To think without retail we have to plan what to use our high streets for?

[omygoditsearly]

So retail has been in decline for years, covid has hastened the end of many large stores and changed habits. But we still have the physical infrastructure so what do we want to do with it?
Much retail space pave has been snapped up by property developers to build rabbit hutches but I can't see that working once a high street is gone. I suppose some could be bulldozed and consumed by urban sprawl but then many are older or protected so that would be difficult too. Does any one have any thoughts on how these spaces may be used in the future?

High streets have been a relatively modern concept so i'm interested to see what comes next. The empty department stores are worrying though.

I would agree that clothes shopping in person has often been a waste of time for me for the past couple of years. I like online shopping for being able to either browse if i'm open minded or filter view if i want something specific. Not having to repeatedly get dressed and undressed in hot, badly lit changing rooms.

The market town I live in is already much like the ideal many of you describe.

Thinking my way down the high street there is a haberdashery, an independent book shop that does coffee, an independent stationary shop, a cookery school, and independent homewares shop, and independent hardware shop, two bakeries, a butcher, a deli, a grocery, knick-knack shops, clothes shops and coffee shops (some chain, some independent). There are outdoor markets twice a week and several big outdoor shopping events through the year. There is a town hall with community groups like history clubs. It's fully pedestrianised quite a bit of the time and cafes can put tables out in nice weather.

But it is all dying because nobody has any money! All these shops a lovely, but they are all more expensive than Tesco and Lidl. Making every high street just like ours clearly isn't the solution unless the economy is in a whole different place and people have cash to part with.

We badly need new schools, doctors surgeries, dentists etc. There are houses being thrown up everywhere round here but the schools are oversubscribed and it's impossible to get a GP appointment.

There isn't a lot of mixed use in the UK. There's such a trend to build out of town in brand new, purpose built premises that we have to realise we have damaged our city centres in favour of giving a few developers profits.

In Holland, my GP surgery was situated in a flat in the city centre, accessed via a shared entrance doorway with residential properties up a steep and narrow staircase. Excellent GPS once inside. That wouldnt be possible in the UK.

Some town centres need tidying up and condensing quite a bit. It obviously happened in better times but most towns have roads which have a mix of shops and housing as you go further away from the main centre and these areas always look run down and no one really wants to go out of the main centre.
Provision needs to be made for all types of business in the main centres, leaving the outside edges for more housing.
Also, there needs to be a shake up of lease ownership. So many companies buy leases and have no interest in supporting the business who occupies the building and when these leases are bought with borrowed money, there is no flexibility with rent in difficult times.

I would like to see a new ice rink/ swimming centre open. Encourage people back in to the centre, or do something after work. At the minute our ice rink is 15-20 minutes walk from the town centre, across the city's main road to the motorway, and through 2 bad areas- I didn't let my teen go alone until about 13, and I would go pick her up at 17 rather than get her to walk for the bus. And I'm not in any way an anxious parent. Make it easier for teens to get out and do.

I would like our ice rink back. And our indoor skatepark. They got turned into a rainbow hospital and the council are going to make it into a smaller facility after cv.

I'd like my area to be made safer for young teenagers. I'm seriously scared of ds going to high school and starting to roam, as we're a county lines route and have a lot of anti social behaviour.

I think large buildings with lots of floors will become office blocks. Then there will be a new wave of shops, street food and other businesses. Other big buildings could become a cinema, theatre, book shop or library. There are still plenty of rich people who will want to plough their money into something when this is all over. I already know of a few people setting up business plans for small businesses/shops and a brownie/small bake shop. I bet there are loads of others pouring over their accounts for new ventures as we speak.

I'd like to think the government will focus on education and how to close the attainment gap. Some of the biggest stores could be converted to schools?

I'd like to see more covered food markets, not just fruit and veg but meat and fish, fresh spices and herbs, plus indoor and outdoor plants, DIY shops, wool & haberdashery etc.

Don't forget bats.

I think one thing is for sure if residential property is to play a part we must make sure that legislation is strengthened to guard against HMO slums and of existing/ surviving retail and leisure. In some ways it may be a hopeful future of open community spaces - if we get it right and keep the developers in check!

Not just retail - office blocks too. I know of two office suites in Glasgow city centre which have been vacated during the pandemic with a switch to more homeworking.

