Shoppers are brainwashed into thinking that the giant out-of-town retailers decision to sell all that they do is still giving us choice. The 'habit' has become an 'addiction' ... or has it?
We should give Mary Portas and Channel 4 a cheer for keeping the high street in the headlines. We should be pleased that the medium of television gets the issue in front of many more people than the research papers of academics or the lobbying of politicians.
Mary Portas may be the queen of the high street, but she has admitted that there is one person who's not keen on going shopping with her. While her...
Gordon Ramsay and Mary Portas' reality show 'Hotel GB' could be facing the axe after TV viewers checked out, according to reports. The Channel 4 pr...
Sherborne is renowned in the region for the strength of its independent shops and market... If Tesco builds a store on such an arterial highway, beyond any scale known to the town and demolishing a hotel in the process, it would have a devastating effect.
The ten things you need to know on Thursday 14 March 2013... 1) POPE FRANCIS, FRIEND OF DICTATORS? Surprise, surprise, this morning's newspaper ...
Ely may not have Mary Portas, but it is fortunate in having business woman Caroline Bailey in its midst to lead on the challenge of ensuring that loca...
After a series of mysterious fires and the unrelated launch of a mega-mall nearby, Margate turned from beloved tourist destination to ghost town - practically overnight. Despite the efforts of high-street hero Mary Portas and the valiant rejuvenation of the Old Town, Margate continues to reek of recession and disrepair.
In the space of a month, Jessops closed with 2,000 jobs lost, Blockbusters closed with 4,000 jobs at risk and HMV, employing 4,300, entered restructuring with an uncertain future.
Has the media become tired of all the reality show 'celebs' and the fashion designing footballer's wives? It would seem that the 15 minute fame grabbers have out stayed their welcome. Today the older woman is packing a punch!
The somewhat dilapidated seaside town of Margate has been voted one of the top ten worldwide hot spots to visit in 2013. Those wags over at the R...
When staying in London we usually try and choose a hotel that is pretty central, and generally stick to W1, it's a stone's throw from all the shops and perfect for getting around.
The latest event to commemorate rock's best-known chameleon is Strange Fascination?, a three-day symposium taking place at Limerick University in a fortnight's time, where his many stage personae will undoubtedly be dissected many times over.
The publicity created by Mary Portas reminded both consumers and indeed fashion industry buyers that products are still made in the UK despite the severe reduction in the manufacturing sector in the past three decades.
Hotel GB - the place where everyone does not know your name, necessarily, but you'll know theirs. The idea is a noble one - take 14 unemployed tra...
Conventional wisdom decrees that internet shopping combined with a general economic decline is responsible for ravaging our town and village centres. Research just published shows that one in seven shops on the high street has closed and this has turned many into ghost towns.
Another 15 town centres are to be given extra cash for regeneration projects following a review by retail queen Mary Portas, local government minister...
As any team competing in the Euro 2012 championships knows, having the right support behind you can make all the difference. But sometimes supporters can be a liability: they make headlines for all the wrong reasons.
So the 'golden tickets' have been awarded to a dozen successful Portas Pilots to revitalise their high streets, with the promise of another 15 to come. Meanwhile more than 350 towns and suburbs who were hoping to win this mini-lottery will need to decide what to do with the energy and enthusiasm that went into their applications.
Twelve town centres have been named as the first "Portas pilots", entitling them to funding and expert advice as they seek to regenerate high streets....
'The Next Big Thing?' is a series of blogs that will focus on small businesses and startup brands in the UK. Whether they are quirky, practical, pioneering or downright bizarre, this blog will shine the spotlight on what could be the next big thing...
No denying it, if you didn't already know, Glasgow is firmly on the fashion map, with the arrival of the fabulous Mary Portas.
Suddenly there are pots of money to transform high streets all over the place. The government has announced its long-awaited response to the Portas Review, and you can't accuse them of sitting on their thumbs.
The number of empty shops hit an all-time high last month amid a post-Christmas series of retail failures, according to a new survey. Town centre v...
Recessions mean bankruptcies, and bankruptcies in the retail sector mean boarded up high streets. Between 2008 and 2010 the number of empty shops has gone up five fold. Only one shop in 40 was empty in 2008, but the rate is now one in seven. It is higher still in some places - one in five in the north west as a whole, one in four in Blackburn, Grimsby, and Walsall, and one in three in Margate.
