How to fix our failing high streets

Just two sectors are keeping Britain's high streets alive – estate agents and restaurants. Now, even their numbers are dwindling. But things can still be fixed, says Matthew Lynn.

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Old-style high streets must adapt or die
(Image credit: Credit: Gregory Wrona / Alamy Stock Photo)

Boarded-up shops. Endless charity outlets. Bank branches closing because only a few 80-somethings ever come in. Walk down the average British high street, and you could be forgiven for thinking that its prospects could not get much worse. The trouble is, you'd be wrong. Two key sectors have kept our town centres on life support: the British love affair with property means that most towns have plenty of estate agents; and new restaurants have been springing up everywhere. You can hardly move for Costas, Stradas, and so on. It often seems as if many people's idea of a good day out is a spot of house-hunting, followed by pizza or a gourmet burger not a bad way to spend the weekend. Yet those days may soon be over.

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Matthew Lynn

Matthew Lynn is a columnist for Bloomberg, and writes weekly commentary syndicated in papers such as the Daily Telegraph, Die Welt, the Sydney Morning Herald, the South China Morning Post and the Miami Herald. He is also an associate editor of Spectator Business, and a regular contributor to The Spectator. Before that, he worked for the business section of the Sunday Times for ten years. 

He has written books on finance and financial topics, including Bust: Greece, The Euro and The Sovereign Debt Crisis and The Long Depression: The Slump of 2008 to 2031. Matthew is also the author of the Death Force series of military thrillers and the founder of Lume Books, an independent publisher.