Death of the High Street....

.....sounds dramatic, but it is a worry.

Moving to Peebles four years ago, one of the attractive features of the town was a living High Street.    Hardly any vacant shops - only two national chain stores, Boots and Greggs.   Many traditional and independently owned businesses.    People travelled from Edinburgh regularly, just to shop on the High Street.

There is a dramatic change.   A number of vacant shops now, with no sign of new businesses moving in.    I think there is a complex of reasons.    A general lack of confidence in retail markets;  heavy business rates; landlords who for some hard-to-understand reason keep raising rents and end up with empty premises on their books; out-of-town (on the periphery of the big city, that is) retail areas; and perhaps supremely on-line shopping - cheap and highly-efficient, with next day deliveries often guaranteed.   

It's progress, and I think it's inevitable.    But it means we need a new vision for the High Street.   That's beyond my capacity to imagine.