Pop-up shop campaign calls for small business quotas on high streets
A pop-up shop campaign is calling for local authorities to set aside a percentage of empty shops on high streets for use by small local businesses.
PopUp Britain, the retail arm of national enterprise campaign StartUp Britain, is urging councils to create quotas as new figures show that high street retail chains closed an average of 20 shops a day last year.
Emma Jones StartUp Britain co-founder and small business representative on the government’s Future High Street Forum said: “Local authorities need to act now to stop our high streets being taken over by betting shops, cash converters and pound shops. The long-view of this unnerving development can only lead to further disengagement for British shoppers.
“We propose councils safeguard the future health of their own town centres by making provision for local businesses to get access to the high street via low-cost options like pop-up shops.
“This way they will be encouraging and nurturing the high street entrepreneurs of the future, and bringing hope to the local economy.”
PopUp Britain is opening a series of pop-up shops across the UK in a bid to give local retailers access to empty shops in their area. Since it launched its first pilot store last summer, the campaign has helped more than 130 British businesses get access to the high street.
The campaign is currently in Victoria and Gloucestershire and will shortly be extended to Birmingham, Nottingham and Wolverhampton.
