Changing face of the High Street, Lynn News letter

He’s right – this news is to be welcomed, and any jobs are better than no jobs, however this employment is low skilled and low paid, and many of these jobs will be part-time. For many people this maybe work of last resort.

We know that High Streets across the country are changing with more people choosing to buy online, or use out-of-town stores. Across the country big High Street names such as Marks and Spencer, Debenhams and John Lewis, and restaurant chains such as Prezzo, are under pressure to reduce the number of outlets. Recently M&S announced a series of store closures although fortunately the Lynn store seems secure, at least for the time being.

Economically it seems a very mixed picture at the moment, both locally and nationally, as many of the businesses we deal with locally, away from the high street – in sectors such as manufacturing, building and construction, marketing and media, finance and the care sector, have more work than they can cope with, yet many small micro businesses are reluctant to take people on as taking someone on is perceived as high cost and high risk, fuelling the rise in freelancers, self-employed and the gig-economy.

Guy Grainger CEO of JLL Real Estate Agents on Radio 5 recently highlighted an opportunity to reduce the amount of retail units and convert them back to residential. This seems to make sense – there are just too many retail units given the changes in people’s shopping habits.

In the meantime, if we are to encourage people back into the High Street, providing limited time, free parking, as they do in Wisbech, would certainly help.

Peter Lawrence

Director of Human Capital Department