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?

Clean, well.maintained public toilets

Pedestrianised, but with plenty of bicycle parking

Free parking. Toilets. Security. Our town center has had far too many stabbings so I don't even consider it.

More independent shops. My town is dying though. So many empty units between countless vape/phone/charity shops. There is no reason to go into the centre anymore.

I think it’s all in the landscaping. Create a really nice environment people want to visit and all kinds of thing beyond my imagination will pop up. For example near us there is one lovely green bit and there an ottoman cafe has just popped up. Who knew I would need baklava in various flavours in my life, alongside a fabulous array of savoury type baklava things and lovely salads.

I should say the rest of the town is half boarded. It’s dire as has so much potential and there’s a thriving economy of young entrepreneurs and young businesses here.

I think encouraging office space in town centres can help - if it is a mixed area, eg offices and shops then there is an inbuilt customer base from workers for cafes for lunch, pub for after work drink. Helps support businesses during the entire week.
Likewise encouraging residential development too

The idea of a shopping only area seems pretty old fashioned.

A densely packed town centre with pedestriansed streets means nothing is very far away on foot/mobility scooter, rather than sprawling low rise shopping. Bit like a medieval town centre ideally - prefer the narrow, dense streets to empty soul less plazas to trudge around.

A bustling shopping area - mix of department stores, small independent shops and markets.
Historic buildings for the appearance and to bring in tourism
Not too big, not too small. Just right so you can explore it all by foot. Or at least good public transport.
Outside seating areas for bars and cafes with everyone sat out in the summer. Gives it a nice cosmopolitan feel.

People living in the centre above the shops so at night there is some activity.

Lovely, interesting buildings to look at - not 1960s/70s concrete blocks.

Nice, clean green spaces with no litter and plenty of benches to sit on.

A good mix of shops. Nice independents with interesting and quirky items and attractive window displays. Places that specialise really weel in things - bookshops, ironmongers, delis, chocolate shops, sewing and crafts, lamps, jewellers, stationery etc.

Lovely cafes and restaurants to suit a variety of budgets.

Shoe shops - we have NO shoe shops on our high street. Shops that sell clothes for women that are outsize the size 10/ under 30 bracket.

A museum with a focus on local history, or at least a library with a section on local history.

Actually, in our high street, almost anything would be better than the endless empty units, charity shops and barbers/ nail bars. It's so very sad as we have the bones of what we need - we do have lovely old buildings, and the green spaces could be lovely if it were not for the litter, graffiti and dog mess.

Tbh I think town centres are not used anymore as we go to out of town malls and online shopping .

Town centres like mine are dated with empty shops and a poor demographic . There's no point resurrecting a high street as the area is disadvantaged.
I'd turn it into really nice flats and housing with pavement cafes and bars so people could stroll out and enjoy cafe culture .

Good list. I find it interesting how quickly people dismiss Crawley on here when it ticks all of those boxes.

Free parking would be a good start but I think it might be too late. The council parking in our town centre costs £7 for the 4 hours I spend at the hairdresser. Not really tempting to go and browse in shops in town when the retail park is free. We also have nice bars,restaurants and cafes outside of the town centre with free parking so meet friends at one of those. Our local town centre has lost most of its shops and I'm not sure any new ones can be tempted to open.

No McDonalds, no KFC, a range of independent shops, good public transport to get there.

My local town centre is lovely:
Aldi, Lidl, police station, health centre/cottage hospital, swimming baths/sports centre 10 mins walk out of town through a park
Big CoOp and small Sainsbury’s in town
Lots of independent shops - books, toys, health food, cheese, butcher, baker, clothes, gifts, cards, walking boots/running shoes, bikes, retro shop, hippy shop. Bridal shop. Computer shop. Chemist. Interiors bits. A few “naice” charity shops. Post office. Park. Trendy and traditional hairdressers, several physios! Sadly the music shop and shoe shop have closed.
Cafes, bars, restaurants

it’s about 8 miles away (which is about 20 mins drive) and great for popping in, or pottering. It’s a bit of a rural centre and has a big car park to accommodate us bumpkins.

@lakielady I thought we lived in the same place until you mentioned Homebase so it can't be.

I also live in a historic town which is thriving. It is pedestrianised at weekends, has lots of independent shops, a beautiful indoor market that has stalls from a gin bar to street food to the usual meat and veg. Once a month it holds a local farmers market in the square. The town leads onto the river with a massive amount of green space and park for children. We have a lot of visitors though and I think that adds massively to the economy here. Still have M&S, Sea Salt, Whistles, New Look, Joules etc so plenty of clothes shops if you like those places.

Free or reduced parking for shoppers (up to about 4 or 5 hours), good bus services for office workers and shoppers without cars. Plenty of bike lanes and secure bike parking around (plus specific parking for eg cargo bikes).

Maybe zoned areas, so people can head towards the types of shops they like. So KFC/McDs, pound shops etc towards one area; independent cafes, delicatessens and fancier clothes and home shops in another area. I like both ends of the spectrum.

