Ten years after Portas, are our High Streets delivering variety?

It is a little over 10 years since the then Prime Minister, David Cameron, asked the broadcaster and retail consultant, Mary Portas, to review the state of our high streets. Central to the Portas Review recommendations was encouraging a greater mix of activities. As Mary Portas herself expressed:

“I want to put the heart back into the centre of our high streets, re-imagined as destinations for socialising, culture, health, wellbeing, creativity, and learning. Places that will develop and sustain new and existing markets and businesses. The new high streets won’t just be about selling goods. The mix will include shops but could also include housing, offices, sport, schools or other social, commercial, and cultural enterprises and meeting places. They should become places where we go to engage with other people in our communities, where shopping is just one small part of a rich mix of activities.”

So, a decade later how are we doing? Are we seeing the variety that Portas imagined? If not, what is stopping it?

Join us to discuss the high street mix, mixed-use, and barriers to greater variety with our panel of experts:

Ed Colreavy, Partner, Gowling WLG
Leighton Chumbley, Chief Executive, Prime plc
Mark Robinson, Founder of Ellandi, and Chair of the High Streets Task Force
Tim Johnson, Chief Executive, Wolverhampton City Council
Alison Bembenek, Associate Director, Lichfields

We look forward to seeing you there.