Tell us about your high streets

I can shop online or pay £1 for half an hours parking in Hounslow. Parking for up to two hours should be free otherwise Amazon works for me.

I am fed up seeing so many of the same shops - betting, charity and coffee shops all seem to dominate now.  Sadly I think the rates/rent are too high for local businesses but a shame there aren't more opportunities for local people to make/sell original goods.  The streets are always dirty and full of litter and the fumes are bad from the lorries/buses.  Not somewhere I would want to stay long anymore - i go for a particular reason and leave asap rather than mooching about like I would have done 10 years ago and stayed for lunch/dinner/cinema etc.  

less coffee shops/food shops please- whether they're pop up, "street" or chains - there are enough already.

more pedestrian areas that are clean and level, I seem to spend most of my time looking at the ground to ensure I don't trip up on dodgy paving slaps, or moving out of the way of cyclists riding on the pavement.  The pavements are for pedestrians not cyclists!

if we had decent corner shops more people would go out on daily basis & therefore we would all talk more to each other.

being poisoned by traffic fumes puts me off visiting my local high street. Especially bad waiting for the bus home as all the bus stops are situated by the traffic lights and drivers rarely turn their engines off while waiting so the fumes are bad enough to make me ill. 

A few years ago our high street's pavements were widened by narrowing the road. This made a dramatic difference to a trip to the high street and led to a much more pleasant experience, greater footfall and better shops.

However, these same pavements are now to be narrowed again to accommodate a cycle lane. The bus lane is also to be removed for the cycle lane. Private motor traffic, however, will be largely unaffected.

I find this bizarre as surely the cycle lane should be built within the road, in order to reduce private motor traffic and thus pollution, and not at the expense of pedestrians and public transport users. Even better, divert the motor traffic and make our high street pedestrian, electric wheelchair and cyclist only. I now fear for our high street. 

There also needs to be a parity between high street business rates and online warehouse business rates, although I appreciate that only government has the power to implement this. 

I would like more pedestrianisation and more cycling infrastructure for my high street and and an absolute minimum of lorries and cars (im talking mainly about through traffic)

My local High street (Ilford) has the folllowing issues:

Too many Chicken n Chips shops

Too many betting shops.

Too many "pound" type shops seeling crap.

Too many thieves & pickpockets loitering.

Too many gangs

Local council ruined the area by being over zealous with parking fees and all the decent retailers have moved out. LBR have attempted to attract shoppers back but its too late nothing of note is in Ilford.

High street shops are important.  However, many are closing because of online shopping or increased rental rates and taxes.  First, online shopping is here to stay in the sharing economy.  I hate when I hear the government saying they need to tax online companies greater than the high street shops.  Again, online isn't going anyplace.  Usually it's the high street shops not adopting their business model to compete in the current market.  Why doesn't government help the shops remain relevant and reinvent themselves while providing tax incentives?  

Cleaner and better pavements, less traffic (especially lorries) and more trees would improve Tooting High Street. 

Walking to shops is healthier than sitting in front of a laptop.

Local shops contribute to sense of community.

Shopping is not just clothes/consumer goods,( toys, electricals  etc)- it is FOOD and DAILY needs, which is where local shops are so good.

Too many estate agents, too many chain stores, too many supermarkets, too many junk food outlets.  We need more local, good quality food.

Our local high street in Forest Gate (Newham) has the potential to be amazing.  We have a really strong community who are desperate to use local shops and there are some great shops that are really well used.  However, the traffic is appalling and makes the area very unpleasant and we are stuck with a whole parade of boarded up shops, where businesses were forced out a couple of years ago to make way for development that hasn't happened. We have too many betting shops and way too many chicken shops. I'm sure there are many high streets that are like this.

Business rates need to be adapted to allow small businesses to thrive and community hubs should become a focus.  We do have a library - The Gate - which has lots of community activities and is used by a really diverse range of groups.  More of this sort of thing would make a big difference.

I would visit my high street more often if it were:

- Cleaner

- Less Dilapidated

- Not so narrow (I know we can't do anything about this now)

- more pedestrian

I agree that betting shops and too many estate agents spoil a shopping street

I work in Watford. They have done a good job pedestrianising and cleaning up, and generally making the high street a pleasant place to be.

There would be a lot more shops on high Streets if the business rates they pay were arranged to sensible in comparison to online stuff. The government is getting very close to killing the high street stores.

Please can we get rid of betting shops on our high streets plus multiple estate agents - when there are several different estate agents on one street (sometimes even next door to one another) it completely kills off an area. 
 

A friend told me that in Worthing there is an area where young businesses are given free/very low rent and rates for a period of time, in order to stimulate the area and attract more shoppers.

In my area it is mainly all coffee shops, restaurants and charity shops with a few chain stores, it is totally uninspiring. I want to support local business but there is not much about. 

Will the London Mayor consider replicating what is happening in Worthing in order to regenerate the local high street?