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Ms Portas is on a hiding to nothing. Some years ago i met up with a friend for a coffee, we ended up in Hampstead, an affluent area in many parts.
However wandering up one long street i counted 14 charity shops, and many other units empty, this is the problem. Once you let in one charity shop who get better rates for the use of these units, then a whole host come marching in. That proves a death knell for many others. Our area has the following, one large well known high end supermarket, never ending very expensive convenience stores, coffee, sandwich bars, two diy stores, and now that Robert Dyas have opened, that has almost put paid to those. A number of restaurants. Where once we had two butchers, two greengrocers, the best fish mongers in London, alongside the best bakers, i could go on but you can marry this story right across the country. Indeed it is the fault in many ways of the people, who choose the multinationals. However if the local councils weren't so trigger happy and gave permission at every turn to build ever more tescos, sainsburys, and so forth then perhaps our high streets wouldn't have gone to the wall. High rents, rates which these shops couldn't sustain, caused the death knell and i can't see an injection of money, a pittance at any rate, will help get the high street back on it's feet