How can we revive our High Street?

[Mark Cameron]

Is there a plan or group in place looking at ways to revive or reinvigorate our High Street? Is there a traders association and do they meet with local residents? I'm not a trader but am interested in supporting our local shops as much as possible. However this can prove difficult when both me and my wife work all week and have kids to pick up/drop off/see friends etc etc etc (just like everyone else).

So I was thinking what would entice me to spend more of my own money at local shops and the key things are:
1) Shops need to be open later in the day -closign at 5 isn't any good for me (and many other workign parents)
2) Could local traders get together and offer a viable delivery service with online ordering? I'd rather pay local traders than have a large chain get money for delivering.

Does anyone else have any thoughts on what would entice them to part with their hard-earned cash locally?

[Epykat]

Hi McDryburn

I have just recently taken over the old La Vie En Rose shop (soon to be renamed COVE - when we organise a signwriter ) along with my business partner Michelle. Our aim is to support local artists, crafters and generally talented people so we will be stocking handmade and locally produced goods (as well as other nice things!). We are also going to be running classes and workshops. So far we have jewellery making, glassmaking and knitting lined up - however, we are VERY open to suggestion, so if there is anything you would like to learn to do please let us know and we'll do our best to organise somebody to teach you. We will be running classes during the day, in the evenings and at weekends - we even have a "Use Real Nappies" campaigner who is a volunteer for the Council giving a talk and demonstration. We are happy to hear from anyone who thinks they can help us out and we'd like to make this a community asset. We would desperately love to revive our High Street too!
Check us out at 250 Portobello High Street and http://www.covescotland.co.uk

[Mark Cameron]

Hi Epykat

New venture sounds good.

Are you thinking about weekend classes for kids (given Porty has a huge number of them it might prove lucrative).

[Puerto bella]

Best of Luck Epy with your venture, I hope it will be very successful.

[gillian]

I got a lot of my Christmas pesents from the High Street. Epycat's shop ( if it's the same one that was open at Christmas), The Front Room, the Fair trade shop, It was so good to be able to get quality, unusual things without having to trek to town. Good luck Epykat I wish you well

[Epykat]

Thanks people! Yes, it's the same shop and 2/3 of us are the same people - we've just changed the name and the format slightly. We're planning to run all sorts of classes, mostly for adults but some for children. We're running a Freeze & Fuse class in March which is making glass in the freezer (don't ask me how!) and that will be suitable for children although they must be accompanied by an adult (adult pays, one child goes free). Keep checking the shop window and the website for details www.covescotland.co.uk. We will also have new stock coming in in the next few weeks including beautiful drinking glasses made from recycled bottles - I'm excited about those

[Porty]

Best wishes Epy you deserve success!!!

[SoupDragon]

I was in a nice shop in the High Streeet this morning
Bought some lovely soap, ( Planet Soap- made by ex Porty resident )
and some lovely earings ( think someone would have mention Beadybird )

Its diagonally opposite the doctors surgery, along from Malvarosa

Just thought I'd give it a plug as it may have slipped notice

[Urban Igloo]

As regards the question 'How can we revive our high street?' the positive and encouraging response from both locals and visitors to Porty suggests 'Urban Igloo' may just be doing something about that.

Urban Igloo is a gallery/artist studio and a quirky home and gift store offering unique art and limited edition prints, up-cycled, reinvented, handmade, handpainted, vintage, retro, furniture, homewares, gifts and cards.

There's no need to drive anywhere or struggle with kids and car seats or run to catch the bus anymore, busy mall shopping could become a dim and distant memory. Just take an enjoyable stroll along the high street and you'll find all sorts of interesting and quirky things without having to set foot outside Porty, you'll also be supporting local artists and designer/makers.

Opening hours to suit most folk with or without a family : Wed - Sat 10.30 - 5.30 and between April- September Sundays 12 -4.

Urban Igloo can also arrange a local delivery service for larger items.

For more info check out the website,follow the blog or join Urban Igloo on Facebook -

Blog - http://urbanigloo-portobello.blogspot.com/
Site - http://www.urbanigloo.co.uk
Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Urban- ... 6930265014

Or why not just pop in.....

[Mark Cameron]

Urbam igloo is definitely the type of outlet porty should be striving to encourage. Fewer take aways, bookies and charity shops and more small independent outlets. Does anyone know when the next cc meeting is? I'd like to ask if three is a strategy for our high street or does anyone know the answer?

[Maria]

Next CC meeting is on Monday 28 February* at 7.30 pm in the Baptist Church Hall (behind the Portobello Bar on the High Street). If you come along you could ask for this topic to be raised under AOCB.






* edited to correct the month. I think I'm losing the plot!

[Mark Cameron]

October?

[Maria]

I meant February! I haven't a clue why I typed October

[Lambie]

How about approaching the council to see whether it would be possible to set up a partnership between Porty High Street and Edinburgh College of Art. Offer reduced rates on the empty shop units to be used as gallery space and graduate shops. Encourage design shops, furniture, art and craft.

There are loads of charity shops. Could they be encouraged to get together and take a more unified approach? Could one of them sell vintage clothes, another books, homewares? Rather than having ten disparate charity shops would it be possible for them to be an asset?

I think The Cove and Urban Igloo are excellent new additions to Porty's High Street. Friday street's great and there's a lot of good stuff in the charity shops.

[Epykat]

I agree with you Lambie. Cove are hoping that (with Urban Igloo) we can turn the tide a little and encourage more independent shops to open. We can buoy each other up and attract more people to come to Portobello. At the moment a walk along the High Street isn't all that inspiring unless you want to look in the windows of hairdressers, bakers or charity shops. The empty shops idea is a good one and I know it's been done in other areas where artists/photographers are allowed to display their work in the empty shop window until such times as it's taken over - it would be good for somebody to check that out here.