Things to do and services- cinema, restaurants, library, decent post office.

www.pps.org/article/the-power-of-10

I always think this is sensible — the idea is that places thrive best when the people who use them have a minimum of ten reasons to be there, which could include places to sit, places to eat, public art to look at, somewhere for children to play, a market or shops to buy things at, nature/history to encounter etc etc. It also considers things like — is the place (which could be a park, square, town centre, market, or city district) easily and safely accessible? Is it easily used by children, elderly and/or disabled people? Can you get there on foot or public transport? Does it feel safe for women? Is it used at all times of day by multiple types of people? Are there enough places to sit? Can you buy food/coffee? Is it kept clean and litter-free? Are facilities maintained? Are there interesting things to look at, or a lot of ‘dead space’ (blank walls, empty shopfronts etc)?

The only thing my local town (in the NW of England) is missing really is a department store. It used to have one, but not a very good one, and it closed down a few years ago. I'd kill for a John Lewis, but it's not a big enough town to merit one.

There is plenty of parking, umpteen lovely cafés, a Waterstones, a sewing/knitting/craft shop (yay!), a few clothes and shoe shops, including a couple of independent ones, a nice library, a fairly big Boots etc. The town centre is relatively busy. It benefits from being on the edge of an area which is a major tourist destination.

My favorite town has loads of independent shops, little garden to sit, a nice mixture of cafes and pubs. A proper butcher, two bakeries, shoe shop, pet supplies and a craft shop. Not posh, not fancy, just ordinary and affordable. Feels like a proper community and welcoming.
it’s hugely popular with visitors who love it because it’s unique and not full of chains like everywhere else. There’s also reasonable parking and a regular bus from rural surroundings.
Sadly it has become, for all these reasons, a second home paradise, so local services like the post office have started to close as the local residents dwindle out of holiday season.

My local city centre is awful. £10 to park, full of cheap chains and a wasteland at one end due to shop closures. Not a nice atmosphere sometimes to walk through. Lots of drug and alcohol problems sadly. I only go when I have to.

Nice bookshop, zero waste shop, good bakery, cinema, theatre, cafes and restaurants, really good adventure playground, picnic space, water park, library, museum. Buses that run more regularly and a train station.

Not interested in any chain shops or supermarkets as do online shopping and click and collect. Basically I would like town centres to be nice places for families and individuals to relax, play, eat, enjoy culture and potter around interesting independent shops.

To be fair our local town is pretty much this and it is very nice although heaving with tourists in summer but can’t complain about that as it brings in the money needed for the town :) Could do with better public transport however.

Mary Portas said all of this in her TV series - and that was 15 years ago.

There are some towns that are really lovely to visit, have good, interesting, attractive places to shop, eat and sit - and they are thriving. Those towns that went for the out of town shopping model are the ones who have lost their high streets. It is just so sad to see what were once thriving places dying on their feet.

Sadly though, a lot of what we are all asking for here costs money. Local councils need to have the money to keep the green spaces looking lovely. Nice, old buildings cost money to maintain. In my High Street our historic buildings are falling apart because they are owned by corporate landlords hundereds of miles away. No one is looking after the buildings. Damaged slates on the roof get left, gutters are not cleared, broken downpipes are not replaced. It is only a matter of time before they start to fall apart - I do worry someone will get hurt if parts of the roof start to come off.

The lovely independent shops often sell expensive items. The tons I know that are doing well are in affluent areas, or have a good tourist trade. Those towns that rely on local custom where the average income is low will never be able to have lovely delis, independent bookshops and cafes selling wonderful handmade cakes. And it is going to get worse. These luxury shops will be amongst the first to go when people have to make cuts to their spending.

It's so sad, but could have been avoided if people had really listed to what Mary Portas was saying.

Ooh yes I forgot having a really good covered market with lots of local businesses.

I would like our town centre shops to be open at times I could use them - ie later in the evenings.
So many women (traditional shoppers in ye olden days) work the potential footfall is limited in the day time.
I think that if small town centre shops opened until 8pm like our local small Sainsburys does, their takings would increase. Even if they just this a couple of times a week and opened late in the morning to compensate.
I'd certainly take a stroll down our high st to buy dinner when I finish at 5. I already dash out to sainsburys at the same time at least a couple of times a week for stuff for a meal, or something we've run out of.

Totally agree. All these lovely deli's, artisan bakeries and butchers are all very well if you have the money to support them. Unfortunately many town centres are run down because people do not have any spare income and this is only going to get worse.

I think town centres need to be refocussed on more residential and small business units, providing services. Think about what people want to do rather than buy. We need to provide facilities for all ages, especially young people. There is a reason they are just hanging around street corners. Access needs to be easy, whether that be by frequent, cheap public transport; safe cycle storage or car parking.

Business rates also need to be looked at, gouging those who are hanging on by a whisker is not a long term sustainable model.

Unfortunately all of the above is expensive to provide so I think most small town centres will be left to rot.