Stone High Street – 2009 vs 2019 – What’s changed, for better or worse?

With the Town Centre, and specifically the High Street, being one of the key issues for the town we look back at the evolution of the High Street over the last ten years.

We decided to take an audit of the High Street from 2009 and compare it to the current High Street in March 2019.

We looked at 65 units that run from what was NatWest and is now Mirella, up the High Street to Thai Lanna and then across the road to the Cats Protection League shop and back up the High Street (not around Market Square) to Hyalnds.

In June 2009 the occupancy of shops was:

Our full data is at the end of the article but it was Ethel Austin (now Costa Coffee) that was the shop closing down.

In March 2019 the occupancy fo shops is pretty much identical:

Again, the full data is at the end of this article and SpecSavers is the shop due to open in the next month or so.

With declining High Streets across the nation, Stone’s High Street still enjoys a high occupancy rate providing a solid mix of usages.

In terms of the actual mix/category of shops in June 2009 we used the Stone Traders Group directory classifications to give (again full details at the end of the article):

In 2019 the mix hasn’t changed all too much:

And side by side it looks like:

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Over the past year we’ve had new businesses such as B&M and SpecSavers coming to Stone as well as the likes of Bear and Man a Boot Town. Over at Westbridge Park we’ve had the M&S Foodhall open and Stone Leisure Centre which will be opening next weekend, both of these have the potential to be bringing further footfall into the town if, as a town, we can get our parking strategy right.

Two years ago today there was a special Stone Town Council meeting to address concerns from traders and the public about the state of the Stone’s High Street. We gathered 1300 survey responses and made a presentation to the council and traders who attended about the publics feedback.

Since then there has been the establishment of Stone Traders Group, to act as a voice for the High Street, and wider town centre traders. The group launched a #StoneIsWhereTheHeartIs campaign to help promote the town by working together and raising its profile.

So, after all this where does this leave Stone’s High Street in 2019? I’d say it leaves us in a good place, despite some hard times on the High Street we’re still seeing new investment with new businesses coming to the town. We’ve seen businesses previously further out around the town moving onto the High Street as they invest, expand and continue to serve the people of Stone and the visitors.

Stone is where our heart is and the term “use it or lose it” sums up a lot of our feelings. There are some great businesses in and around the town, details of which can be found on the notice boards around the town centre. Why not pop in a browse a shop you’ve not been into before? Even if you don’t buy, you’ll get to meet the enthusiastic business owners we have and see what they have to offer.

How do you see Stone in 2019? What’s been your favourite addition or what shop do you miss most?

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Raw Data:

2009 data taken from Google Street View images – Google Street View