Author: Leigh Sparks
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January 2024 – Roll over of some areas for new year, plus The Economics Observatory piece on Christmas trading (see commentaries tab)
May 2023 – Two new articles and a book chapter noted on the Journal Articles page
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Tag Archives: High Streets
The Wonder of Woolies – 15 Years On
Early January 2024 marked 15 years from the collapse of Woolworths in the UK and the closure of its 807 mainly high street stores. There are several potential parents of the phrase ‘death of the high street’, spanning many decades, … Continue reading
Posted in Architecture, Buildings, Consumer Change, Convenience stores, Discounters, Heritage, High Streets, History, Reinvention, Retail Change, Retail Failure, Retail History, Town Centre Living, Town Centres, Uncategorized, Urban History, Woolworths
Tagged Convenience, Discounters, Discounts, failure, High Streets, Reinvention, Retail, Retail Change, Streetscape, Town Centre Living, Woolworths
2 Comments
Regenerative Scotland: Town Centre Regeneration
A couple of months ago I sat down with Ariane Burgess MSP and Kimberley Guthrie to chat about town centre regeneration – well, we virtually sat down as we were in three different locations. Ariane is a Scottish Greens MSP … Continue reading
Posted in High Streets, Independents, MSPs, New Future for Scotland's Towns, Places, Planning, Public Policy, Regeneration, Retail Change, Scotland Loves Local, Scotland's Town and High Streets, Scotland's Towns Partnership, Town Centre Action Plan, Town Centre Living, Town Centre Review, Town Centres, Towns, Uncategorized
Tagged A New Future for Scotland's Towns, Ariane Burgess, High Streets, Places, Regenerative Scotland, Retail, Scotland, Scotland Loves Local, Scotland's Towns and High Streets, Scotland's Towns Partnership, Town Centres, towns
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The UK Government’s Long Term Plan for Towns
Last weekend saw the unveiling of the UK Government’s Long-Term Plan for Towns. A media blitz, at the beginning of the Conservative Party Conference in Manchester gathered the intended headlines. A 27-page document, supported by a methodology on how the … Continue reading
Posted in 20 Minute Neighbourhood, Car Dependency, Community, High Streets, Local Authorities, Permitted Development Rights, Places, Town Centres, Towns, UK Government
Tagged Build Back Better, Conservative Party, Funding, High Street Task Force, High Streets, Levelling-Up, Long Term Plan for Towns, Scotland, Scotlands, Town Board, Town Teams, towns, UK Government
1 Comment
Re-store, Re-use, Re-generate Historic Buildings
Last week I presented at a Heritage Trust Network event in Stirling. The event focused on restoring, reusing and regenerating historic buildings in town centres and their scope to aid recovery of the high street. The event, highly appropriately, … Continue reading
Posted in Arcades, Architecture, Buildings, Heritage, High Streets, Historic Shops, Kirkwall, Local Authorities, Midsteeple Quarter, Places, Public Realm, Regeneration, Retail History, Scotland, Scotland's Town and High Streets, Shopfronts, Stirling, Stirling Council, Streetscapes, Town Centre Living, Town Centres, Towns, Urban History
Tagged Alhambra Theatre Stirling, Architecture, CARS, Heritage, High Streets, History, Kirkwall, Midsteeple Quarter, Old Arcade Stirling, Regeneration, Retail, Stirling, Stirling City Heritage Trust, Town Centres
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Vacancy Rates and The Vacant Shops Academy
Way back in 2010, Anne Findlay and myself tried to summarise our thinking about the drivers and measurement of retail vacancy. Then, a decade ago, we did some work with the Local Data Company on retail vacancies (First event, Fifth … Continue reading
Posted in Data, Government, High Streets, Landlords, Legislation, Local Authorities, Non-domestic rates, Permitted Development Rights, Property, Rates, Retailers, Shop Numbers, Town Centres, Towns, Vacancies, Vacant Shops Academy
Tagged Agents, BIDs, Businesses, High Streets, Landlords, Local Authorities, Permitted Development Rights, Property, Rates, Retail, Shops, Town Centres, towns, Use Classes, Vacancy, Vacancy rate, Vacant Shops Academy
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Shrewsbury – Welsh or English?
