I’d agree with most of that but not with, “As far as the high street goes, it's dead.” It depends on the town or the city. I’ve been to towns where you could shoot an arrow though the High Street on a Saturday and not hit anyone, and towns where the High Street has been able to reinvent itself and prosper.

The fishmonger’s and greengrocer’s here went twenty years ago and have been replaced by a succession of shops, some of which have survived and others that have gone to the wall. There’s been one consistent and apparently successful trend however all the time I’ve lived here (more than thirty years) and that’s the increase in restaurants (both the indoor and the pavement ones), coffee shops and the larger pub chains. The central market has always been pretty busy and to add to that there’s now a farmer’s market in the High Street every Friday (where you’ll find a fishmonger, greengrocer and baker among other stalls).

In a nutshell, people now go into town principally to enjoy themselves not to shop (though they might do a bit of that while they're there as well). The main household shopping for most is done at one of the supermarkets where parking is free, close to the store, and where you can get everything (except a decent sit-down meal) you’ll need for the week ahead. Struggling town centres have to ask themselves what the punters want. It’s not principally goods anymore it’s a place where they can enjoy themselves.