00:01Across Bristol and the West Country, the high street is changing rather than simply vanishing.
00:07In Bristol, Broadmead remains busy. The city's Business Improvement District recorded more than 865,000 visits there in August 2026.
00:18Yet Bristol City Council still identifies Broadmead and Castle Park as two parts of the centre with the greatest need
00:26for change.
00:26Its plans are built around more retail with homes, leisure culture and public space expected to play a bigger role.
00:35The council is offering grants of up to £10,000 to help businesses and community organisations move into vacant premises.
00:43That reflects the new reality.
00:46The Office for National Statistics says 28.8% of retail spending was online in August 2026.
00:54Shoppers can compare prices and order without travelling, parking or carrying purchases home.
01:00At the same time, we notice when a favourite shop shuts or a parade begins to look tired.
01:05If we want high streets worth visiting, they need regular customers. Increasingly, they also need reasons to visit that have
01:13nothing to do with shopping and keep returning often enough too.
01:17We've been talking about the decline of the high street for years, it seems to me.
01:22When we're talking about the online retailers, and of course I don't have to mention who they are, they have
01:26the ability of bulk buying.
01:28But of course they don't have shops, it's done by clicks rather than bricks.
01:31There is no doubt, of course, that sort of vacant premises, they sort of look unsightly and they become slightly
01:36hostile places to sort of people wanting to go in.
01:40So what you've got to do is make them more attractive.
01:42Now, of course, that's to do with sort of spending money by the local authority primarily,
01:46although we have sort of groups such as business improvement districts and they sort of put money into making the
01:52sort of the environment more pleasant.
01:54But of course, you've got to still attract people to want to go in there.
01:57And if it's not for shopping, and I do think that there will always be some high street presence, although
02:02it continues to be in decline,
02:04it's about sort of the things that we want to do to sort of meet up.
02:06So it's about leisure, health perhaps, we sort of know that sort of gyms and the sort of like.
02:12You've got to sort of have the sort of the, if you like, a multi-agency approach.
02:15But of course, it always requires money. And once sort of retailers vacate those premises, don't let them go into
02:21decline,
02:21because of course, it makes it all more difficult to bring them back to sort of to proper usage.
02:25In England, the government says it's trying to make high streets more competitive.
02:29From April 2026, qualifying retail, hospitality and leisure properties moved on to lower business rate multipliers,
02:38while councils can use high street rental auctions to bring long empty premises back into use.
02:44In September 2026, ministers announced a £210 million package aimed at derelict buildings, struggling businesses and community ownership.
02:55The test is whether that investment changes how people spend.
