Tell us about your high streets

We used to have a small local high street with butcher, greengrocer, bakery and so-on.  Neighbours would meet each other there on at least several days of the week, and the local community was very active and strong.  These high street retailers were pushed out by clothing stores, bars, etc, and local people had to go to department store food halls or get buses to other parts of London to buy essential food and other stuff. 

The sense of community suffered considerably as a result. Locals no longer bumped into each other in the butchers or the bakers. This suits the local council very well indeed as they prefer to see this locale as part of the servicing and entertainment area for the major retail destination nearby. They don't want to define it as a community of residents. They don't want to have local policies that protect residential amenity here. They have 'place-made', from the top down, making up their own definition of community or local area with complete disregard of residents and real communities.  And the London Plan is not strong enough to protect residential areas from this.

I would like to visit my local high street more often the problem is there are small ghetto type of people almost blocking, littering, defacing and generally exhibiting anti social behavior such as spitting, drinking and then urinating. Also professional beggers are at every location, the police are helpless even after reporting because of the current definition of the law. Many have reported this to the police and the council but the problem isn't abating. Now if I do go to the shops it is usually very early in the morning avoiding such crowds which can be very intimidating. the variety of shops is limited and most of the major brands don't exist so then you have to go to places like Westfield Stratford. I would like to support local shops provided they have the stocks of the item I would like to purchase, this is one of the major issues i have and then end up purchasing it online instead. there is also a high number of open theft during the day. This most likely stemming from the ghettos of people loitering and watching for an opportunity. If I felt my local street was safe I would send my children there as well but in the current climate I refuse to send them. It doesn't help when there are so many betting shops (the highest number in London) gambling dens and shops in foreign language where you'd think several time before entering, not very welcoming and rather isolating the local high street even more. I would strongly suggest to asertain a better understanding is to actually randomly visit the local high street and see for yourselves.

The high street rent and rates reflect a different time, and because it's so much harder for retailers to make money, we should do what we can to encourage diverse ideas for our empty shops.  This could be the reduction or elimination of business rates, even a negative rate charge or a subsidy to use the space.  Society would gain from the trade and the income taxes.  We don't need to tax retailers twice. Not in this current climate

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My high street has far too many petrol and diesel fueled vehicles on it (cars, taxis delivery and servicing vehicles and public transport), and they never turn off their engines while waiting at traffic lights or in traffic jams.  Never.   I hate shopping there because it is so crowded, so noisy and so polluted, and it is fairly useless as a high street.  What makes it worse is the buskers who plant themselves all along the main drag, and who use amplifiers and blast out badly played music or vocals. They are much too loud. The shops are mostly clothing stores, mostly chains, some having more than one store on the street. There are no useful shops except chemists, though some department stores do have some household essentials - at very high prices.   This high street is full of people who have come from other parts of London to shop here. If only they would stick to their own high streets!!   I remember that at one time most high streets had the main chain store outlets plus independent retailers, but then the chains all closed down to focus on 'flagship' stores in major towns and cities.  Their bad! 

Shops need to gain the highest return on investment by making the floor space and premises more lucrative within a full day. Shops should have the ability to adapt for their day business and then transform the same location to drive evening trade. For example a clothes shop in the day time with all items on racks with castors and then a restaurant with portable tables and chairs in the evening. That way you drive footfall in the store more efficiently throughout the entire day and generate a healthy days taking to offset the business rent and rates. 

High streets are ,the hearts of communities. They are being undermined by faceless, impersonal and (for some people) inaccessible out-of-town stores, as well as by internet shopping, which offers no social contact and can be worse for the environment (think of all those delivery vans). We need to preserve and strengthen them to boost community spirit and social interaction. A wider variety of shops, fewer cars, more residential units adjacent to retail etc, and more public spaces would be a great help.

Having decent shops reflects the character of the borough and priority. Lower business rates should be given to local and independent businesses and there are far too many clone high streets and this turns people off.  The number of charity shops in my local high street is extraordinary and reflective of poorly thought out council planning! I wish that we as a community could have a say or a limit on the amount of unhealthy fast food places and betting shops in one area. 

Would be good to put more effort into stopping people using bikes and electric scooters on the street. Local police have been putting in an effort to stop people occasionally, but it's not enough - and it's a real danger for elderly or infirm residents.

My high street is full of posh coffee shops, gambling dens and vape stores.

You're fine if you want to lay a bet, smoke some fluid, and spend the winnings on a cake and frappamaakkalattecino.

If you want to buy something useful, forget it. If I need some rope or a pack of nails, I have to go to B&Q - it's only a mile away but the journey takes nearly half an hour each way and I can't cycle it easily because I have to cross a motorway and major A road. 

The reason high streets are dying is because (i) business rates are a joke (ii) rents are a joke (iii) living wages - a good thing, but having unintneded consequences because they compound (i) and (ii) and (iv) you are making it more difficult for people to visit by restricting driving and parking, but the pace of provision of walking and cycling routes and supporting infrastructure is not keeping up

The local cop shop has been closed down and turned into offices, large groups of yoofs hanging round all hours now smoking weed outside McDonalds and in the park. Begging is rife, tin rattlers abound. I only really go for the food shopping and that's only because I'm too tight to pay the delivery charge and like a nose for the discounts.

