High street specialist Graham Soult, a partner in The High Street Consultancy, recently delivered a keynote talk at the Loughborough Town Deal Impact and Opportunity Business Lunch, hosted by Charnwood Borough Council.
The event brought together local businesses and stakeholders to reflect on progress being made through the Town Deal programme and to consider the opportunities ahead for Loughborough town centre.
Explore
Before speaking, Graham spent time walking the town centre to gain a sense of how the place is evolving – something that has long been central to his approach when working in or speaking about towns.
“That’s why, whenever I am asked to speak about or work in a new town, I like to arrive in advance and explore it properly, seeing it through a fresh pair of eyes,” he explained during the talk.
That exploration took him through the Market Place, The Rushes and surrounding streets, where he found evidence of a town centre with positive momentum.
“Across the town as a whole, I was struck by how few empty shops I saw,” he noted. Loughborough, he suggested, feels like “a town where current businesses want to keep trading, new businesses want to come, and people are wanting to spend time.”
Wider factors
Using Loughborough as a starting point, the speech went on to explore some of the wider factors that shape the fortunes of town centres today.
Among the most important, Graham argued, is the relationship between perception and confidence. “Perception influences behaviour,” he told the audience, noting that the way people talk about a place can affect everything from business investment to footfall.
Equally important is the need for places to build on what is already working:
“We improve a place by seeing and celebrating what is already good, and asking ourselves what we need to do to make more of that happen.”
These themes closely reflect the work of The High Street Consultancy, which supports towns and cities across the UK with place leadership, partnership working and practical strategies for town centre renewal.
Long-term success
As Graham noted in his closing remarks, capital investment can help create momentum, but long-term success depends on how places build on that foundation.
“If I return in another decade, and the town centre feels stronger, more coherent and more confident than it already does today, then that will be the real achievement.”
The full text of Graham’s Loughborough speech can be read on the CannyInsights.com website.
