The Battle for the High Street (chapter one) (original) (raw)
Related papers
Whose high street? Class and disgust in visions of town centre regeneration
Since the 1980s, there has been sustained public and political debate about the decline of the British high street. The proliferation of charity shops, takeaways, pound-shops, tanning centres, nail-bars, tattoo parlours, bookmakers and loan centres, alongside large numbers of vacant properties, is presented as evidence that high streets have been abandoned by the discerning and the affluent, and are frequented only by the socially marginalised. The need for the revival of the British high street -and the means by which this will be achieved -is widely presented as commonsensical. Yet few have presented alternative views: for example, that some of the streets accused of being in terminal decline remain important social hubs in the lives of many urban dwellers, or that efforts to regenerate high streets will simply instigate processes of gentrification. In this light, this paper will explore whether the prevalent discourse of high street decline betrays specific middle class anxieties about the type of uses to which the high street is now devoted, and question whether calls for regeneration and revival are based on negative evaluations of those who continue to use high streets as spaces of consumption and sociality. Here, the case study of Margate allows for reflection on the ways in which 'regeneration' agendas can support processes of class colonization and gentrification.
Two key forces are likely to impact on the retail profile of London’s high streets. First, is the economic volatility associated with the global crisis in 2008, while the second is the political shift towards the recognition of small independent shops and local high streets signalled in The Mayor’s draft replacement London Plan, 2010. Moreover, the High Street London report (2010) commissioned by the Mayor’s Office emphasises ‘the local’ role of London’s high streets for a ‘local’ populous, reflecting a larger national policy emphasis on Localism as outlined in The Localism Bill (2010). This paper explores what form, if any, the ‘protection’ of London’s high streets and small shops as proposed by the Mayor should take, and what values are used in current research to measure high street ‘success’. The focus of this paper is explicitly contextual: it relies on detailed survey and ethnographic data on a high street located in an area in south London, with a high Indices of Deprivation. By analysing the adaptive practices of the ethnically diverse, independent retailers on the Walworth Road, it explores alternative measures of high street value. Adaptation is conceptualised as the relationship between large-scale economic forces and small-scale retail practices, and through the analysis of diversity and duration, the broad and overly generalised notation of “urban high street” is reconsidered. The paper argues for interdisciplinary research on high street retail such that the spatial, economic and social dimensions of high streets inform policy. It also reframes ‘the local’ as ‘the particular’ and emphasises the need for more disaggregated, more fine-grained research on retail practices in high streets that reflects crucial contextual differentiations. Finally it raises the question of what a planning framework and stewardship mechanism for high streets in London’s urban margins might comprise of.
This paper explores why individual retailers have become the target of anti-gentrification protest, examining where the 'blame' for gentrification should be placed. Some commentators have argued that independent retailers should not be scapegoated, as this blames individuals for wider structural processes. In this paper I provide a brief overview of some of the retailers who have been targeted in anti-gentrification protests. These businesses have been singled out as their aesthetic branding has provoked conflict between existing residents and incoming gentrifiers. In each of these cases, the history of an area has been nostalgically appropriated in ironic marketing campaigns promoting 'hip' urban consumption. The paper questions whether these instances can be excused simply as instances of 'bad taste' and misjudged marketing. I turn to Bourdieu to think about the ways in which class inequality is upheld via symbolic violence. The paper highlights how social inequality does not just come about via economic restructuring, but also through symbolic gestures and lifestyles, which mark certain places as both financially and culturally out of reach. Ultimately, I argue that while the wider structures of gentrification may exist beyond the agency of individual retailers and consumers, this does not mean that individuals have no role to play in determining how gentrification plays out in our communities.
Hipsters on our High Streets: consuming the gentrification frontier
2016
Gentrification involves the displacement of working class populations, a phenomena most obviously manifest in the transformation of residential landscapes. But this is also palpable in the changes visible on many shopping streets, with locally-oriented stores serving poorer populations and ethnic minorities being replaced by 'hipster' stores such as 'real coffee' shops, vintage clothing stores and bars serving microbrews. These stores have been taken as a sign that the fortunes of struggling shopping streets are improving, with the new outlets often depicted as offering a better range of healthy, green and 'authentic' consumption choices than the shops they displace. However, this paper argues that we need to resist this form of retail change given it typically represents the first stage of a more thoroughgoing retail gentrification process, remaining suspicious of forms of hipster consumption which, while aesthetically 'improving' local shopping streets in deprived areas, actually encourage the colonisation of neighbourhoods by the more affluent.
Traditional retail markets: the new gentrification frontier
This paper presents traditional retail markets in the UK caught between a narrative of decline and revival, on the edge of a gentrification frontier. Traditional indoor and outdoor markets have become somewhat residual in many British cities but essential for many low income citizens that rely on their affordability. At the same time, the market is being reinvented for a wealthier type of customer interested more in local, environmentally friendly, ethical and "authentic" shopping experience. We take the case of Kirkgate Market in Leeds, the largest of its kind in Britain to analyse the process of disinvestment by the local authority, displacement of traders and customers and rebranding of the market for a new wealthier customer base. The paper is based on an action-research project on which one of the authors is involved alongside traders and other campaigners to defend the public nature of Kirkgate Market in Leeds
The Credit Crunch and the High Street: 'Coming Like a Ghost Town
Sociological Research Online, 2009
Drawing on primary visual data and secondary sources this rapid response piece speculates on the changes to the British high street as a consequence of the credit crunch. The changes are much more profound than simply the loss of a place to shop. For both individuals and wider society the changes to the British high street carry implications for issues of self-identity, social contacts and social exclusion.
International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 2008
what he rightly suggests is the disappearance of a critical edge from much of the recent gentrification literature. It explores one of these points in greater depth, i.e. the notion that the working class occupy a 'backstage' role vis-à-vis the analysis of gentrification. This is done via a discussion of gentrification and London's class structure in relation to the work of Tim Butler and Chris Hamnett. The essay makes a plea for more 'bottom up' accounts of gentrification which focus upon the urban working class, especially in relation to contemporary processes of policy-driven state-led gentrification.