Are other towns like mine !

My nearest town's precinct is full of coffee shops etc. I suppose it looks better than empty shop fronts.
We do have one lovely privately owned department store which I try to support as the precinct would be a sad place without it. We've already lost M&S, and Edinburgh Woollen Mill etc.

No our high st is going well., just had an independent book shop open

We must be one of the few with some lovely shops. We are a small market town pop. 2000 +. We have a part time bank, building society, shoe shop, wet fish shop that also sells fruit, veg and home baked pies and cakes, a good butcher. Pharmacy, optician, ladies clothes shop (rather nice too) a couple of cafes 4 or 5 pubs and Chinese and Indian takeaways plus two fish & chip shops. There are 2 supermarkets which I almost forgot to mention. We also have a good library a couple of barbers and hairdressers and the post office and a newsagents.
We really don't need to go into the large towns nearby, we have everything we need here.

Where I live, every second shop sells fruit and veg or are hairdressers and/or beauty salons. There is one Costa but it would be impossible to find an independent shop which sells coffee and sandwiches and maybe something light like an omelette.

Yes, Bluebell, same with most towns. Charity shops and Cafés everywhere.

We will have the towns we deserve. If we all switch to shopping on-line or in out of town shopping centres- our towns will die. So will our markets. I personally would hate that and find it very sad. Which is why I try to shop in person, in real shops, especially smaller independent ones. Same for Cafés - I avoid chains.

I live in a small town that used to be a big village. There are probably more eateries than necessary for the population. but some are good enough to be an attraction to people from outside. We have six charity shops, but also a first class hardware store, several dress shops and three supermarkets - four, if you count the Co-op. We could do with a good shoe shop So far, I think we have a fair balance of shops and cafés.

It’s not so much knocking people eating out I love a nice cafe with a friend it’s just I can’t imagine how so many can possible survive I live in a small town on the edge of the bigger town if that makes sense and we are just about to have our fifteenth eating place open in the one road (probably half a mile long) not counting any in the side roads (at least another 4)
There is a Portuguese cafe, a Spanish Mexican restaurant, a KF C, an English restaurant, two tea rooms, 2 fish and chip shops, a burger bar, a pizza place, an Indian restaurant a kebab shop, a bread shop with small cafe, an art shop with coffee shop, and to open next week a vegetarian restaurant
Plus three barbers
I can’t even bear to count what’s in the actual town itself
Wetherspoons, Taco Bell, subway, Costa, Starbucks , vegan restaurant plus another 3 or 4 independents and this is not counting all the deliveroo riders buzzing around

How can they all survive? how can people find the money ? how can we not get fatter and fatter and fatter

I'm really happy to see the cafe and dining culture flourishing. To me it suggests people still have some 'slack' for when financial hardship becomes even harder. I remember it well................

BlueBelle think you're quite lucky to have the variety of eating places..as someone who doesn't do holidays anymore - my 'treat' once a week is going to a cafe/restaurant - where in the country are you?

In a nearby town they are going to demolish both the old M&S and BHS next door because they are too large to do anything with. They will build flats with a few small shops underneath.

I'm not sure what the future of the high street is unless they find something else to fill the gap left by empty shops which will bring people back.

I live rurally in between two small, touristy towns. We’ve a good mix in both. Very few big name stores. One of my fave independent cafes is struggling though thanks to the energy price rises so we do try and support it as much as we can, although we mostly get takeaway drinks/cake rather than sit in.

I understand the high street is dead and gone, I understand the reasons why! I ve seen it coming for years
I understand it s lovely to have a variety of eating places Bea and Kim , but my questions are how can so many in a small area survive??? and to make them survive people must eat out morning, noon and night, and how to we square that with people needing food banks and living hand to mouth, and rough sleeping and how can we justify being the fattest country in Europe ( I think we are)
( I haven’t even mention our eating places on the sea front which is parallel to my road ?‍?)

How can they all survive? how can people find the money ? how can we not get fatter and fatter and fatter

I think many eateries survive because there are still people with a lot of disposable income, and those with just a bit of spare cash still like to enjoy the cafe culture, indoor and out, that has developed over the years.

Unfortunately, we are getting fatter and fatter, no doubt fuelled by the sheer availability of food when out and about.

We have plenty of interesting independent shops and masses of cafes and restaurants and loads of young people wandering along the streets holding paper cups of beverages... there must still be plenty of disposable income in this southern seaside city... not many closed shops yet.. but a lot of homeless on the streets.. it's very much a place of 2 halves..

Sago

I’m unlikely to use a cafe unless I’m on holiday, if I do I will not use a Costa, Starbucks etc.
I have never understood how or why so many people spend so much money on beverages!
I live in a City with a declining high street, It’s actually depressing, Primark is the only busy shop.

