Forum topic: Regenerating Palmers Green town centre

The 2013 high street retail taskforce led by ex-Wicks and Iceland boss Bill Grimsey is to be reconvened and plans to report again in July. Surprisingly it may seem but this is not due to the A105 cycle lanes but rather UK wide retail issues driven by austerity and the financial fallout from Brexit impacts (sterling depreciation makes imports more expensive) with both impacting on disposable incomes; plus the changes being driven by technology. The UK is migrating to online faster than any other major economy and this is seen as only the start of the trend yet retailers, in the main, are simply off this curve (certainly not Starfish). He seems to have laid down an early marker to stop thinking “shops and retail” and instead see high streets for community, social, health, education, entertainment and leisure. Well I never, who would have thought.

Watch this space I guess. In the meantime maybe everyone can try asking themselves a couple of simple questions about a revitalised PG high street: what’s missing and what would a successful PG high street look like? (Usual rules apply, someone has to pay for whatever you think of and it needs to be viable over time for the investor.) And just what is it about PG high street which means it hasn't been and doesn’t get a larger share of our purses and wallets?

It's a good question. If we include Park Parade, Alderman's Hill most of what I want to buy from a shop (rather than online) is available apart from clothes and big ticket items. The issue is that there is so much retail space - the units start near the north Circular and don't end until Hazelwood Lane. Given the huge pressures on housing I'd convert a decent % to just that.

Good point, Adrian.

Thinking of my favourite local high street shopping area (as mentioned on this thread previously) and one that has been extremely successful, the concurrent issue with PG's arguable over-supply of high street retail is it's stretch out nature - look at Muswell Hill.

The high street is high streets and they hub out of the bus junction/roundabout like spokes on a wheel. This is better for encouraging footfall between shops. In PG, the high street is so long! One long high street. It's a bit like one medieval dinner table - no interaction between one end and the other as they're just to far away. So you end up having to repeat store types at severl points as someone on say Avondale Road isn't going to want to walk to Park Parade for some nice flowers/house plants (Pomegranata Flowers, formerly Inghams, is amazing). So they need a florist nearer which subsequently dilutes the offer.

It's not 'rocket salad'. Cobble over the whole of the high street, much much more trees and greenery (hanging baskets etc!) -benches and seating. Drop the asking price of the rents on the empty shops and encourage by rent discounts small independent artisan shops. Job done !

It's all well and good trying to ask the public for ideas and innovations, when we do give our thought we're told there are cutbacks and no can do...isn't that why there are people employed and paid well like Peter George Director of Regeneration Team of Enfield Council who should be the one yiu should be asking what is he and his team doing all day for the past 10 years knowing that PG has escalated into a sham...where are his new ideas and changes will he be bringing them to the table...

I have already emailed Peter George and he said he will be taking a walkabout in the area to see what needs to be done and that won't be until May, if he cared about the area and the shops etc he would of acted on it ages ago, there are a lot of people in positions that are doing absolutely nothing to show their passion, so how is the public going to be any use...

I think Enfield Council should put there heads together with Waltham Forest Council and take a leave out of their books they have done a amazing job reviving their town centre and its buzzing more then ever before.

We definitely do need new ideas and progress to get back PG Town Centre and other areas to how they used to be once, we need to go back in time in the 1950's &1960's when there was more Greenery, charm and sophistication. You only need to take a look at the pics then and you will see what is needed, we need to bring back traditions...

Great ideas, Brendan, but where will the buses and other essential traffic go if the High Street is cobbled and how would you get the landlords to reduce the rents?

Thanks Adrian. I pretty sure the buses and cars will be over to go over the cobbles. They won't have to redirected anywhere. The idea is that the cobbles and extra greenery would give the area from say the Fox down to the triangle a much 'softer' more welcoming feel. I take your point about the landlords and rents and to be honest I don't know how that would be done. However many other councils are also trying to deal with these issues and looking at ideas such as limiting the amount of large chains in certain areas. But we do at the moment have x3 very large empty retail units, the former Starbucks, Store 21 and MutiYork stores, as well as other units all standing empty. Are they asking too much for the rents? We have far far too many bookies and basically a high street that a lot of people who live in the area don't visit, don't want to visit and have no reason to visit. There is just nothing there for them.

Brendan McMullan comments “a high street that a lot of people who live in the area don't visit, don't want to visit and have no reason to visit.”

That’s a sentiment I’ve picked up numerous times over many years from many locals and have been feeding back to the business association for well over a decade. Nonetheless the received wisdom is that all attention for success needs to be on high street parking, a finite facility under whatever terms and only representing a small minority of total visitor numbers (independent town centre study some years back). A focus on the – relatively untapped – large local population always seemed to have much more potential. After all they are going to shop and socialise somewhere, so why not on their own doorsteps?

I find the recent move to attractive looking, and arguably more upmarket outlets, that has become the norm interesting: eg Gatehouse, Starfish, 90, Mytime, Gemm barbers (with a cute loyalty scheme), Chalk, the imminent opening of “Stage” as well as the tripling in size and overall improvement of an convenience store.

Some store fronts are improving – witness eg Nationwide’s recent small tweaks – and the general view, here and elsewhere, is that the public realm is now much more attractive post the lanes, despite calls for more greening.

It certainly wouldn’t seem, to me at least, to fit the recent input from one self-styled retail expert from nearby WHill who commented, “At the moment PG is dirty, dangerous, desolate and a disaster.”

Yes Multiyork closed, one of many national chains going or who have actually gone under recently; Starbucks finally withdrew, being unable to compete versus the numerous (typically excellent) independents from the three quarters of the overall store footprint they chose to utilise (so making required returns per square foot more challenging); and Store 21 continues its merry dance between prospective tenants. On the other side, new investment continues to arrive and one established, high effort, tenant talks of business up 30% year on year.

Look out for more local convenience, non-internetable and entertainment focused themes over the coming years as some bookies, estate agents and banks inevitably fade.

A differentiated road surface through the town centre as suggested – absolutely, in some form – as well as London wide 20mph max speed limits in such pedestrian-centric spaces. Focus on the people, not the cars.