There I was, quietly photographing an old shop and a neat ghostsign in one of the main streets of Shrewsbury (see photo above), when an elderly local man challenged me. He said he thought I was mad as there was … Continue reading
Posted in Architecture, Buildings, Ghost Signs, High Streets, History, Independents, Local Retailers, Pret, Retail Change, Retailers, Shopfronts, Shrewsbury, Streetscapes, Town Centres, Urban History
Tagged Architecture, Buildings, Ghostsigns, Heritage, High Streets, History, Indpendents, Pret, Retail, Shops, Shrewsbury, store design, Town Centres, Urban History
3 Comments
Towns, High Streets, Resilience and Place Governance
I was very pleased to be invited to speak (Trans Pennine Express willing) at the Institute of Place Management Conference being held in Manchester on the 19th and 20th April. My presentation is on the 20th and so today, as … Continue reading
Posted in 20 Minute Neighbourhood, BIDS, Car Dependency, Car Use Reduction, community wealth building, Governance, Government, High Streets, Internet shopping, Local Authorities, Manchester, New Future for Scotland's Towns, Non-domestic rates, Online Retailing, Out of Town, Places, Retailers, Scotland's Town and High Streets, Scotland's Towns Partnership, Social Renewal, Town Centres, Towns
Tagged A New Future for Scotland's Towns, BIDs, Car Dependency, Government, High Streets, Institute of Place Management, Local Government, Non-domestic rates, Online retailing, Out of Town, Resilience, Retailing, Scotland's Towns Partnership, Taxes, Town Centres, towns
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Independent Thinking – interview with Alexandra Forrest
In late last October I presented at a session here at the University of Stirling on Retailing, towns and healthy ageing. After my presentation I got into conversation with one of the audience members, Alexandra Forrest, as she had been … Continue reading
Posted in Community, Consumers, Creative Places, Entrepreneurship, Healthy Ageing, Independents, Places, Retail Planning, Retailers, Retailing, Small Shops, Town Centres, Towns, Uncategorized
Tagged Active travel, Ageing, Community Action, Entrepreneurs, High Streets, Independent Retailing, Planning, Retailing, Shopkeepers, Taxation, Town Centres
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E-commerce: economic growth and empowerment of women and girls
This evening (18 January) I am a member of a panel at an online Royal Society of Arts (RSA) event looking at the topic of female growth and empowerment in the field of e-commerce. The invitation came from Ann-Maree Morrison … Continue reading
Posted in Amazon, Climate Emergency, e-commerce, Education, Entrepreneurship, High Streets, Independents, Internet, Internet shopping, Multichannel, Office for National Statistics, Online Retailing, Retailers, Retailing, Small Shops, Town Centres
Tagged Climate Emergency, e-commerce, High Streets, Online retailing, Retail, RSA, Women
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The Conversation: UK Retailers Christmas Trading Updates
The University of Stirling is a supporter of The Conversation and I published a piece there on the 12th January about the recent UK retailer trading updates from Christmas. I reblog it below. The starting point for the piece was … Continue reading
Posted in Aldi, Christmas, City Centres, Consumer Change, Consumers, Cost of Living, Covid19, Discounters, Grocery, High Streets, Independents, Internet shopping, Local Retailers, Market Shares, Marks and Spencer, Next, Retailers, Retailing, The Conversation, Town Centres, Towns
Tagged B&M, Brexit, Christmas, Consumers, Cost of Living, Covid, Credit, Discounters, Health and wellbeing, High Streets, Local, Next, Online, Retailing, Shoppers, spending, The Conversation, towns, Trading Updates, Value
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