Category Archives: Town centres

The regional growth of BIDs

The regional growth of BIDs
BIDs have seen rapid growth in recent years across the country. But what are the patterns of this growth? Using our town centre boundary series, we can see the relative establishment of BIDs within regions. Our boundaries are statistically comparable areas of town centre activity across the country. The biggest relative adoption of...
Read more

High Street trends

High Street trends
What really happened to the British high street during the recession years, and what needs doing to preserve their future? Geofutures' Mark Thurstain-Goodwin and Gaynor Astbury contributed to an evidence based report ‘British High Streets: from Crisis to Recovery?’ recently produced by the University of Southampton for the the Government’s policy advisory group The Future High...
Read more

Spotlight on town centre business rates

Spotlight on town centre business rates
What happens to local authority business rates income when out-of-town retail parks compete with town centres? This evidence of out-of-town impact was missing, so we undertook the analysis using Valuation Office Agency data, and our own nationally consistent town centre boundaries originally developed for DCLG. The study period 2005-2010 examined the impact of steep recession, during which...
Read more

Our gambling research

Gambling research expert Heather WardleWe're excited to move into the next phase of our research into the spatial distribution of gambling and its effects on the places where gambling venues are found. Building on our previous work with social research firm NatCen, we're creating the Gambling and...
Read more