Streetscape Britain - 2019 Plain wrapped sex shops, Vinegar soaked chippies. Whirling laundrettes, Jackpot winning bookies. Proudly polished Polish skleps, Nisa Locals, Co-Ops and Spars. Blacked out Gentlemens Clubs, Glowing tanning shops, glitzy nail bars. Boarded up boozers, Swinging rusty signs 'To Let'. Charity shops brisk of business, Next to World of Exotic Pets. Aromatic wafts of life dulling joints, Clouds and clouds and clouds of fags. Splintered second hand funiture shops, Top shelf newsagents, rows of dirty mags. Mobile phone shops permanently static, Graffitied doorways and ink black tattoo parlours. Halal butchers, pizza, kebabs, full English caffs, Paraded, pomaded Turkish barbers. European, Asian, east meets west, Bakeries and takeaways. Empty, boarded, squalid, broken down. Open. Closed. In weeks and days. Steady, inexorable, economic decline, Landlords spitefully hiking rents. Shop after shop after shop closing Dreams and hopes entirely spent. Dog shit dismal pavements, Left cracked and unrepaired. While life meekly limps on and on, As if no one ever really cared. _________________________________ The depressing reality of the streets in our towns and cities...so much change, instability and uncertainty. Every time I see a new Eastern European supermarket or cafe or bakery open I hope desperately they will flourish and be successful. We need these business to inject life into our lifeless, declining retail streets. Streets that are soulless and emptying rapidly. Filled with betting shops and sun tan salons, nail bars and boarded up retail units. Greedy landlords and decreasing disposable incomes. But so many businesses start, then fail. It shouldn't be like this. So many streets could be vibrant, colourful, eclectic and inviting. But so many are decaying and failing, an inexorable tide that sweeps the newcomers and hopeful with it.