Even if everyone just works one day a week at home, that's 20% less office space needed. Some parts of large cities are deserted at weekends as it's all office space. We stayed in an Airbnb very close to Chancery Lane tube in London a few years ago - heaving on a weekday, a ghost town at weekends. There is going to be so much vacant office space over the next few years.

I think mixed use is the way to go - small retail at ground level, some office space, and apartments all in the same building.

Hmos are big business round here. 5 bedroom house posted recently. Lots of families asked about availability. Landlord said no, 450 per bedroom, shared kitchen. No families. It's just greed. Fuck knows where families are meant to go, and I speak as someone lucky enough to have my own house.

There's more sense of community when you mix up groups of people. I barely saw any of my neighbours until I had kids. Then I got to know them, then I cared more about the area.

My partner works in the building engineering industry. They've already started on several conversions from commercial to residential and it's primarily to large student housing complexes.

@BertieBotts

Those sound a bit more high end than I was thinking. I was thinking more like toy shops where they have demos of different sets, things available to play with and try out, staff that can advise if you like this you'll like that, what to get for an 8yo boy or whatever. Or a kitchen items store with a little camping stove so you can try out different pans. Someone doing a demo of this gadget or that gadget. Cookery classes demonstrating techniques you can do with certain equipment or good knife technique, etc etc.

Not to say high end services wouldn't be good too, but I think it might be less cost effective and wouldn't be a viable model.

Whereas adding the cost of extra, trained staff, extra demonstration and play space onto a toy store - selling exactly the same commodities you can then go and buy cheaper online - is a viable model???

So far, it’s mostly becoming student housing in my city.

@Fullofthejoysofspring

I'd like to think the government will focus on education and how to close the attainment gap. Some of the biggest stores could be converted to schools?

I think this would be hard for the majority of locations. Schools need a fair bit of outdoor space in order to be accessible and for PE, break times.

@Nocaloriesinchocolate

Nottngham more or less knocked down a huge 60s shopping centre then the developer went bust so it's now a building site. Doubly unfortunate as its on the main route into town from the station. Recently a suggestion was made to convert the space into an urban park - a brilliant idea imo.

Nottingham’s Broadmarsh shouldn’t be a park. We need jobs, homes and activity - it’s at the heart of the city centre!

Yes, think green in how it’s built back, and include more open spaces and vegetation, but fundamentally it’s an urban space that needs buildings in it.

Last year Edinburgh developed a proposal to enhance the city centre by pedestrianising as far as possible, building a new access to Princes Street Gardens and a plaza bit overlooking it that could be filled with pavement cafes. They also wanted to widen pavements in places like Lothian Road/South Bridge by shutting lanes of traffic, again to increase the pavement cafe possibilities. Then there were ideas about planting trees, improving walking access (outdoor lifts for the steepest bits!) and running shuttle buses across it to reduce traffic. I really liked most of the ideas. That was pre-pandemic and I don't know if it ever got the green light.

There's also a lot of interest in the 20 minute neighbourhood idea - enhancing local areas so that you can work, live, shop and be entertained all within a 20 minute radius. Stops people having to travel into city centres for everything. The Granton Waterfront idea (in Edinburgh) is to have a coastal park, watersports, a college, art gallery/museum, cafes, retail, housing etc all in one place.

@SuperbGorgonzola the bigger buildings could have indoor playgrounds etc.

Everything people are naming is lovely, but most of it is not doable unless rents massively drop and rates too. Which they won't really. Many developers I talked about long term empty premises just refuse to budge. Apparently it would ddevaluate the asset. Well, love, if being 6 years empty didn't devalue it, being 70% of asking rent won't either🤷🏻
Check commercial rents in your high street. It's eye watering. I have a feeling that they will rather bulldoze the building than rent it out for a price independent business could afford.

Developer and owners that should have said

Maybe they could have indoor playgrounds, but i think there is something to be said for getting children outside, in the summer when it's hot and in the winter when they might not otherwise see much daylight.

You do also need parking on site for children and families with mobility issues, getting them onto coaches for trips and things.

I do think something needs to be done with these buildings but I just don't think schools would work.

@doctorhamster

We badly need new schools, doctors surgeries, dentists etc. There are houses being thrown up everywhere round here but the schools are oversubscribed and it's impossible to get a GP appointment.

The current government has banned starting new community schools so you'll be whistling for that one.