To ask what makes the perfect town centre?

[BernadetteRostankowskiWolowitz]

Following on from the "town centres are dying" thread, I wondered what would you want, and more importantly use if your council put in a new town centre.

I buy most of my groceries at Aldi and use the car as I buy a lot in one go, so I wouldn't use generic supermarkets in the main town centre. But I would use somewhere I could walk to and buy lunch (even if just Greggs), with a nice spot to sit and eat after I've purchased. Maybe a small green space so we could sit and chat and eat.

I love buying books (especially second hand) so would love a second hand shop dedicated to books.

A general shop with post office and Amazon Locker would be useful to me. As would a good sized car park (free or validated by the local shops).

I'd love to have a place I can buy really lovely greetings cards for birthdays, and even better if that shop also sold nice little token gifts to go with the cards.

I'd like a shop that sells cheese and wines and ales etc that aren't available on mainstream supermarkets.

Problem with all of this is that I wouldn't ben there more than once a week so it wouldn't be cost effective.

What would you need or want from your local town centre?

No cars

I live in a historic town and the entire centre is a conservation area, so I would be very pissed off if the council "put in" a new one! English Heritage wouldn't be too pleased, either.

If they wanted to put in some more shops (there is a site that is ripe for redevelopment that would suit a small precinct ) I would like to see a hardware shop (we only have Homebase, whose stock control is dreadful, and have to do a 16 mile round trip every time you need a few nails or some sandpaper), a shop selling car stuff (also a 16 mile round trip), a shoe shop, and an M&S, even if it only sells underwear and tights. And although we already have more coffee shops than you could shake a stick at, there's nowhere where you can sit by the river and have a coffee or a beer. The site in question adjoins the river, and if they could find a spot for a cafe or bar, that would be perfect.

Cafes and restaurants. @
Hairdresser
Childrens clothes & shoe shop
Pharmacy

Naice food/wine shops. Like a posh cheese shop, wine shop or a good butcher or fishmonger, but it would have to sell stuff you couldnt get in supermarkets.

Tbh though the reality is I don't build in time in my life any more for "shopping". I can do it online while on the exercise bike in the gym so time spent mooching around a town centre is inefficient

I'd rather there was more focus on facilities people use.

Where I live there no public pool & the nearest ones are rammed, waiting lists for lessons etc. I'd be happy if they replaced empty shops with a pool.

Yes - facilities is a good shout. As is pedestrian only.

I agree re lacking time and inclination to mooch hence me going in once a week max to get what U need.

Your town sounds lovely!

I'd like

• Market stalls with fresh fruit and veg, general groceries etc
• Fancy deli type shop (like you said, cheeses, chutneys, drinks, food hampers etc)
• Home- or locally-made gift shop
• A central courtyard with covered and uncovered seating
• A toy shop
• Kid friendly cafés
• Micropubs
• Independent clothes shops
• Zero waste shops

I’d like to see our small town centre become car free. Turn the car parks into green areas and put new car parks on the outskirts. And I’d like small shops that sell nice things. An artisan chocolatier. A card and gift shop (a nice one not Clinton Cards mass produced crap or handmade tat). A vintage shop. A book shop. A farm shop with grass fed beef and proper milk with cream on top in glass bottles. A baker who does artisan loaves. A patisserie with fabulous cakes. A bottle shop with unusual wines and beers. A delicatessen with fresh olives and cheese. Nice coffee shops. A weekly market for small producers.

At present the best part of the town centre (with the best views) is a car park. There’s a Wetherspoons with an outdoor seating area that’s full of alcoholics from 10am when it opens. A market that sells cheap Chinese produced plastic crap. A B&M shop. And a million charity shops which are renting the shops cheap because it’s a scabby place and the shops would otherwise be empty. It’s sad, the buildings are nice and it could be so lovely.

Good parking but also mostly pedestrianised.
Lots of cafes, coffee shops etc.
Nice scenery e.g. by the river.

Our town centre is full of spice heads so less of them.
No chuggers.
Less gambling arcades.
Free parking.
A nice mix of chain and independent shops.
Seating area with trees to sit and have a snack.
Nice flower beds to make the place look nice and inviting.

