When British discount retailer Wilko shut its remaining 68 stores in October 2023, people mourned what they took these closures to signal: the demise of the high street.
The potential or actual decline of England’s town and city centres has long preoccupied community groups, government officials and even artist collectives.
In the 1970s and 1980s, traditional high streets were seen to be struggling to compete with out-of-town shopping centres. More recently, online retail has been blamed. One quarter of UK retail spending now happens online.
