But what then? Shops are closing, pubs are closing, independent cafés and restaurants are replaced by chains
This is not unconnected with Covid but principally because of the massive reduction in footfall in our urban centres because a high % have been and are still working from home.
It’s not online shopping or Amazon although that has fed into reduced numbers in shops. It’s not that long since only essential ie food shopping was the only sort permitted.
Of course the high street took a hit but if it had been thriving pre-pandemic, it would have fought through.
No the decline in our high streets started a long time ago, long before internet shopping proliferated in the way it has in the last 2 years . The pandemic merely accelerated the decline and hammered a few nails into the coffin.
Pubs, cafes and restaurants were obliged to close either directly or indirectly because of the catastrophic fall in numbers of commuters and office workers. Once lockdown started to ease there was the massive double whammy of a shortage of staff in the hospitality sector, many who lost their jobs during the pandemic having moved to other forms of employment. Not everybody was furloughed.
So I fear you have massively over simplified both the causes and the timescale of the decline of our high streets.
May I refer you to reports such as this
www.thegrocer.co.uk/high-street/how-can-we-stop-britains-high-streets-becoming-ghost-towns/654096.article
And this www.theweek.co.uk/104224/what-is-driving-the-collapse-of-high-street-shops
In the latter article some blame is laid at the door o internet shopping , if you open the link you will see this:
The most commonly cited cause of the high street’s demise is the rise of internet shopping, which is seen as having had a dramatic impact on the way people shop
But just 18.1% of retail purchases in the UK are made online, according to recent figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), indicating that it isn’t the internet alone that is responsible for the high-street hit.
Researchers at A&M and Retail Economics say that over the past five years, companies have had to spend 10.8% more cash on costs including wages, rents and business rates.