Tough Times On Prestwich High Street

By Paul Irving

WITH its empty shops, roaring traffic, yet a leafy, village-like feel, a visitor could easily walk the length of Prestwich High Street, in North Manchester, and be forgiven for not really knowing whether it was a prosperous high street or a struggling one.

There are visibly more vacant units on Prestwich High Street these days. The businesses that have gone range from estate agents, suppliers of decorating equipment, launderettes, organic food outlets, music instrument shops, even eastern European grocers.

“Prestwich High Street is like a ghost town. I can stand in the shop and look outside, and I’ll not see anybody for an hour at a time on some days,” said Colin Scott at Endless Music.

Rob Hall at reptile shop Viper and Vine said it’s a struggle to compete with online businesses that are less regulated and run by people part time to earn extra money so obviously don’t need to make as much profit. Still he is adamant his shop will not be a casualty. “I just won’t let it happen,” he said.

Time for Tea, a Prestwich High Street tearoom, is run by Julie Comac. She stresses that the difference between success and failure is a fine line. She said: “A clothes shop a couple of doors down closed temporarily and the sounds of footfalls outside was a lot less noticeable but it’s now reopened and the street is thankfully busier again.”

There are more than half a dozen sandwich shops on a short stretch of high street in Prestwich. “There is tonnes and tonnes of competition. Everyone thinks they can make a success of it but they don’t know how hard it is,” said Ms Comac.

Still, it’s not all bad news for small traders in Prestwich. Councillor Richard Baum thinks the new regeneration scheme will help. “I don’t think the area is struggling. I think it’s wearing the recession well and is on the up.” Councillor Baum cites the Prestwich Festival (16 May-20 June) as evidence that people want to spend time and money in the high street.

This is something backed up by Ms Comac. Remembering one weekend near the beginning of the festival, she said: “The people all day were drifting to the Clough, to the high street, and the Farmers Market and back again. It was a wonderful atmosphere.”

Despite the pools of optimism, what are the reasons behind the traders’ sometimes knife-edge existence?

A survey undertaken by Bury Council in the last 12 months on the health of Prestwich town centre asks why a community that is as affluent as Chorlton and Didsbury - and with below average unemployment and higher than average level of qualifications - cannot boost successful high streets as can these other Manchester suburbs.

Bury New Road is hugely important as a link between the M60 and Manchester City Centre. According to the Prestwich Today Survey: “Prestwich’s great advantage and burden is its connectivity.” When asked why they chose to set up shop in Prestwich, often traders cite the busyness of the high street before anything else. “Halfway between Manchester and Bury and on a main road and lots of passing traffic. I thought I’d be very visible,” said Ms Comac.

Although the lack of parking is an issue, Councillor Baum details new parking arrangements as one of the priorities in the area’s regeneration. “Along with news shops, flats above, and a central public square area. This will be a massive boost,” said Councillor Baum.

As previously hinted at, Prestwich’s connectivity is also it’s burden. The main road carries 29,000 vehicles a day, 10,000 more than the high streets in Didsbury or Chorlton. “It creates severance at the heart of the centre and a poor environment for pedestrians and the shops, ” says the aforementioned survey.

Tesco has a superstore close to Prestwich centre. The Prestwich Today Survey, revealed the store accounts for more than half of the community’s main food shopping. Also; only 4.5% of those shopping at Tesco also shop in the village centre.

Kaye Leah, who runs Prestwich Hardware, received a phone call from Tesco with an offer to advertise her hardware shop within their store but she declined. “I gave them short-shrift. I didn’t want to speak with them,’ she said.

Tesco, when questioned about how their store might effect Prestwich High Street, highlighted a speech by Tesco Executive Director Lucy Reville-Rolfe. Ms Reville-Rolfe argues technology is the big driving force of change on the high street and always has been.

“Think how many shops owe their presence to the development of the cappuccino machine or the mobile phone,” she said. Nor does she believe that it will be superstores determining the future of the high street. “It will be consumers who decide. And as Darwin said, it will be those of us who are best at adapting to change who will survive and prosper.”

Life is undoubtedly tough on Prestwich High Street. It was for those traders who closed down and continues to be so for those who stay open. Some cite the inability to park as the biggest factor, the recession, the internet, Tesco; everybody has a theory.