Dereliction in Musselburgh High Street (pic: DB Media Services)
Tidying up shops and streets is as important as cutting the cost of doing business, argues TERRY MURDEN
At one end of Musselburgh High Street the Kaffeine cafe was crammed with customers enjoying brunch and taking advantage of the Sunday morning sunshine, though they may not have been tempted to stray much further along the town’s main thoroughfare which, like many others around the country, would not invite anyone to hang about too long.
It was the weekend of the town’s art festival and first time visitors who crossed the tree-lined River Esk, with its rows of pretty cottages, would be in for a rude shock when confronted by the drab and scruffy shops, garish facias and broken paving that make up the town centre.
This dismal state of affairs is shared across the country. Edinburgh’s once-grand Princes Street is now a collection of ugly buildings occupied by some upmarket retailers trying to outshine the shabby discount stores and the general air of neglect that faces the grandeur of the Castle and the Old Town.
After the fire that left another scar on the city , the Labour council leader Jane Meagher was asked if she felt proud of Princes Street. Depressingly, she responded: “No, I don’t,” adding: “We take seriously the activities of some of the more dubious shops on Princes Street and we take enforcement action.”
Those looking through their fingers at the mess it has become will wonder what it would be like without this apparent enforcement action.
This is what awaits the Prime Minister as he tours the UK asking the public how the government can improve their lives, with a focus on tackling the cost of living and improving local high streets.
He’s certainly got his work cut out. Musselburgh would be an informed destination. Its wide shopping street, made up largely of historic buildings, could be the pride of East Lothian. Instead, it is not a place you’d spend much time taking selfies, let alone doing the weekly shop, though if you’re looking for vapes, pound items or an ornamental chimpanzee giving the middle finger then this is your place.
David Lonsdale, director of the Scottish Retail Consortium, insists it is all about making it easier to do business. “It’s heartening to hear the new PM’s focus on living standards and a renaissance of the country’s high streets. After all a buoyant retail industry is central to the revival of our high streets and town and city centres.
Empty unit reveals a blast from the past (pic: DB Media Services)
Buildings and paving suffer from neglect and shabbiness (pic: DB Media Services)
“To achieve that politicians need a laser-like focus on fixing the cost of doing business as this is the way to fix the cost of living and help retailers’ efforts to keep down shop prices.
“That means easing the cumulative regulatory burden on firms; too often governments treat individual policy initiatives as isolated actions with little regard for their combined impact on retailers. It also means cutting business rates further.”
A shop selling a model chimp telling visitors where to go (pic: DB Media Services)
While business rates and online shopping take a share of the blame for the decline of high streets, local authorities stand accused of failing to “insist or assist” on improvements to shopfronts that make high streets more welcoming.
Fingers can also be pointed at landlords and shopkeepers whose failure to even give a lick of paint to some drab exteriors is a self-inflicted injury.
Tourists arriving in Princes Street by tram are presented with a splendid view of the castle and the old town. Look across the road and they’re greeted with boarded up shops, the tawdry spectacle of the New Club entrance, grubby paving and graffiti. Hardly Scotland’s Champs Elysees that it could be.
Entrance to the New Club on Princes Street (pic: DB Media Services)
Even the discount stores have been closing on Princes Street (pic: DB Media Services)
Historic towns like York have managed to retain an air of elegance without scaring off the big chains, insisting on proportionate and colour co-ordinated facias. Even McDonalds was forced to abandon its red and yellow identity in order to fit in with the medieval centre.
Given the efforts by North Berwick to ensure its high street is more presentable, it will be no surprise that it attracts a generous share of visitors, thereby boosting the local economy.
A recent decision by East Lothian Council to impose car parking charges therefore dismayed local traders, concerned that it would force local shoppers to choose out of town destinations.
It is too early to assess the impact of the new charges, but like the visitor levy being imposed in Edinburgh, it may be one route to keeping up appearances and a lesson for towns like Musselburgh.
Fundamentally, though, the retail sector and other businesses operating in our town centres must stop blaming others and take responsibility for tidying up their outlets.
Is it any wonder shoppers choose to visit clean, well-presented shopping malls and areas such as Stockbridge and Bruntsfield in Edinburgh that make an effort? They also pay business rates but do not let their premises fall into disrepair or cover their frontages with dazzling, over-sized signage that make them look funfairs. As such they attract new tenants as well as customers.
A good article and very true of many cities in the UK, however not in Aberdeen. “Our Union Street” is a not for profit voluntary organisation and we are trying to do something to enhance the appearance of our Main Street ‘Union Street’.
We have a “Brighten The Street” team who volunteer every second Sunday morning to paint street furniture, clean empty Units, paint over graffiti, and weed and and clean our Kirk grounds. Which is situated on Union Street.
We are making a tangible difference, and have photographic evidence to prove it.
Happy to share.