A High Street Renaissance
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Arts Council England A High Street Renaissance How arts and culture bring people and pride back to our high streets 5 August 2021 Credits Written and prepared by Jonathan Todd and Jay Rowe, BOP Consulting With thanks to Adam Buss (Derby QUAD), Victoria Pomery (Turner Contemporary), Gemma Thomas (Appetite), Annabel Turpin (ARC Stockton Arts Centre), Dylan Tozer and Edward Borlase (Theatre Royal Plymouth), and Patrick Fox (Heart of Glass) for assistance with case studies Data credits Polling data from Deltapoll; data on location of funded organisations from Arts Council England Image credits Front cover: Andrew Moore. Photo of DIY Dance Together. Part of Shop Front Festival 2018 in Coventry __ i Contents Figure 6 Cultural experiences on local high street or nearest town centre make Executive Summary .............................................................................. 1 local areas better places to live (% of respondents, all UK adults) ...................... 9 1. Culture: High Street Presence ......................................................... 2 Figure 7 Preferences for visiting local the high street or nearest town centre over coming years (% of respondents, all UK adults) ........................................ 10 2. High Street Footfall and Spend ........................................................ 3 Figure 8 Desire and expectations of local high streets or nearest town centre 3. Civic Pride ......................................................................................... 5 over coming years (% of respondents, all UK adults) ........................................ 10 4. The Post-Pandemic High Street ....................................................... 7 5. Case Studies ................................................................................... 11 5.1 Derby QUAD ................................................................................................ 11 5.2 Turner Contemporary .................................................................................. 12 5.3 New Vic Theatre .......................................................................................... 14 5.4 ARC Stockton Arts Centre ........................................................................... 15 5.5 Theatre Royal Plymouth .............................................................................. 17 5.6 Heart of Glass .............................................................................................. 18 List of Figures Figure 1 Expectation of local high street cultural and leisure opportunities over coming years compared to pre-Covid-19 (% of respondents, all UK adults) ...... 4 Figure 2 Cultural experiences on the local high street or nearest town centre give local pride (% of respondents, all UK adults) ............................................... 6 Figure 3 Expectation of local high street or nearest town centre use over coming years compared to pre-Covid-19 (% of respondents, all UK adults) ...... 8 Figure 4 Desire for local high street cultural and leisure opportunities over coming years compared to pre-Covid-19 (% of respondents, all UK adults) ...... 8 Figure 5 Attitudes on local high street cultural experiences over coming years (% of respondents, all UK adults) ........................................................................ 9 ii voluntary activity, and are combined with spending at nearby retail, Executive Summary hospitality, and leisure amenities. Culture is a vital ingredient for successful high streets. Such high streets are New polling reported here finds that many people want the high streets’ now typically multi-functional. They do not exclusively depend upon their retail presence of culture to expand. Half of adults (50%) would like to see more offers to secure footfall and spending. They offer a combination of experiences cultural experiences on their high streets. This 50% rises to 54% among those and amenities, including culture, to attract locals and those travelling from aged 25 to 34 years of age and 57% among black Britons. An expanded cultural further afield. Theatres, gigs, art galleries and museums depend on human footprint can help high streets appeal to younger and more diverse patrons. congregation. This has made them hard hit by Covid-19. But the £1.57 billion According to this polling, while only 14% of UK adults expect to spend more Culture Recovery Fund has helped to preserve the cultural sector. After more time on high streets than pre-Covid-19, this rises to 25% among those aged 18 than 17,500 chain store outlets closed on high streets in 2020,1 the presence of to 25 years of age. With younger people seemingly more willing than older culture on the high street has weathered Covid-19 more effectively than retail. people to spend time in public spaces, high streets should utilise culture to appeal to them. 2 Of the buildings used by organisations funded by Arts Council England, 75% Culture is much more dependent than retail on in-person experiences and are either on or within a five-minute walk (500m) of a high street in England. should be coordinated with other high street uses. This coordination might This high street presence: involve events and space management, marketing, and place branding. There are a variety of mechanisms for bringing this coordination, such as: Business ‒ Builds civic pride: 62% of UK adults agree that cultural experiences Improvement Districts, Cultural Compacts,3 government funds, including Future on the high street give them a sense of pride about their local area, High Streets Fund, Stronger Towns Fund, Town deals, Historic High Streets according to new polling to support this research. Heritage Action Zones, and associated cultural programme that also contribute ‒ Defends against high street decline: Closure of high street retail to opportunities to coordinate and deliver culture on high streets. dents civic pride and creates spirals of decline. Our brief and approach ‒ Footfall as an indicator of high street vitality: Culture drives footfall Arts Council England commissioned BOP Consulting in June 2021 to undertake and spending. Many cultural activities require in-person settings, which a rapid evidence review on the impact of culture on high streets. The next four drive footfall. The Turner Contemporary is estimated to have injected chapters of this report present the results of a thematic literature review £70 million into the local economy between 2011-19. undertaken in response to this commission. These chapters also present ‒ Contributes towards multi-functional high streets: Trips to cultural relevant results from polling commissioned to support this research and a series destinations have many motivations, including artistic participation and of case studies,4 which are presented in more detail in subsequent chapters. 1 This is according to figures compiled by the Local Data Company (LDC) for the accountancy firm PWC and 3 These are partnerships designed to enhance the contribution of the cultural sector to local economic and social reported in The Guardian, 14 March 2021. development, with an emphasis on cross-sector engagement beyond the cultural sector itself and the local 2 This relates to National Portfolio Organisations (NPOs), Sector Support Organisations (SSOs) and Music authority. See BOP Consulting, Review of Cultural Compacts Initiative, 2020. Education Hubs (MEHs). NPOs are leaders in their areas, with a shared responsibility to protect and develop 4 All six case studies were supported by the £1.57 billion Culture Recovery Fund and come from a geographically England’s national arts and cultural ecology. SSOs are a range of organisations working across all art forms dispersed set of places across England. supported by Arts Council England. MEHs are groups of organisations that work together to create cooperative music education provision. — www.bop.co.uk 1 ‒ 75% of buildings used by National Portfolio Organisations (NPOs),9 1. Culture: High Street Presence Sector Support Organisations (SSOs)10 and Music Education Hubs (MEHs)11 are either on or within a five-minute walk (500m) of a high “High streets are a crucial part of our communities and local economies,” the street in England government notes. “We recognise that changing consumer behaviour presents a significant challenge for retailers in our town centres”.5 Increased use of online ‒ 90% of buildings used by NPOs, SSOs and MEHs are either on or retail is central to these changing consumer behaviours. Covid-19 has within a 15-minute walk (1500m) of a high street in England accelerated this use of online retail. In-store sales at high street clothing ‒ 33% of buildings used by NPOs, SSOs and MEHs are located on high retailers, for example, fell 80% during the height of the pandemic and remained streets in England 25% below pre-crisis levels in August 2020.6 ‒ 24% of buildings used by Creative People and Places (CPPs)12 are Declining retail on high streets located on high streets in England The increased use of online retail during Covid-19 has coincided with the ‒ 64% of buildings used by CPPs are either on or within a five-minute closure of high street stores. Gap, Topshop, Debenhams, Oasis, Warehouse, walk (500m) of a high street in England Karen Millen, and Laura Ashley have all disappeared from the high street in the past 18 months, while Marks & Spencer, Next, House of Fraser and John Lewis ‒ 49% of visual arts buildings used by NPOs, SSOs and MEHs are have reduced their store estate. More than 17,500 chain store outlets closed