| Re: High Streets - thriving, changing, dying in 2026? Posted by JohnM at 08:32, 28th September 2026 |     |
That 4th picture, looking down Melksham Bank Street - I'm curious when that was taken as I don't think I've ever seen it with so little traffic, in daylight anyway. As you know if you spin round 180 you're looking towards the Costa and the actual High Street, and it tends to be a bit busier around there in my limited (especially compared to yours) experience.
I lived in Chippenham for a few years and having a pedestrianized high street during most of the day made it magnitudes nicer as a place to shop/loiter. Difficult to know how they could do the same with Melksham, but they might have thought that about Chippenham before they did it.
| Re: High Streets - thriving, changing, dying in 2026? Posted by REVUpminster at 07:50, 28th September 2026 | |
Paignton, I saw on Saturday WH Smith or now TG Jones is closing down. I think the one in Torquay has gone. October Today's Railways had a small section on the closures and the difficulty of buying magazines. Where can you by a newspaper in central Paignton? Only Tesco Express, and a shop near the level crossing. Paignton station had a very good bookstall/newsagent but that closed over twenty years ago.
There are no banks in Torquay although a hub in Fleet Street is shortly to open. There is a hub in Brixham. Paignton still has all but one (NatWest) of it's banks.
Torbay council have a policy, because they expect 50% of retail to disappear to concentrate the shops in specific areas and the rest to ultimately become residential. This is really noticeable in Torquay where shops are closing in the upper parts of Union Street to the lower part and Fleet Street nearer the sea with plans for residential development or conversion to residential of the vacated shops.
It's an irony that in Paignton most of the shops, cafes, in the Torbay Road, Hyde Road, and Palace Avenue are converted houses.
| High Streets - thriving, changing, dying in 2026? Posted by grahame at 06:20, 28th September 2026 | |
From the BBC, in depth
My hometown shows that high streets have to change or die
Some town centres seem to have and be succeeding, and others indeed are no longer attracting people to visit businesses there, which are closing their shopfronts. Is there rhyme or reason to which "High Street" might succeed and which might not?
Looking locally, I see both Devizes and Bath vibrant when I visit them, but I don't get the same feeling from Melksham. Having said which, we have quite a number of store fronts which are for products for immediate access / use within the hour. People hereabouts grumble about "yet another barber" and "not ANOTHER takeaway" and yet - with a handful of specific locations - they tend to last longer. One severe issue tends to be car parking for pickups, and changing regulations seem to effect them significantly.
How are High Streets close to you faring? How do you account for this?
