What would you include in your dream high street?

[PunnyBeaker]

Primark

A fishmonger
A butcher
A greengrocer
An Asian grocer (like Taj in Brighton)
A delicatessen
A large bookshop
An off-licence
A non-chain coffee shop
A pet shop (for pet-related items, not actual pets)
A florists
A Goth clothing shop where everything is the same shade of black
A gallery for local art

Butcher.

Fishmonger

Green Grocer

A coffee shop or cafe with decent quality snack, light lunch or cake options not like the rubbish food the chain coffee shops provide with comfortable seating, good lighting and enough charging points with decent Wi-Fi.

Bakery a proper old - fashioned one not Greggs.

An independent pharmacy

An ironmongers selling really useful homeware stuff that you can buy individual items in.

A nice charity shop, but just one.

A good independent card shop

An independent bookshop with a decent second hand section.

M and S food hall

A small department store or a Wilkos/ Woolworths type shop.

A proper old - fashioned type shoe shop that can use a foot gauge to measure feet.

A stationary shop not WH Smith/ TG Jones/ Ryman

Proper post office

Free or subsided parking

No dogs in shops, unless registered assistance dogs.

staff in shops offering good customer service without standing around gossiping or on mobile phones looking bored and not giving a shit if they serve you or not.

Minimal self- service tills.

Free environmentally friendly carrier bags.

No nail bars, tattoo shops, vape shops, too many charity shops mobile phone repair shops or book makers.

One side would be charity shops, the other an asian grocer, hardware store (a real one with those silver garden burn bins and sledges hanging up outside, not Robert Dyas), garden centre, cheap bakery, cheap butcher and green grocer.

Sephora
Flannels
JD

Pretty much everything that’s been mentioned, also no arcades or gambling shops.
A small art gallery & a library.
An independent shop selling pet food, toys & treats.
A device that disables phone / tablet speakers in the area so that headphones are essential.

Our small town has many good things - butchers, greengrocer, fishmonger, delicatessen, Polish shop, stationers, bookshops, newsagent, secondhand charity bookshop, four pharmacies, a gluten-free bakery and café, clothes shops, shoe shops, opticians, one supermarket - the others are round the outer edge of the town.

Street parking is free before 10am, car parks have three hours free parking at the weekend and in the fortnight before Christmas.

We are lucky.

oh yes, we have a pet food and accessories shop. The library is a good five minutes walk away from the town centre, but you can't have everything.

And we have two banks.

Independent deli, butcher, 4 grocers (greengrocers, Turkish, Indian and Asian stores), fishmonger, artisan bakery, ProCook and Lakeland, refill store, bookshops (Waterstones and secondhand), charity shops, Bravissimo (I currently have to travel for ages whenever I need new bras), bottle shop, excellent farmers market, independent coffee shops and cafes, a houseplant shop, John Lewis and Waitrose. I feel so sad as I write this: my town is all vape shops and cheap clothing :-(

That sounds amazing. are you willing to let us know where you are please?.

A museum and an art gallery . Ideally part of a rotating exhibition from the British Museum and National al gallery

Woolworth's with the full sized pick and mix bins and haberdashery from the 80's
Edinburgh's Jenners in it's heyday.
Heelas in Reading before they stripped the wooden floors out and made it a JL
Millwards shoes with the fitting stools
Carpenters/Cargo
Jackson of Reading, a beautiful corner department store, with sloping floors, it sold school uniforms, straw boaters, ballet shoes, leotards and all the scout/guide paraphernalia.
Laura Ashley
Liberty London
A lovely teashop with jars of tea on display
A record shop.

Waitrose or Booths. M&S (with food hall). Possibly a nearby Market with good bread, cheese and meat. Good tram or train links. I might have described Altrincham except I love/hate it. Also Didsbury for those who know it. A good coffee shop that may also sell/play records

M&S Food Hall
Hairdresser
Chemist
Wine Bar
Cheese Shop
Deli
Bakery
Butcher
Fish n Chip Shop
Coffee Shop
Old Fashioned Sweet Shop
Florist
Post Office

No……..

