What would you include in your dream high street?

[PunnyBeaker]

Primark

No little minks with electric bikes and face coverings.

I think I’m incredibly lucky in where I live as it has lots of good independents, plus some mid to higher end chains, and a little new look, plus lots of cafes (chain and indie) bars and restaurants. And a market. But if I could add anything it would be a H and M and a Zara.

Thanks for the mention of local art! I'm typing this from my gallery having sold two prints today.
In other news the "mini mart" near me got raided by the council in the week, presumably for selling knock off cigs and vapes? So maybe the high street is getting tidied up.

Our village now has 3 money laundering places - a small village! There's more money launderers than "real" shops as it's really a very small village! One is a Turkish barbers that literally never has any customers - ever - just a couple of frightening looking blokes always either sat on the sofa smoking or stood outside smoking. Next to that is the vape shop - in the old newsagents that closed down years ago - piled high floor to ceiling in all kinds of vapes in brightly coloured boxes, but just the same - never see any customers go in, and another big frightening bloke running it who's often stood outside smoking with the two from the barbers! The other is an ethnic, Chinese, herbal shop - there are no more than a handful of chinese living in the village and again, never seen any customers go in that shop either. All three shops were derelict and run down, having been empty for a few years, until over Winter when all 3 suddenly got shopfittings and a lick of paint - all at the same time! Coincidence - don't think so!

If the "town" high streets are being cleaned up, then the money laundering gangs are clearly moving out and finding new places to pretend to trade.

No point pretending I want wall-to-wall independents, I'm just going to be honest -

All the stuff we used to have - Paperchase before it went to shit, Habitat, Borders.
Plus-
John Lewis
M&S
Uniqlo

Tavistock used to have a bloody lovely high street, a mix of chains and independents but also a greengrocer, a butchers, a couple of cracking independent cafes, a couple of good bakers, a little art gallery, a couple of charity shops (good ones because it was a relatively wealthy area!) and a gorgeous little toy shop amongst others AND lots of benches, well kept floral displays and trees, well cared for public toilets and easy parking.
I haven’t been for a while as it is quite out of my way now but I’m almost loathe to as I feel it’ll be so disappointing with the way everywhere’s going 😞

I would love some decent book shops, hardware and haberdashery, shoe shops, a small garden centre, an independent stationery shop like what I used to go to when I was a teen, with scented rubbers, pens & pencils, and notebooks and all sorts of other little things.

I would love there to be no vape shop, only a couple of barbers and nail bars, and only a couple of phone repair shops

I actually prefer chains to independents so I don't want wall to wall independents either.

I'd love Woolworths and M&S including a food hall (we do have a Simply Food where I am but it's tiny).
A range of clothes shops like Fat Face
A bookshop
A bike shop
A department store

And I'd also like a legal obligation on councils and landlords to do more due diligence on people seeking to rent units and pay business rates that they aren't money laundering. At the moment landlords and councils seem to see £££ signs and make no effort to make sure that it's a proper business, even though residential tenants have to jump through countless hoops to be able to rent somewhere, even with the new rules.

Councils also seem very slow to catch up with serial "movers" who rent a place for a few months, then "sell it" to someone else in their wider circle, and in turn "buy" another place from someone else. It's like a perpetual carousel of criminals buying and selling businesses from around their "circle" of associates. So by the time the council catch up with someone for non payment of business rates or rent etc they've moved on and someone else has moved in, and it starts again! I agree with you that there's a lot to be said for some kind of "deposit" or legal guarantee being required but also I think there should be better licensing of shops so that the dodgy ones can't just open up without obtaining a licence from the council, again to pre-vet them, and at least get proper ownership proof by the people purporting to be running the business. It's all too easy for "owners" to just disappear due to false names/addresses etc.

Neglected on here but really want a post office and a banking branch - a multi-bank branch which serves all the main banks would be ideal