Tell us about your high streets

Properly owners need to concentrate on offering services and experiences if they're going to survive - retail is sadly no longer going to work. Things like post offices, pharmacies, cafes, wine bars, hair and beauty etc. They need to concentrate on the things that you can't get online, sadly we're never going to see Department Stores and Banks opening on high streets.  

Councils need to reduce rates and work on the pedestrian experience - it needs to be safe and pleasant to walk down a high street!

Too many charity shops, nail,bars and betting shops. There should be more department stores, high street banks (2 have been lost recently in my high street) and individual businesses offering a variety of goods. Whilst I have my own transport, not everybody is as fortunate and this is discriminatory against those without personal transport. Greater incentives should be given to those wishing to situate in High Streets as against out of town retail parks.

Nothing new here, but too many nail bars (money laundering cover?), too many not very good places to eat, too many estate agents, BUT one really good bookshop and two really good toyshops. The usual chain women's clothing, useful specially for children, BUT also several independents - very good. 

Critical to have good public transport, and places to walk unimpeded by traffic. Markets are good, even though our traditional fruit and veg now only has one such stall, and planty of tat. But it brings people out. Another nearby has hot international food stalls at lunchtime - a great draw., though a hard way to earn a living. Agree with the person below that some detailed analysis of what people buy in shops, and what they buy online, when they are near "high streets", would be intelligent. What has happened to the hardware store for instance? Online almost always better, though some supermarkets keep some stuff. 

Multi use shops would be good, e.g. Cafe's that become wine bars in the evening. Book stores that sell coffee. Lower business rates. Events - readings, "how to" classes etc.

Less Betting shops, less poor quality fast food (yes fried chicken), more veg and less cheap fast fashion stores as someone else said below.

I think the proliferation of food and drink establishments has ruined our high streets.  In ours alone I counted 48 such establishments.  Lots of empty cafes, nail and hair salons.  I suspect property speculation and money-laundering have a lot to do with this.

I would like to see local independent businesses being facilitated to have high street space. Business rates are too expensive for most to take on a whole shop. Perhaps large empty spaces could be split into smaller indoor market spaces so that there is no loss of total income but the fees are affordable for these types of business. A wider variety of more interesting places to shop away from the homogenised chains would also generate footfall for other businesses such as cafes and restaurants. 
 

I think there is a place for a 'click and collect' service on every high street, marrying up online and offline. This would allow a range of shops to offer this service rather than each of them having to devote retail space to their own service in store. Overheads can be split and costs are reduced for all participating retailers. These spaces could be fun places to be acting as hubs for product promotions, launches, tastings, fashion shows, new product testing, market research, providing space for local entertainers while you wait, etc. The potential is enormous if you look at the experience of some of the retailers that already offer event-based additions to their main offerings e.g. m&s do wine tastings that are heavily subscribed, Banquet records in Kingston does amazing album launches in local spaces; I'm sure there are other models you could look at that are working. 

You could also look at bringing people to high streets for opportunities to get a bit of exercise in with a social element e.g. urban walking tours followed by coffee, more serious exercise using street furniture - google 'street exercising' to see what I mean. All sorts of local fitness business can get involved in running sessions. 

Actually shopping with people around and the atmosphere that it creates. Being able to see and experience Food and Goods firsthand and to know exactly what you are buying..

There are too many betting shops on the high street and that encourages people to hang around outside which can become intimidating. I don't feel as safe in my high street as I did 5 years ago.

I actually enjoy going to the shops and certainly prefer making my own selection, especially when choosing food: sell-by dates are particularly important, a choice not made available when supermarket shopping on-line.

However, the ULEZ extension is coming and, as well, in my area we have just been informed that a lot of our local roads are to be closed to through traffic. Therefore, I shall have to stop using my car and so will have to resort to using on-line shopping as it is not practical for me to do a large grocery shop using public transport or on foot. To be honest I would probably then have to resort to on-line shopping for most things so they can be delivered. I can't see me going to buy household goods or gardening stuff in e.g. superstores like B&Q or Homebase without a car. The only things left to physically shop for would be clothes (I don't like buying those on-line) and the smaller, more portable items such as toiletries.

I fear that all these new 'green' transport initiatives will force more people to shop on-line, resulting in less footfall in physical shops and therefore the death of the a High Street as we know it.

Less betting shops please.

I visit my local high streets mostly for food shopping using public transport as I no longer drive.
Shops selling things like food,toiletries,and shoes are important aspects of local high streets .
What high streets need is little shops and social spaces not empty shops,identikit retailers,bookmakers and too many charity shops.

Shops I want to see be removed from my high street: chicken shops serving unhealthy food, betting shops and casinos - they invite gangs and anti social elements. 
shops that should be encouraged: new restaurants promoting healthy food and unique art shops and meditation, self improvement, yoga shops. 
Pavements need to be enlarged as currently they are too crowded and often packed. Also caused due to shops encroaching the pavements which should not be allowed. Cars to be removed/not allowed so everyone uses public transport thereby reducing pollution 

Less junk food , less gambling and pound shops.  more community activities like classes etc . better bike storage that’s safe too many bikes stolen.

more flowers and plants 

more recycling that actually gets recycled most bins that are meant to be recycling don’t get recycled.

more places to use toilet and sit 

better lighting 

cheaper whole foods or salad bars 

Local landlords in the area I live in West London are the cause of much of the problem with punitive business rates added on top - punitive rents, too many charity shops and shops closing continually because they cannot afford the rents or the rates are the obvious signs of a malaise.

My own observation is that the main chain stores abandoning the High Street is the platform to build off - local/small businesses selling niche services/products are the answer to the need for a more vibrant high street with added creative solutions such as Weekend street/Farmers markets make for the more vibrant local community that old style high streets used to be.

Also better zoning rules by local authorities? Too many coffee shops/mobile phone stores or estate agents close together is not a solution - as the evidence shows it is a disaster!!

We're quite well-provided for shops.  A few years back our great DIY/hardware store closed but luckily a small hardware store opened not too long after. I just discovered that we no longer have a shoe repair place, which is a shame.

I do like coffee shops but there are so many of them! Maybe we need more coworking spaces, as many of the people in cafes seem to be on their laptops using it as an office.

I think it's important that we look forward to new ideas, and don't just regret that things have changed, or try and turn the clock back. Online shopping is here and can be useful.  But we still want some in-store experiences too.