The death of the high street

High streets in this country are in a state of rapid decline; there are exceptions, of course, but on the whole high streets are not as vibrant as they once were. My home town of Holywell is a prime example, where despite great efforts, the high street is far from thriving. People prefer to go elsewhere, which is a shame as the street itself is pleasing to the eye, with a number of attractive buildings. I came across I photograph I took in the early 1980s, before pedestrianisation:

Holywell High Street in the early 1980s; this shows the Town Hall building which housed a busy Saturday market.

In this less than scientific approach, I googled for other images of Holywell High Street to match my own. I came up with these:

This comes from 1909; it is only a random image, but the it does give the impression of an economically successful business area. There is even a bike shop to the right of the image.

This one dates from the 1950s, and again the same impression of a thriving high street.

And finally an image from the 21st century, when increased mobility and the internet ensures that folk are shopping elsewhere, and the high streets become rather depressing places to be.

This was, in my memory, a thriving local electronic store; it had no chance of competing with multi-national stores on out of town retail sites, or internet suppliers, such as Amazon.

It is hard to see what future lies ahead for our high streets, and Holywell High Street in particular. Maybe they will become residential centres, with cafes, and pubs like Wetherspoons.