I live near a city just like yours Sago, and I think I have lived in yours. No House of Fraser,Debenhams, BHS or small individual Department stores, M&S cut back.
Though cafes and coffee shops everywhere. and charity shops
We went into our local town on business and got wet through so decided to have a coffee £6^50 for two small Americanos and a cheese scone[we felt obliged to buy] between us. It was opposite the local churchyard and felt like granny's attic and did it cheer us up no.

Our high st is mostly independent shops, shoe shop which does really well with good quality shoes, jewellery shop, bookshop, flower shop, hardware, pet supplies, barbers and hairdressers and a couple of really lovely dress shops selling Asda salt and the likes. We also have a large multi dress shop , boots, and newsagents plus a few charity shops and coffee lounges. Love it

Where people get the money from I do not care, although a coffee is cheaper than having a meal out, The thing I like is how buzzy and busy they are making our towns look; people sitting outside chatting to friends at their table or as they pass by. It has made our hollow empty town centre (small country town), a place to linger and browse.

I do have to confess that I do not use coffee shops, myself. I am someone who goes out to shop, shops and moves on without stopping, and if I need a drink I have a bottle of water in the car.

Having made the above comment, our town still has great independent shops, hardware and kitchen stores, great shoe shops, and all sorts, including some of the great chains, and all the large supermarkets. We are very lucky- but even then, some shops are closing and being replaced with Cafés and Charity shops (including specialised for books and vinyls, etc) and I forgot, far too many card shops.

I think that the important thing is that there is a town centre. Whether it is sustained by retail or not doesn't really matter to me, although I do realise that not everyone shops online. I virtually never buy from actual shops, but I think it's important that there is somewhere for people to have reason to go, otherwise we would all end up stuck in our houses, and there would be no difference between living in a city, a town or a village - we would lose any sort of choice of lifestyle, or it would be reduced, anyway.

Where I live the high street is doing ok, but it is mainly middle-end clothing shops, like Seasalt and Hobbs (what my daughter calls 'clothes for menopausal women?), jewellers, hairdressers and health food shops that offer spurious-looking treatments for weight loss and skin complaints. We have the usual chains, such as M&S, Boots and WH Smiths, and lots of cafes. The town is the sort of place that people visit though, so I suspect the cafes get most of their trade from that. There are restaurants too, but lately several of them are closed on Mondays, which suggests that they might be struggling. There is nowhere for young people to buy clothes, and men have a choice between the tiny department in M&S, Fat Face and Mountain Warehouse. We have at least half a dozen antique shops, but there is nowhere to buy a kettle or ironing board since Woolies closed. I assume that this is because young people shop exclusively online, and it is easier to get household items delivered than carry them about with your shopping. When we moved here there was a Currys (or Dixons, can't remember) and an independent shop selling radios and TVs. They are both long gone, as are the wool shops and little craft shops - most have given way to cafes.

I think that town councils have to come to terms with the fact that spending patterns have changed, and retail is not going to bring in the money any more. If they have any vision, they should be looking at what will bring people together in social spaces, even if they are not spending a lot of money. Music venues or theatres, bowling and the sort of thing that young people can do, independent cinemas - all of those things would bring people to the town centre and encourage a sense of community. The space above retail outlets could become flats, so people could live in the town centre instead of on peripheral housing estates.

The impact will be greater than clinging to what retail they can get. Bringing people into towns would help tourism, reduce loneliness, and give them character that many have lost because of all the chainstores that make one high street much the same as another.

Our nearest village is no different however only one charity shop. It did have 3 cafes but two closed recently due to increased rent and energy prices. We have a butchers although they put a notice on community website to say unless business picks up in next few months they will close. Use it or lose it. The post office situated in local grocery store also closed two weeks ago but their notice says due to discrepancies in financial accounts they have had to shut down and won't open again until the PO sorts it out.

My trip to the High Street - 5 minute walk - is usually prompted by a visit to our wonderful family run home bakery. I regularly bump into someone I know either from Church or other meetings I've attended over the years and a coffee is usually/often the outcome. Lovely.

Dooddledog I just do not believe town centres can survive without retail. Cafés and eateries have to be combined with good stores.

Sadly, the early industrialisation and the pollution that ensued, sent all those who could afford it to the suburbs. Something that other towns in the world learnt from and addressed, putting industries outside, and keeping towns for people.

And yes, many towns are bringing people back to live in town centres, mainly students, but also retired people, and that is good.

Barmeyoldbat
I was wondering what was so special about Asda salt but I worked out it was probably meant to be Seasalt? ?

I certainly can't afford them except for special occasions.

Just to add, in addition to demolishing M&S and BHS to build flats, Debenhams will be student accommodation.