The end of Debenhams in the high street

[Bluesince1979]

If local village and satellite town centres see a boost in their economy, then city centres should still be able to thrive as well but in a different way to before.

City centres are no longer just central shopping districts for big department stores, where the wider conurbation to come in centrally to shop for the day and then disperse back out again. They are where a lot of people live now compared to decades ago. Manchester city centre’s population was 500 in 1990 and is set to hit 100,000 by 2025. It’s grown 35,000 in the last four years alone. The city centre will overtake Wythenshawe as the borough’s largest population district and will have a population of its own that’s around 35% of the entire population of Stockport.

I would think that there’s going to be a surge in businesses opening up to cater for all these people, even with the pandemic, not a decrease.

But the big archaic department stores that attracted the wider population to the city centre aren’t necessarily what will remain open for them. It will be the smaller businesses, much like your local village centre, because city centres now have their own villages within them. Local and small businesses should be able to spring up and despite the demise of the archaic big department stores.

I’d also expect to see places like Manchester keep on enticing businesses to relocate from the much more expensive London and set up here. Especially because of the pandemic. So while a department store may close, the building it’s in or at least the site of the building it’s in can be converted or rebuilt into offices to accommodate businesses that have moved North and need office space.

Until recently, Manchester was never a place for big businesses to really reside in the city centre. All of our big and tall buildings have been residential. But that might change

Google, Amazon, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, LLP, and Microsoft have all opened offices in Manchester. Amazon are looking at making Manchester a campus for itself, larger even than its new Hanover Building office that it has acquired already.

Manchester is the fastest growing tech city in Europe. Tech Nation Report saw an increase of investment in Manchester from £48m in 2018 to £181m in 2019. Emerging tech, research, cyber security, AI and digital infrastructure are the big movers at the moment, with tech increasing six times the rate of the rest of the UK economy. And Manchester is the hub.

Even our local businesses have grown into powerhouses: AO, Co-Op, Missguided, MusicMagpie, On the Beach, Push Doctor, The Hut Group, and BooHoo. As these businesses grow, their demand for office space will too.

All of these companies will have more people working for them and many will live in and around the city centre, and they will drive the growth of the businesses needed to cater for them.

I’d actually predict that the state of the city centre will improve rather than decline over the coming decade, despite the big department stores folding.

And let’s hope the plan for Piccadilly Gardens is miles better than what’s there now!

Great read, cheers

 

[hilts]

with all due respect the glass buildings are improving it!

That’s a matter of taste I personally hate mixing old and new architecture. Cities that try and keep as much of their style of building look much better. I know it’s about costs but there was a time when people knew how to build a great looking building.

 

[Bluesince1979]

I think the next few years will see the last surviving retailers mixed with bars/pubs and a weekly/bi-weekly outdoor market. I think eventually high streets will be converted in to flats.

With changing behaviours I think WFH will be rolled out in many places permanently with companies not renewing leases leading offices to be developed in to housing/flats.

I have an idea what stockport town centre should look like.

it has merseyway and underbank

mersey way is an ageing eyesore that declines year on year. Past decade has seen m&s, woolies and BHS shut and now debs.

underbank and market place is beautiful rich in history.

so... clear the centre of mersey way for parking , convert buildings into a more ‘out of town’ shopping centre , like a peel centre sort of thing. Add affordable housing, flats etc above,

And make underbank/market the town centre, as it once was

costs would probs be prohibitive, but only a tjouggt

 

[hilts]

Haha

I love a good day shopping me (never on a weekend though). But I avoid the department stores. This is why I never set foot in the Trafford Centre and I only shop in Town, searching out all the decent smaller indie menswear shops and doing the same when it’s time for a coffee or something to eat. And then the backstreet pub for a pint to finish the day off, rather than the big chain bars.

Always go on my own, on a Monday during the day if I can help it. The quieter the better.

I can get along with the pub part, if I have to buy something from a shop which is once in a bluemoon it’s a park walk in shop buy get back in car. 5 min job.

When I go to town I duck down back and side streets, the dead heads of market street are not for me.

 

[hilts]

I have an idea what stockport town centre should look like.

it has merseyway and underbank

mersey way is an ageing eyesore that declines year on year. Past decade has seen m&s, woolies and BHS shut and now debs.

underbank and market place is beautiful rich in history.

so... clear the centre of mersey way for parking , convert buildings into a more ‘out of town’ shopping centre , like a peel centre sort of thing. Add affordable housing, flats etc above,

And make underbank/market the town centre, as it once was

costs would probs be prohibitive, but only a tjouggt

Stockport fucked up building over the river and some of those office buildings fuck me they’re ugly. You are right about underbank though. Whoever designed that red rock monstrosity wants shooting though.

 

[Bluesince1979]

Stockport fucked up building over the river and some of those office buildings fuck me they’re ugly. You are right about underbank though. Whoever designed that red rock monstrosity wants shooting though.

You say that about red rock but before that what was there ? A shitty car park and the bins and rats at the back of princess street.

 

[hilts]

You say that about red rock but before that what was there ? A shitty car park and the bins and rats at the back of princess street.

True but irrelevant to the point unless the conversation went along the lines of

“ what style of building do we think will look rather attractive”

“ give a fuck as long as he looks better than a rat hanging around a bin”

Like the Lego place near the airport or the houses around city’s ground and now this red rock eyesore it won’t be long before people are saying “wtf were they thinking when they built that shite”

 

[Deleted member 77198]

True but irrelevant to the point unless the conversation went along the lines of

“ what style of building do we think will look rather attractive”

“ give a fuck as long as he looks better than a rat hanging around a bin”

Like the Lego place near the airport or the houses around city’s ground and now this red rock eyesore it won’t be long before people are saying “wtf were they thinking when they built that shite”

That’s the mission statement of Liverpool Council.

 

[Northernstorirs]

I have an idea what stockport town centre should look like.

it has merseyway and underbank

mersey way is an ageing eyesore that declines year on year. Past decade has seen m&s, woolies and BHS shut and now debs.

underbank and market place is beautiful rich in history.

so... clear the centre of mersey way for parking , convert buildings into a more ‘out of town’ shopping centre , like a peel centre sort of thing. Add affordable housing, flats etc above,

And make underbank/market the town centre, as it once was

costs would probs be prohibitive, but only a tjouggt

Completely agree to this. There's some lovely streets around the market and underbank (as well as history).

 

[MikeF]

Manchester should be fine with its restaurants, bars and all the cultural stuff going on (HOME, the art gallery etc etc) and the likes of Uppermill with its independent shops will thrive but it’s the likes of Ashton I fear for. COVID and the demise of Debenhams has just accelerated the process.
People need enticing to a town/city and Poundland may not be the way to go.