[Mark Cameron]

Thanks Marya I'll definately get along to that.

I agree Paul the empty shops idea is a good one.

Does anyone know if there is a traders association in Porty? Porty needs to find a position for itself - at the minute it doesn't seem to have one - I don't think it knows what market it's aiming for or what the idea for the town would be? Where can I see a strategy for Portobello that lays out what the community is aiming for (the vision) and what steps are being taken to get there and how to get involved with making that happen?

[Maria]

[wangi]

[Mark Cameron]

This is great. The more we can do to highlight Porty the more throughput we'll see which will make it easier for the traders.

How did STV pick this up. I've an old contact at the EEN that I'm going to contact to see if they too would carry a piece about this.

We need to get a group of the imaginative 'can do' people together to generate viable ideas that will
(a) Get Porty on the radar of more people and keep it there (so posters at the Airport as people are passing through arrivals - or standing at th baggage reclaim).
(b) Focus on working with Edinburgh council to maximise opportunities to sell POrty.
(c) Explore ways to work with traders to pull more locals into buying locally - later opening, pooled home delivery services etc
(d) Plug ourselves with Visit Scotland - have we a leaflet, can they promote this.
(e) Put giant letters on some of the roofs 'WELCOME TO PORTOBELLO BEACH' - sponsored by local business? How much low cost advertising would that be given the number of planes passing right over our heads every single day.
(f) Create some kind of viral campaign that makes people aware of Portobello and get it on Youtube.

I'm sure there are more creative people out there than me that would dream up some great ideas - how can we tap into them? How can we make these things happen - is the Community Council the answer or are they tied up with too many planning applications?

[seanie]

[Puerto bella]

On the facebook group page I started on traffic issues in Porty I wondered: .....Why don't we have a vision in a masterplan that deals with the regeneration of Portobello as a whole, why don't we have a Portobello Renaisance type company to see it through, why do people think that tinkering with small spaces will somehow make an effective difference?
............We need to make our community council aware of what matters to our community.

Come join the group anyone who would like to - its an open discussion, all welcome.

I wonder also if the wider regeneration type vision is on the community council's radar.

I also love the 'Lambie DIY approach' to making good things happen.

[seanie]

I think a 'development trust' would be a better vehicle than the PCC. I think PEDAL are members of the Development Trust Association so there's a possibility there, but to be effective any group developing a broad vision or plan would need to park their own agendas (at least in part) and start from grass roots up; go out and simply find out what people's issues, concerns, thoughts etc. are; how they think things could be improved; how they'd like to see Portobello in 20 years time. That's the only way to develop a plan that has community support and without that it'd be going nowhere.

[Puerto bella]

An independent facilitator may be the answer?
Scottish Govt is calling for the next round of charette projects. No reason why Porty Prom regeneration couldn't be one of them.
Its how its presented and taken forward by a new collaboration rather than all the baggage associated with all the previous groups? Ideas?

[seanie]

No harm in that, but I think a broader exercise would still be of value, covering Portobello as a whole and looking at transport, leisure, environment, work, health, energy etc.

[wangi]

I'd say keep it genuinely local and grassroots rather than facilitators and the like. Email all your local contacts, get them to email their's etc... Tie posters to lampposts, in shop windows. Talk to folk in the street. Build up a group of interested people and arrange a meet-up; capture the headline items discussed, the general feel. Write this up and distribute to the local press, community council, Edinburgh Council, ward councillors, MP, MSP... -- whoever and as many as possible.

You'll then have a great capture of what a decent cross section of our community actually want; or don't want.

(and on a more self-serving note: in anything like this please do consider a mention for Talk Porty - the higher profile this site is then the more it can bring people together to help get things done and be a real strength for Portobello)

[seanie]

I think I'd start with a random (as far as possible) survey. The problem with inviting comments is that those most likely to respond might not necessarily be representative of the community at large. A more random initial approach might help set a frame of reference that reflects the range of opinion within the community.

Once you have that as your starting point then you can get further input from interested parties and build upon it.

[seanie]

I also think now might be a Fairly good time to do it. Community consultation is
more difficult when there's a live 'issue' as that tends to skew proceedings. But since the High School is pretty much settled, and there aren't any hugely controversial planning applications live, there'd be more chance of a balanced outcome.

[Mark Cameron]

Seanie I agree.

The difficulty I see is getting this up and running. Is anyone interested in meeting to try to get this off the ground?

I also contacted Rebecca Gordon from STV as I saw on a thread they are looking to promote local issues around Edinburgh and she emailed to say they'd be interested to hear more - who knows they might give the group some publicity.

[seanie]

I'd certainly be interested, though I'm unsure how best to go about things. And I can raise it with the Community Council; I'm sure there'd be interest even if the PCC didn't have the resources to push it forward itself.

[Puerto bella]

I would be interested in sharing ideas with people.

[Maria]

[Bob Jefferson]

Don't see it advertised so I assume it has already gone to closing date. I'm a bit skepticsl about this. The budget amounts to 5k per shopping centre, which is peanuts really. Anyway, whoever has responsibility for Portobello needs to be speaking to the team at Portobello Online.

[Puerto bella]

Its an empty jesture

[Morrison Emily]

We need something like this... http://www.camden.gov.uk/ccm/content/pr ... allery-.en

to fill empty shops

[Mark Cameron]

The Camden pop up shop idea is exactly what's needed in Porty. Is this something the CC could take forward or discuss? We have universities and colleges with some of the talented artists and designers of the future producing works - would it be possible to create links with the Uni/colleges to give a stage for these artists with a % of their takings going to cover the costs of the lease?