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Pop-up shop could help to revive ailing town centre
pop up shop interiors
BERWICK’S Portas town team is enthusiastically attempting to create a pop-up shop in one of the empty retail units on Marygate.
The idea is to give local producers and home-based entrepreneurs a high street platform on which to sell their goods, attracting more shoppers into the town centre in the process.
Ed Swales, a director of the Berwick town team, said: “It’s a very exciting model which we feel could work well in Berwick.
“On a basic level, you reach an agreement with the landlord of an empty shop and then fit it out so that several local businesses can use it as a high street base.
“It’s a win-win situation. We get to see an empty shop being brought back into use and the businesses involved get a chance to promote their product to a new and wider audience at an affordable level.
“Although they are only given a short term presence, hopefully they will realise that the high street is where they need to do business in the longer term.”
Mr Swales recently attended a pop-up shops presentation by the DCLG (Department for Communities and Local Government) in London and came away impressed.
“It’s given me renewed enthusiasm for what we could achieve in Berwick,” he admitted. The ministerial view is that it’s still in its early stages but it’s a model which could be rolled out on high streets across the country.
“In the past it’s been difficult to reach agreements with landlords but RICS have introduced a small business lease specifically for pop-up shops which will be much easier to implement.
“It gives the landlords a rental income that they’re not getting at the moment so we’re hoping we’ll be able to find somewhere suitable in Berwick.”
The Portas team is working on the project alongside Berwick Town Council and Berwick Deserves Better. One of the things they are investigating is getting chip and pin machines to help overcome a potential barrier to some start-up businesses.
The DCLG opened a pop-up shop in its own London office in December to act as a blueprint for Portas teams to emulate on their own high streets. Every fortnight six new British start-up businesses move into the shop, sharing costs and trialling their ideas.
Eric Pickles, Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, said: “We are absolutely determined to support the high street and we know pop-ups are a great way to bring empty shops back to life and get new businesses going.”
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Weather for Berwick-Upon-Tweed
Monday 20 May 2013
Today
Light showers
Temperature: 8 C to 18 C
Wind Speed: 10 mph
Wind direction: North
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