Our town centre is soulless
ASK people in Northampton to describe their high street and one word keeps cropping up: soulless.
About a third of the shops are boarded up, while homeless people take shelter in vacant doorways.
There has been an exodus of big names: House of Fraser left in 2014, followed by BHS in 2016, when the chain collapsed into administration. Marks and Spencer closed its branch last year, lured to the new £140 million Rushden Lakes retail park, while there are fears over the future of Debenhams.
Nationwide Bank closed its branch in Abington Street in January, following the Coop Bank and Royal Bank of Scotland.
Gretchen Larkin, owner of an independent clothing boutique, says the blame lies squarely at the feet of the council. ‘It’s not rocket science really, and you will hear the same thing from everyone – parking charges and rates,’ she said yesterday.
‘The council needs to lower the parking charges. And there are so many empty shops, so why would people come here?’
Resident Sophie McFadden, 43, said the street was ‘full of pound shops or cafes’, and Rushden Lakes – which is 15 miles out of town – had much more to offer.
The council has pledged to revitalise the town centre, and has set up a board called Northampton Forward ‘to create a vision for the town and drive forward a strategic programme of improvements’.