Vape Shops
Tattoo Parlours
Tanning Shops
Nail Shops
Kebab Shops

Can those who still have a decent High Street make an effort to patronise it. The reason so many shops have closed and so many high streets have become havens for money laundering businesses is that too many customers simply stopped using them.

I do agree with that.

We live in London, so are fortunate to have most of these things in easy reach, but people also have to recognise that if they want an independent bookstore, they have to actually go there. Not buy books off Amazon and then whinge, or that a meal in an independent cafe is going to cost more, because their overheads are higher, and on and on.

I will also say, that I find department stores annoying since they've gone to the concession model. You can't walk into Selfridges and buy a pair of gloves any more. You have to go to each brand looking for gloves. It's a really annoying way to shop.

This was an interesting and somewhat depressing read
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2026/jan/28/labour-risks-election-wipeout-unless-it-improves-britain-high-streets-study-finds

There would be a central quad that was pedestrianised round 3 sides, one side for public transport cycle and walking lanes with safe bike and buggy st, car park paid but reasonable, would be set back off main streets.

Quad would have market days, and outdoor events and shops cafes would be able to have outdoor seating weather permitting if they wanted.

2/3 cafes, daytime cafes, with food positioned for good people watching, a pub or two at least be which showed sports.

Shops would be closed Sunday and Monday to give retail staff a “weekend” if they wanted.

As for shops:
Butcher
Fishmonger
Greengrocer
Hardware store for small jobs
Bookshop
Stationary/cards/art craft supplies
Couple of charity shops
post office / community information centre
couple of banks
decent sized clothes shops
couple of specialised food delis
bakers
toy shop
newsagents
pop up ice cream hatch
a selection of restaurant/take away hatches

a set back bowling/arcade/pool tables place for teens to hang out

a set back town hall and gardens

and as it’s totally fantasy

behind shops a large park with ball game area, playgrounds , outdoor water play
water fountains

a well thought out museum with travelling exhibitions and similar art gallery

and a smallish independent theatre which hosts decent acts doing “warm up” new material

Hoole high street in Chester has won awards. It's proper old fashioned specialist fish monger /game butcher /butcher /independent shops galore.

Yes theatre small with all seats comfy and good views but still beautiful not brutal modern , a brilliant soft play for little ones , florists , art shops , beautiful creative looking toy shops.
I hate toy shops that looks like hardware stores !! Male them dreamy and special !!

My local one. A decent clothes shop. Little Waitrose, little M&S food hall. Oliver Bonas. We’re getting the M&S food hall at some point apparently.

Tbh I'd do so more if a) parking were more affordable and b) my salary had kept up with inflation

Waterstones and Paperchase
Tim Hortons
Pizza Hut
A barefoot shoe shop
A raw food pet shop
A dessert/milkshake/soft drink shop
Probably a Primark as I like a browse in there…

Other things our small town centre has that I appreciate - a very good computer repair man about four minutes walk from the central crossroads (though he does have parking space). He'll fix most things and if all else fails is good at sourcing affordable, reconditioned, replacements. A cinema, the town hall arts centre.

Things we used to have that I miss, a good plant shop (there are several florists), a proper locksmith - he now works in the city, 20 miles away, a wool shop.

A thing that would baffle a lot of English people, but that helps with cultural cohesiveness - on the outer edge of the town centre, two funeral homes that will usually have long queues for a couple of hours several evenings a week as people line up to pay respects to the bereaved and to tell each other stories about the deceased. Usual cachement area for them is ca 15 miles from the town centre.

Agree so much about the need to use it, and also about the importance of free or affordable parking.

The record shop we used to go to on Saturday afternoons. We would listen to records in the booths all afternoon and buy one single.
Whole afternoon’s entertainment for the price of a single.
Best times of my life.

Two really good butchers, one halal one not.
A shop that sells a really wide range of fruit and veg.
Woolworths
Lidls
Topshop
Uniqlo
Primark
A pound shop where everything really is a pound.
A charity shop that sells everything.
At least two nice independent coffee shops
A traditional 'old man' pub
A more trendy gastropub
A big pharmacy that wasn't a rip off but was independent
A nice independent restaurant for each of the following cuisines- Italian, Turkish, greek, Japanese, Chinese, Thai, Vietnamese, Spanish, french, American.