I fear that John Harris is partially buying into Reform UK’s rhetoric about the decline of the high street (The UK’s high streets have reached a tipping point – and Reform will reap the benefits, 11 January).
The decline of small businesses in our high streets is largely the result of consumer choice. That’s why supermarkets exist. They sell goods more cheaply and have a range that would be equivalent to numerous shops. The majority of the population prefers to drive and do it all in one go, regardless of income.
And yes, while there are concerns about the number of “dodgy” shops acting as fronts for criminal activities, I find the proliferation of coffee bars and cafes a welcome development.
Let’s not get nostalgic about the loss of pubs, which most people reject because of alternative entertainments, particularly the young. The Reform case is harking back to a world of happy shoppers and drinkers – which mainly meant drinking for men and shopping for women.
Trevor Hopper
Lewes, East Sussex
I don’t think John Harris has fully grasped the impact of online buying habits on the viability of local shops. Every penny we spend online is a penny less spent in a shop. If we want our local shops to survive, we need to use them much more. That is the only action that can save them in the long term – not government grants, tax concessions or capping the number of betting outlets.
Councils can help by bringing more housing and public facilities into local centres; by opposing out of town hypermarkets; and through imaginative use of art and culture, of which Rochdale is a good example.
But ultimately it is down to us and where we choose to spend our money. If we increasingly shop online, we have only ourselves to blame for the looming death of so many of our high streets.
John Boaler
Calne, Wiltshire
John Harris’s article makes depressing reading, but local groups can make a difference. Four years ago a shopping arcade in Melton Mowbray was almost derelict, with most of the shops empty; the local art group offered to put paintings in the windows to brighten the place up.
Now nearly all the shops are taken, we have two art exhibitions there each year and the centre has benches and flower tubs and is bright and welcoming, with support from Melton Business Improvement District. It has made a huge difference without costing large amounts of money. Local initiatives can make a difference; it’s a great feeling to know you’ve helped and it encourages other groups to get involved, too.
Peter Smith
Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire
Take heart from Brixton in south London, John Harris. The noisy main street – the A23, Brixton Hill – is all betting shops, vape shops and takeaways, buses, vans and motorbikes. But in the streets around Electric Avenue there is a market – busy, bustling, friendly and traffic-free. There is street food, street art, coffee shops and established local businesses. Reform would close it down – pretty well everybody here is non-native.
Markets are surviving everywhere; some places have a market hall. Some, like Shrewsbury, are having a makeover. They are central, traffic-free, daily shopping venues as well as social spaces.
Robin Stott
Warwick
