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: Town Centres
Stirlingretail.com : The 2023 Review
It’s that time of year again. The blog is another year older, but certainly not any wiser. At this point I normally reflect on the visitor activity on the blog during the year – and this year is going to … Continue reading
Posted in Branding, Bristol Pound, Cinemas, Cooperatives, Eataly, Grocery retailing, High Streets, Internet shopping, Market Shares, New Future for Scotland's Towns, Online Retailing, Places, Retailers, Retailing, Royal society of Edinburgh, Scotland's National Academy, Scotland's Town and High Streets, Scottish Retailing, Self-Service, Town Centre Action Plan, Town Centres, Towns
Tagged A New Future for Scotland's Towns, Branding, Cinemas, Cooperative Movement, Eataly, Grocery market, Internet Sales, Market Shares, Place, Review, Royal Societyt of Edinburgh, Scotland, Self-service checkouts, Stirling Council, Stirling Retail, Town Centres, towns, Welsh Dairies
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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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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
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Urban Logistics and Retailing
At the start of May, the details of the Routledge Handbook of Urban Logistics was published. The Handbook itself will be available for pre-order from early June with formal publication on June 23, 2023. I was happy to contribute a … Continue reading
Posted in Books, City Centres, Congestion, Consumers, LEZ, Logistics, LTN, Relationships, Retailers, Retailing, Spatial Planning, Suppliers, Supply Chains, Sustainability, Town Centres, Towns, Urban
Tagged Book, Cities, City Logistics, Congestion, Fast fashion, Last Mile, LEZ, logistics, LTN, Retail, Sustainability, Town Centres, towns, Urban Logistics
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Scotland’s Approach to Towns and Town Centres
In 2016 for the World Towns Summit in Edinburgh I attempted to summarise what had set Scotland apart on its approach to towns and town centres. Much has changed in the intervening seven years, and I thought it time to … Continue reading
Posted in 20 Minute Neighbourhood, Brexit, Community, community wealth building, Cross Party Group, Government, High Streets, Ireland, Local Authorities, New Future for Scotland's Towns, NPF4, Place Based Investment Programme, Place Principle, Place Standard, Places, Planning, Scotland Loves Local, Scotland's Improvement Districts, Scotland's Town and High Streets, Scotland's Towns Partnership, Scottish Government, Town Centre Action Plan, town centre first, Town Centres, Towns, Understanding Scottish Places
Tagged 20 Minute Neighbourhoods, A New Future for Scotland's Towns, Climate Emergency, Community, community wealth building, COSLA, NPF4, Place Principle, Policy, Scotland, Scotland Loves Local, Scotland's Improvement Districts, Scotland's Towns Partnership, Scottish Government, Town Centre Action plan, town centre first, Town Centre Forum, Town Centres, towns, Understanding Scottish Places
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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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Walking the Talk: Town Centres and Retailing in a Car-dominated Economy
Today (March 7th), I am presenting at a Living Streets Seminar. I was asked to talk about retailing in car-dominated places and what follows is a summary of sorts (and the overheads) of my presentation. In responses to the climate … Continue reading
Posted in 20 Minute Neighbourhood, Active travel, Car Dependency, Car Parking, Car Use Reduction, Community, community wealth building, Consumers, Just Transition, Local Retailers, Neighbourhood, New Future for Scotland's Towns, NPF4, Places, Retail Change, Retailers, Retailing, Scotland's Town and High Streets, Scotland's Towns Partnership, Scottish Retailing, Stirling Council, Sustainability, Sustainable Development, Town Centres
Tagged 20 Minute Neighbourhoods, A New Future for Scotland's Towns, Car dominated places, Car Use Reduction, Climate Emergency, Just Transition, Living streets, NPF4, Out of town retailing, Retailing, Scotland's Towns Partnership, Stirling Council, Town Centres, Walking, Wheeling
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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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