So you're worried about losing your town center.

Town centers are wonderful places to visit. Pretty Christmassy lights, friendly people to talk to, and share a conversation with whilst buying stuff.  Wondrous places to experience life in all its colours.  But they are under threat - online retailers are stealing customers, and things are doomy and gloomy ahead.

The truth is probably that it's probably time to have a think about things. This year saw a massive increase in business rates at the same time the biggest drop in town center foot traffic.  Things look hard, and unless your local authority acts soon then you won't have much in your town to go to.

I live on the border between Wales, Shropshire, and Herefordshire.  I don't have a town I can walk to. I'm just in the higher tax bracket and have a family.  I don't use cash normally, I prefer to use contactless payments.  In short, I am exactly the person that you should be enticing into your town center. I also have an amazon prime account - what is your town doing to get me to spend money there?

Ludlow

Although this is the closest "town center" to me its probably the one I visit least.  The supermarket is poorly stocked, the bank disappeared, the post office is slow, and in the back of a supermarket that's awkward to get through.

Despite being a pretty town its really difficult to justify going to Ludlow.  Parking is an issue, all the town center car parks are pay and display, and require coins to use.  This means that one has to acquire coins in the first instance to use.  Pay and display carparks send a message to the visitor that they are to hurry up and do what they came to do then f off.  There exists a park and ride, but with bus services half hourly, or a half hour walk, one really has to commit an hour to use this.  

Ludlow does have regular popular events - mostly organised by a single committee.  These events revitalise the town center, and the castle grounds become very popular. The park and ride is great for these events, and I suspect that the income from the festivals may be sufficient to disuade decision makers from improving the town too much. 

Leominster

Leominster is a couple of extra miles from Ludlow, and does not have such an event-driven economy.  The town isn't as pretty, but does excel at antique stores. The car parks are cheaper and the locals friendlier.  For some reason the towns retail staff seem just a bit more competent than in Ludlow. Despite the extra distance; Leominster is where my family does its weekly shop. Although we only occasionally wander through the town.

I suspect that the reason we rarely venture through the town is again the propensity for pay and display car parking.  Leominster seems to be fighting its decline through the ability to pay by phone, I don't like paying a surcharge to pay without cash, but that's another story.

Presteigne

Presteigne is just over the border in Wales.  Great fish and chips, Good fireworks display, lovely sense of community, good music and pubs.  Park for free at the recylcing center and walk into town.  Not much here, but its all good. People should visit more.

Knighton

Bigger than Presteigne, steep hills.  Has Offas Dyke. If a decent sized supermarket moved in, I reckon Ludlow and Leominster would collapse as soon as people found out.

Hereford

You only have one bridge!  Hereford is a great city center, which has everything in an easy walking distance.  the cinema has a nice modern retail complex, there is a wide variety of shops and things to do.  It's a great place once you get there.

There is a single bridge in the middle of town.  This bridge seems to be a huge bottleneck in the town, which is a massive bottleneck in the county.  Getting into Hereford is a nause unto itself, the traffic stops at the city ring road, and one seems to be constantly in a traffic jam getting across the bridge.  Hereford, unfortunately, seems wedded to its pay and display thing - do your thing quickly and get out, despite having a number of multi-storey car parks that scream "pay on foot". 

Hereford really is a nice city, but the traffic needs some addressing.  There is a huge need for a park and ride, the rail station is reasonably close to the town center, and providing some free decent parking in Leominster might prove the point that this could work.