Empty shops in Dewsbury is probably the worst possible headline when you are aiming to promote a positive message about Dewsbury. Yet it is also the headline that will be easiest to find for those interested in the subject and will also grab the attention of anyone interested in the future of Dewsbury..
Why do we want to talk about empty shops? Firstly, because it is the best measure of the health of a town centre and secondly because it is the basic information we need to know if we plan to do something about it. This was made clear by Ian NIcholson of the Vacant Shop Academy in his presentation to the Dewsbury Arcade group AGM in September. As he explained based on his lengthy experience of how to improve run down town centres, you need to know where you are starting from if you intend to improve matters.
This sparked interest from the Dewsbury Chamber of Trade who were already working on a database of potential members and with some tweaking and a good deal of footslogging around the town centre have now completed a survey to provide a starting point of factual data for those involved in the regeneration effort.
What do we mean by the town centre?
But before getting into the numbers we need to frame the discussion a little. First, what is the town centre? There are two possible descriptions. The obvious one is the area within the ring road. This area is quite severely run down while at the same time it contains all of the urban indulstrial achitecture described as some of the best in the country.
An alternative would include this area within the ring road plus the more recent retail developments (within the last 50 years!) around Railway Street and LInk Road, i.e. those larger supermarkets and retail outlets that were originally intended to be encircled by the ring road – before the ring road project ran out of money and had to be shortened to the current route. These retail outlets run from ASDA in the west to Sainsburys in the east. It is immediately obvious that all of this area is blessed with car parking and easy access
Illustrating the two distinct area of retail activity in Dewsbury
So we have two versions of Dewsbury to consider, the old town centre with poky Victorian streets and buildings., severely limited on-sreet parking and difficult access – but lots of history that we want to revive contrasted by the newer part south of the ring road with easy car access, free parking and everything necessary to attract the shopper – the two sides separated by the busy ring road.
The effect of easy parking is obvious in the image of the Rishworth centre below demonstrating that even at 11am on a Sunday morning there is lots of life and money being spent in Dewsbury town centre..
Illustrating the two distinct area of retail activity in Dewsbury
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