Take a walk along many of our town centre high streets and you can hardly fail to notice the empty shops. In 2009, 85% of all local authorities reported that their central shopping areas had an increasing number of vacant shops and commercial properties. Some people are worried that abandoned high streets will become ‘ghost towns’ and hotspots for petty crime and antisocial behaviour. A spiral of economic and social decline can soon become established and lead to further problems.
Although we are familiar with the causes of the ‘credit-crunch’ high street, have all high streets have been affected in the same way and to the same extent? If some areas have weathered the storm better than others, what are the reasons for this? This Practical Geography examines fieldwork that can be used to estimate the condition and characteristics of the high street as well as strategies for trying to uncover the degree of change in recent months.
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