00:00Greater London shows how complicated the high street story has become. Many local centres
00:05remain busy while others are struggling with empty units or a retail mix residents say
00:11no longer serves them well. Along Uxbridge Road in West London, a campaign backed by
00:17nearly 3,000 petitioners has called for a broader mix of businesses and a more attractive
00:23high street. Centre for Cities has also identified Croydon and Ilford among the capital's weaker
00:29performers for vacancies. Even Oxford Street is being reshaped as shopping habits evolve
00:35and retailers compete for attention in different ways. The contradiction is familiar. Office
00:414 national statistics figures show that nearly three in ten retail pounds were spent online
00:48in August 2026. Londoners may want distinctive neighbourhood centres, independent shops and
00:55busy streets. But convenience often wins when we actually buy something. Physical retailers
01:01cannot survive on affection alone. They need people to arrive, browse and spend. Increasingly,
01:08the most successful high streets are also trying to offer food, leisure services and experiences
01:13that a website cannot deliver to the front door quite so easily.
01:17We've been talking about the decline of the high street for years it seems to me. When we're
01:22talking about the online retailers and of course I don't have to mention who they are, they have
01:26the ability of bulk buying. But of course they don't have shops, it's done by clicks rather
01:31than bricks. There is no doubt of course that vacant premises, they look unsightly and it becomes
01:36slightly hostile places to people who want to go in. So what you've got to do is make them more
01:42attractive. Now of course that's to do with spending money by the local authority primarily, although we have
01:47sort of groups such as business improvement districts and they sort of put money into making
01:52the sort of the environment more pleasant. But of course you've got to still attract people to want
01:56to go in there and if it's not sort of for shopping, and I do think that there will always
02:00be some high
02:01street presence, although it continues to be in decline, it's about sort of the things that we want
02:05to do to sort of meet up. So it's about leisure, health perhaps, we sort of know that sort of
02:10gyms and the
02:11like. You've got to sort of have the sort of the, if you like a multi-agency approach, but of
02:15course it
02:16always requires money. And once sort of retailers vacate those premises, don't let them go into
02:21decline because of course it makes it all more difficult to bring them back to sort of to a
02:24proper usage. In 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
02:37rate multipliers, while councils can use high street rental auctions to bring long empty premises
02:43back into use. In September 2026, ministers announced a £210 million package aimed at derelict buildings,
02:53struggling businesses and community ownership. The test is whether that investment changes how people spend.
