The need to re-let empty shops and diversify the retail mix often top local concerns about town centres. That is frequently the case when People and Places’ undertakes its benchmarking surveys to understand and address local town centre issues across the UK.
Here, Iain Nicholson and Neil Wild from Flashop UK Ltd share their successful approach to tackling what others often perceive as an intractable issue blighting our town centres.
The process led by Flashop UK follows a sequence of key steps with practical, hands-on help:
- Build on existing survey work to conduct a rigorous audit of empty units to assess barriers to their being let. This includes a special focus on units that have been empty for 3 years or longer –the so-called “never likely to be re-occupied” as classified by the Local Data Company.
- Work with landlords and agents to overcome the barriers to units being let -especially those, often the majority, where supply-side issues around landlord circumstances, condition, size, layout dominate.
- Compile a target list of potential new occupier types based on a mix of observation and existing survey data from existing town centre businesses and customers.
- Target potential national brands, successful independents from other towns that are ready to expand, established businesses in the town keen to take a more prominent/larger space, and would-be start-ups.
- Prioritise lettings to business types that add to the town’s retail and hospitality mix rather than replicating what’s already there. This will strengthen the town centre economy longer-term and avoid the one-in-one-out outcome of adding to types already at capacity.
- Run pop-up shops to overcome one barrier: landlords’ preferences for long leases (5-10 year). Importantly, Flashop UK can take a licence with the landlord with an option to sublet and offer short-term let options.
- Work with pop-up businesses to support their development towards a longer stay in the town.
- Explore options to develop a community space, in one or more units to help create a diverse and sustainable town centre that looks to future options alongside retail .
- The shop windows of empty shops as display options for existing town centre businesses and community organisations.
- Work with public and private investors to develop residential conversion options on upper floors, to enhance the affordability of ground floor space and to offer town centre living opportunities.
- Support the empty shops focus and other ‘town team’ work via social and traditional media as part of a wider strategy.
Find out more
Read about Flashop UK’s successful track record in tackling empty shops in their postcard from Oxfordshire towns.
“Improving your town centre without first investigating the issues, is like like baking a cake without knowing the ingredients” -read about the People and Places approach to understanding town centre trends in this good practice guide from the Great British High Street campaign.
