thriving high street in my small town but there aren't many traditional retail outlets now - lots of coffee shops and nail bars etc.

It's depressing isn't it
No reason to pop into town now as there's nothing there
Don't get me started on parking in town, it's either permit only or you'll need a second mortgage to pay for it

@lavenderlou these places already have restaurants and bars. Not sure there is the demand for any more

I think that shops will remain in larger cities and out of town shopping centres, but will close in smaller towns and be turned into housing. People will have to travel further if they want to go shopping. It's a case of use it or lose it.

Our town centre is quite busy on a Sunday, when its free parking.

The other days... People go to the out of town shopping centres!

Those are my thoughts too.

Change their use.

Co-working hubs, vintage markets, move offices away from out of town industrial estates and improve public transport to the town centre.

That or let them die and we all drive out of town.

I agree that parking charges is a real issue.

Agreed.

I think there's a great opportunity to build housing with lots of things within walking distance - a couple of decent schools, parks, shops, cafes, libraries, gyms etc. Maybe some decent office space.

Make it really accessible for buggies, wheelchairs, bikes etc with good public transport links. Move the big shops out of town (with good transport links). Make a lot of it pedestrianised, with provision for blue badge parking and delivery vans etc.

I mean, I'm not a town planner, obviously, so I don't know exactly how it would all work!

I don't see what's wrong with housing. We need more housing in this country. Lots of people would probably like to live in a town centre. There could still be hairdressers, coffee shops and community spaces and the residents will use them. I'd sooner see apartments than grotty phone or charity shops. Some high streets aren't meant to be and we need to re purpose these spaces.

The point about town centres, as they used to be, is that they were a hub for shops of all kinds. You could go and browse the shops, have a coffee or a meal, maybe get a hair cut, pop into the bank and look round the department stores.

Whats the point of living in a town centre if there is nothing of interest in it? Yes, more housing is needed, but the cost of buying or renting in a renovated building in a town centre is going to be prohibitive.

I think town centre housing is a great idea and would have really appealed to me when I was in my 20s. All those restaurants and coffee shops on your doorstep would be great.

Town centres need to be used for something and making them nice places to live sounds much better than how some are now - deserted or threatening after 6pm every night. Better to have people buzzing about.

The point is that town centres tend to be quite central, with decent transport link already in place. So it would be easy to get a bus out to a shopping centre; you could also have lots of restaurants etc which people would come in for in the evenings.

And it wouldn't be hugely expensive if there was a lot more housing there - the supply would increase, so demand (and prices) would go down.

Half the thread saying they won't go if not free parking & half saying "walking distance" ... people don't walk. Won't walk even 5 minutes. So few people wiling to walk any distance.

Where we are, there aren’t any out of town shopping centres that you could easily get transport to. A few years ago, that didn’t matter, because the town centre had a department store and a good range of chain and independent shops. The department store and 80% of the shops have gone. The only replacements have been coffee shops, a branch of the Ivy and some charity shops. Most though, are empty units.

I wouldn’t want to live in the town centre with nothing in it.

The towns near me that are empty are the insanely ugly ones with no recent shops and no where to wander down pretty lanes etc.
You wouldn't go to them to chill out and have a coffee.
The really beautiful towns near me with a good amount of independence stores and lovely old building are thriving

I'm not sure that all the restaurants and coffee shops would survive without the shops. They rely on the footfall of people going into town centres for shopping. If the shops go, then most of the restaurants and coffee shops will go too.

Entrepreneurs will see it as an opportunity. Look at Detroit

I've noticed that the actual old high st in our nearest market town is ok actually. Boutique shops and nail bars. A few restaurants and coffee shops.

It's the old big purpose built shopping centre which is dying a death.

The bit that is really thriving is the new shopping area nearby with shops around a FREE central carpark. Big M&S + foodhall, big Next, Superdrug, Primarini, Mac Donalds and 3 other coffee shops. A big New Look and a River Island. Mountain Warehouse i think and a few other things.

Weekends it's always crazy busy with people cruising for spaces.