Sort out rough sleeping, get some community projects going on, give the retailers some relief and sort out local transport networks.

It's not hard, councils. Ours pays out about £4 mln a year in executive pay and councillors' allowances,and funds vanity projects like 20 mph instead of tackling the big picture stuff.

Our long High Street is already part-pedestrianised, but it would be good to have car-free days on the rest of it - perhaps a regular day each month. The removal of car-orientated street clutter (ie signage, mostly of the directional type, solely for car drivers) would improve the visual amenity.

high streets need more electric car charge points. There are none in Lewisham Borough!!! Even shopping centres in Lewisham don't have charge points

More shops locally including bigger name stores back  in our high street. Better range of shops or items to choose from, such as men's clothing, more children's clothes and good quality children's shoe shops. Currently it's a long bus ride or a drive to get to a children's shoe shop that does proper fitting.  I have noticed that in shopping areas where there is a good children's shoe shop, other shops and cafes etc. seem to thrive.  

Women's clothes and shoe shops.

In Forest Hill, there is a lovely building that used to be the cinema, which is currently a Weatherspoons Pub.  It would be brilliant if that could become a cinema again (and maybe keep it as a pub too), providing a central focus for the high street and encourage more shops back in.   

Somehow (and this is difficult I know because of the current road and railway layout) better traffic management. Forest Hill is a bottleneck for traffic, causing pollution from stationary vehicles and making crossing from one side of the road to the other very slow. This discourages people from extending their shopping trips here and makes it difficult for large parties of school children to cross the roads here on their way to visit both the Horniman Museum (from the station) and the swimming baths.  There is not enough space on the central island bits in the middle of the roads to contain all of the children from the school parties in one go, which makes it difficult to get them all across and makes it hard for other pedestrians as well.  

Forest Hill Station and its car park and outside area could be much better landscaped and developed to make it more of a social meeting hub area and easier for disabled passenger drop off & collection. Also if a good quality, accessible pedestrian link could be put in to cross the railway line here to get to the large car park on the other side of the railway line that would help.

I like to support small businesses but the spread of chain stores and their franchises make that increasingly difficult. Most shops which close open as a chain franchises, nail bars. hair dressers., estate agents or charity shops. Charity shops are a problem as they can be direct and unfair competition to small businesses already in the area and in some cases have stocked with particular lines to try and target the clientele of existing businesses.

One area where we are well supplied locally is small independent restaurants and eateries but that is now under threat as the big chains are starting to move in and may be a threat to their continued viability.

I feel the smaller businesses need some form of assistance (perhaps in the form of council tax breaks ) to get established and stay viable and  a stricter review of the impact of new premises for large chains/franchises on the existing business communities would be helpful.

Services, offices and homes have their place but if there are too many of them, then the high street becomes too boring to visit and  dies.   So the high street needs interesting stuff in it. It doesn't have to be shops, perhaps council owned properties can be offered free or cheap to community organisations or activities. Larger empty stores could offer space for table markets two or three times a week and could let the space out to community groups other times.  There are plenty of organisations, e.g. community bike repair shops, yoga classes, community library, drama groups etc. that would flourish if they had a bit of simple permanent space to operate in at a low rent once or more per week. The community centre on Hampstead High St has got it about right, they have after school play schemes during the week and in the holidays, antiques and book markets at the weekend, classes, etc. at other times, they also have a greengrocers stall permanently there.

It is hard to control the number of bookies but they really need to be limited, they are a killer on any high street, you can't ban them entirely so maybe only a certain square footage of bookmakers should be allowed in every km of street. 

I'd like a variety of shops. too many hairdressers, bookies, and chain stores. I especially dislike the huge numbers of charity shops that either refuse to take goods that look used or do take them but then bin them rather then sending to WEEE centres and rag collectors. I'd like every high street to have a market at least one day a week with independent stall holders. I'd like every high street to have a large indoor building owned by the town used for pop up shops to help small businesses and charities get a start. I want to buy from someone who owns the shop and lives nearby and has their heart and soul invested in their shop. That being said, I buy from Tesco a lot since it's nearest to my house.

I'd like a butcher, baker,ironmonger,cobbler,delicatessen,electrical services shop, fishmonger ,bookshop,shoe shop,garden centre, less hairdressers,less fast junk food restaurants and NO BOOKMAKERS.

High Streets, outside of Central London, are full of restaurants & fast food outlets. Greedy landlords are forcing out independent traders with huge rent hikes. Also, particularly in my area, Merton, High Streets are consistently being blocked by vast lorries and vans delivering to the few shops there are and restaurants. These vehicles consistently flout the parking regulations and cause grid lock with buses unable to get past. There would seem to be no Parking Enforcement or Traffic Police people to move them on. High Streets would appear to be being allowed to die by Councils & TFL.