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?

Yours sounds great OP. I'd like practical things too though - places that sell DIY items and homewares etc. I used to live in a very pretty historic town with loads of lovely little coffee shops and nick nack type places but if you wanted to buy eg a lunch box or a potty or a hammer you had to drive to an out of town retail park.

Also some kind of theatre/arts venue that uses its grants to support local creatives.

Speaking of retail parks imo you need free parking and proper access for disabled people. Not everyone can ride a bloody bike!

I think the days of a traditional town centre are dead, never to return. We live in a 'village' of about 2,500 residents. We have no empty shops, and can get everything we need in the village. We have a new Aldi due to open later this year, and hopefully it will not kill off the other local businesses. We have 2 large towns 8 miles away in opposite directions. 2 large cities about 35 miles away, and a massive out of town centre about 35 miles away too. Since Covid we have not visited either city, been able to get everything we need locally or online. We have visited one of the 2 towns a couple of times a month. But a quick drive in, pick up what we need and out again. I would not drive in just for a cup of coffee, unless I had other business to take care of. If other people have our way of living the businesses in the towns would not be sustainable. You have to sell a lot of coffee to cover the overheads.

Town centres really need lots of shops selling those little things that you need but are disproportionately expensive to buy online due to postage costs.

Craft shops selling yarn and haberdashery, they often run classes too to teach people good old fashioned skills like fixing or taking in your clothes. A good hardware shop where you can get a small bag of the exact type of screws you need, or specialist cleaning products. A nice stationery shop. Plus a nice covered market area.

Agreed that there need to be people living in the town too. Most towns feel too corporate these days and they can be a bit dead at night.

I live in a village so going off the closest town to us which is a lovely historic market town with massive potential, they need more coffee shops imo. I know I’m a basic bitch but I enjoy Costa or Starbucks and there isn’t one at all. They have ‘independent’ coffee shops which most people probably claim to prefer but they’re rubbish. Love the idea of a second hand bookstore, I go in the charity shop there purely for books and I’ve got some real bargains over the years. More places to sit would be nice, it would be lovely to have a coffee shop with ample outdoor seating. They have no clothes stores anymore aside from a really old fashioned chain, can’t remember the name but it’s one my Gran shops in so that’s annoying. I like H&M and Zara but realise I’m expecting too much from a small town . They need to demolish the vile high rise flats too, they’re an eyesore.

I live in London but I like my high street to have: Gail's, a bubble tea shop, space nk, clothes shops like Boden, Joules, White Stuff, Seasalt, Moshulu, boots/superdrug, bookshop, good restaurants including decent authentic Chinese restaurant, sushi bar, Franco Manca/decent pizza place, a pub you can get a decent Sunday roast and sells good food and has a garden for Al fresco dining, second hand clothes shops, large supermarket, Caffe Nero, independent cinema that also shows lower budget indie films, library, food market. Of course in London, it would have buses and the tube within walking distance.

I have a love/hate relationship with independent shops. I really want to like them but they don't really sell things I like. Exception for family owned restaurants...

Also zero waste shop!

Not very interested in hanging out in town centres as I don’t enjoy shopping, but a revamp of the sports centre and library would be nice.

And I’d use an independent art house cinema.

Me too, I’d love a small independent cinema that showed films which the big chains don’t show. Foreign language films, black and white movies from the 1950s, etc. There’s one in the city but it would take me best part of an hour to get there so I don’t bother very often.

Accessibility, facilities like toilets and benches, and feeling safe walking around.

Toilets are a good point. It's impossible to find public toilets in our town centre. The few we had closed down because of covid and were never opened again.

Open spaces with benches where people could meet would help too. Basically nice spaces where people could gather without having to spend money so the town has more footfall. I meet friends often at a park in summer. We sit around and chat, head to the kiosk for some lunch then sit around some more. If we went to town we'd pay to park, go straight to a cafe, have an hour or so for lunch then leave.

I think many shops and buildings in towns and cities are largely owned by landlords who just want income from rents. In my city, private owners own huge ‘portfolios’ and evidently don’t give a monkeys about anything other than financial return.

I know some small businesses who have wanted to rent empty shops but have been declined as they can’t afford the full rent. Landlords can sit and wait it out for a better return, or just write it off and let the building decline.