Graham Soult FIPM

I'm not convinced someone who works at an advertising agency called "AMV BBDO" is best placed to talk about the power of effective brand names 🧐😄 www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Home - Policy Liaison Group for Regeneration & Growth Fixing Britain’s foundations Our mission is simple - to bridge the gap between industry, policymakers, and experts to deliver practical, long-term solutions for Britain’s communities. Through focused ...

I'm delighted to be a contributor to the plgregeneration.org, led by @laurenedwardsmp.bsky.social. Whilst I am supporting the Boosting Britain's High Streets campaign, my #Hartlepool role also incorporates issues touched on in the others. Looking forward to the event on the 10th September.

The Name "Graham" is also all but dead, with a mere three newly born Grahams in England and Wales last year 😵

That puts it on a par with Hendricks (like the gin), Jaxson-John (!), and Dalton-Lee (which sounds like a shopping centre).

Yes, it's hard to argue with that!

"5p to local food banks for every pint of Carling sold" would be much better!

Though it still involves someone voluntarily opting to buy a pint of Carling 🤮

mr.place Discussions of place, people and planet

I'm reasonably confident that the last thing the world needs is another middle-aged man with Substack, so I've gone old skool and started blogging.

If you're interested in #urbanism #highstreet #regeneration, you might find something of interest.

Occasionally.

mr.place/words-spoken...

It's desperate - and so transparent. A company like this is only ever going to commission and release "research" that justifies its existence.

The billionaire and the tax evading gift shops Asif Aziz's Criterion Capital manages a row of high-profile shops at Piccadilly Circus. So why does his team keeping renting them to students who vanish without paying millions of pounds in taxes?

Corruption at the heart of London's retail district?

A small number of businesses around Piccadilly Circus appear to be "phoenixing" - whereby every time it comes to pay taxes, the owners are replaced, depriving local and national government of millions.

www.londoncentric.media/p/asf-aziz-l...

Poundland used to be one of the best operators on the high street... When people ask "what went wrong", ask yourself how many clothes pegs and garden accessories are required by the good people of Camden Town, where NOBODY HAS A GARDEN

Next has opened its new #Newcastle city centre flagship in Eldon Square's ex-Debenhams this morning. So what can shoppers expect?

Read my commentary at www.cannyinsights.com/2025/07/15/n....

#retail #highstreet #highstreets #shoppingcentres

These kinds of interventions are great at preventing shoplifting, as long as you don't mind stopping a large chunk of potential sales as well 🙈

On the London Overground. I’ve just asked a young guy playing loud music out of his phone to turn his music down. He asked stroppily why he should. I said because it was uncivilised.
He then turned it off and said “yeah, that’s fair”

I HAVE NEVER FELT SO ALIVE

Smith & Jones: A Brief History of W. H. Smith’s High Street Shops After months of anticipation, the process of changing the identity of W. H. Smith’s shops to ‘T. G. Jones’ is underway. The new fascia is yet to be installed on my own local high street, where W. H…

A plea for #TGJones to respect and cherish the remnants of #WHSmith's early shopfitting - its wonderful tile panels, decorative leadwork, enamel hanging signs and olde-worlde shopfronts. New post, looking back at #WHSmith, here:

buildingourpast.com?p=11422&prev...

Well folks, NOW is the time to buy your copy of Chain Stores! And, indeed, Woolworth’s. Bargains galore!

Couple of days in Switzerland for the ⚽️ and had a chance to see some stores. Does make me wonder how the UK socio-economy has managed to warp its relationship with food into such a mess.

A Currys Superstore totem sign in a car park reading "Hi-fi, appliances, televisions, computers, video"

Ha! It reminds me of when Currys were still trading in Nuneaton with an outdated totem sign that mentioned they sold hi-fi and video - that stayed up until 2022!

Having abandoned this app due to an inability to post photos, it turns out the reason was I had an iPhone 7. New phone, so we are rolling again. Prepare for endless tedium about shops, architecture and random football stadia

Walgreens in Key West 😍

#Ramsgate is a particularly impressive Wetherspoons - I enjoyed my 2022 visit! And amid all the other opinions that people have about the business, Spoons deserves credit for bringing beautiful old buildings like this one back into active use. Who would have ever restored it otherwise?

I'm having what I consider a sensible conversation with ChatGPT. @grahamsoult.bsky.social @dresserman.bsky.social

Oh, now my mum is on a roll! #Allsports

My mum has been sorting through some old stuff, but I was more excited by the bag containing it! 😀

This one unfortunately has a hole in it, but my mum was amazed when I told her that you can normally get a tenner for something like this on eBay! 😂

#Woolworths

Brattishing! A lovely word for cresting, perhaps used mainly in Scotland?

Walter J. West. Rather lovely butcher's stallriser spotted recently in #BishopsWaltham #Hants

I get this a lot. Especially for completely forgettable “I just popped in for a bottle a water” C-store visits. They must be trying to hit some quota of responses or something 🤷‍♂️

I do always find it comedic how, in 2025, there are still B&Bs promoting the presence of "colour TVs" as a selling point 😆📺

High street expert says fifth bookies ‘unlikely’ to boost trade in town A fifth betting shop would be ‘unlikely’ to increase footfall in a town centre, a high street guru believes.

I'm back in the #Spalding Guardian again, talking about the challenges, and opportunities, of trying to curate the town centre you want.

Another betting shop probably isn't going to enrich the town's offer, though... 🏇

www.lincsonline.co.uk/spalding/new...

#highstreet #highstreets #RetailCupid 💘

Blind date: ‘It felt more like two people having a friendly conversation at a conference’ Matthew, 48, an international English teacher, meets Emma, 40, a lecturer

Today's @theguardian.com Blind Date - in Newcastle no less! - is one of those where the two parties' experiences of the evening are wildly out of kilter 🫣 www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle...

Thank you Harriet! 🙂