The following in no particular order of importance:
Cafes/coffee shops/restaurants/pubs
Banks
Post Office
Hairdressers/nail bars etc
Clothes shops
Holland & Barrett or similar
Boots/Superdrug etc
Library?
Independent Bakers/cheese shops/deli etc
Nicer food shops than usual eg M&S
Bookshop
Museum and theatre - nice to have but not essential
Good department store
Our town, although in decline, does have all of the above except for a department store - at one point it had three. And the PO has relocated into a squished corner of WHSmith.

Fully pedestrianised with independent family owned cafes, shops, pubs and restaurants, so money stays locally. No chains! A mix of shops, vintage, used bookstore, delis, gift shops, clothing, toy etc. Lots of green spaces to relax in. Cleanliness!

I once went to Witney in Oxfordshire which seems to tick most boxes.

I want

• easy access by public transport (bus and train)
• a green area to sit
• a playground for when small children need to let of some steam
• a softplay (for the same reason as above)
• a boardgame cafe
• plenty of benches (for when you are feeling tired or want to eat a pack lunch you have brought with you)
• toilets (as sometimes it can take a long time to get into town)
• a good mix of shops (not just chain ones or ones where things cost a fortune or something wanky)

I don’t like pedestrianised town centres as they don’t feel safe when it’s dark

We have two High Sts near us that we use

one is more chi chi and has

wine shop
butcher
fishmonger
book shops
loads of cafes
green grocers
arty cinema
independent clothes shops
other stuff - opticians, charity, hardware etc

Its busy, more so since pandemic and newer shops each month

The other one is more ‘up and coming’ and is changing slowly from a bit grotty to nice

Free parking, I'm not paying for the privilege to go somewhere to spend my own money, I'm also not going there on the extortionate germ infested public buses either.

My city is consulting on closure of its indoor market (run down 70s effort) . A town should have a market. Meeting point, local business space, flexible, sustainable, future proof.

I would prefer the emphasis to move away from shops. Have more 'stuff to do'. Swimming and other sports facilities, cultural places, libraries, community centres, soft play, places teens can safely hang out, play areas, no traffic, lots of seats and greenery, etc.
Obviously some shops - small independent types and having a market - locally sourced food etc and crafts/collectables/books/plants rather than those stalls selling cheap and nasty toys and strange jumpers with wolves on etc.
Eating places - cafes and restaurants, pubs, bars.
Make town a place you go to have a pleasant time and put the big retailers in a mall somewhere else (but connect the two places by good public transport)

I agree that a market is important to serve as a hub with a purpose.

Pedestrianised
independent shops
small art shops/ galleries
charity shops
nice wine bars/ micropubs
quirky cafes, vegan/healthy cafes. No chains.
a few smaller chains, holland and barrett is a good example. boots. other useful shops.
Green space and space for kids.

Canterbury old town seems about perfect to me.
Southwold would be good but they refuse to pedestrianise it.

PP - they only feel dangerous because these days they're designed to be 9-5 chain stores with no residential accommodation as part of the mix so there's nobody around.

I'm obsessed with not just bikes on youtube, a guy who talks about urban planning and how the Netherlands is basically superior to most countries with this 😂
Off the back of binge watching those what I'd want is huge secure bicycle storage, bikes and pedestrians prioritised, I'd also want local shops rather than just chain brands, things like a post office, library etc so i can do chore type things as well as the shopping and longer or shifted to later opening hours for everything that means working people can use them.

This sounds perfect!

Shopping can all be conveniently delivered to my door for less than the price of a bus or parking, so for me I'd want the town centre to be about experiences - cafes, pubs, ice cream shops, clubs, leisure centres, swimming pools, ice-rinks, theatres, parks, spas, hairdressers etc.

And if I can get similar experiences somewhere that doesn't charge for parking then I'm not going to spend ££ on parking in town.

A cathedral, some ruins and a walled garden with benches and a pond

It needs things to do - online shopping is not going away so towns are never going to support the same number of shops as they once did
Cafes, restaurants, a theatre, library, swimming pool, museum, youth centre all provide reasons to visit during day and evening. An indie bookshop which also sells nice cards (we have that), a proper independent bakery, a haberdashery selling useful bits and bobs and a bicycle repair shop. A good quality charity shop that knows how to display clothes nicely.
A covered market hall supporting new start up businesses at relatively low rent.
A small playground for toddlers to burn off some energy safely.
Plenty of benches.

Pedestrianised. Cars limited to multistorey site on edge of town centre.
More safe bike parking including for non-standard bikes.
Bus/train service that runs until 11.30pm.