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> `In the UK, a "high street" refers to the primary business and commercial street in a town, city or borough I know exactly what this means, but this is intri
by SideburnsOfDoom 2y ago
> `In the UK, a "high street" refers to the primary business and commercial street in a town, city or borough
I know exactly what this means, but this is intrinsically a fuzzy category. There is a local shopping street near us that I am sure doesn't make the grade because it is orders of magnitude smaller than the huge shopping areas off in 2 directions, even though it contains in 3 or 4 blocks:
* a drycleaner, * a dentist, * a pharmacy, * a couple of hairdressers, nail bars and similar grooming/beauty businesses, * several takeaway restaurants and coffee shops/cafes, some more upmarket than others, * a deli, * a clothing shop * a couple of "corner shop" supermarkets and hardware / general household goods shops (but no major chains), * a post office and a bank machine (but no bank branch).
I'm sure that if it was scaled up and/or joined up with similar up the road that does contain a small Sainsburys, it would be "a high street". But where do you draw the line? Is there a clear rule that divides it? If a bank or major chain supermarket moves in, does it become one? If a bank branch closes down, as they do these days, is a street no longer a high street? If we all shift to online banking, does the definition change?
This is basically the "bald man paradox" of fuzzy categories. So there never can be a fixed, definitive count.*
- ghaff 2y agoIf I think about London there are some obvious shopping/eating/drinking streets and districts and there are large areas that are primarily residential, governmental, etc. But there are also a huge number of streets that are something of a mix and you certainly wouldn't point to as a shopping/entertainment destination. And for the average resident, the pharmacies, small grocery stores, etc. probably count for a lot more than the high-end luxury clothing places.
- SideburnsOfDoom 2y agoOh, I forgot the pharmacy, just added that in. But yes, as a resident it's important to have a pharmacy / somewhere to get milk or bread if need be etc, nearby. It counts a lot more than the occasional "high-end luxury clothing" place that is infrequent enough that it doesn't need to be nearby. That's why these little shopping street are so common. But there's no clear line between that and a high street, it's all just a matter of scale. Everything is a "destination" of sorts be it 5 minutes on foot or half an hour on a bus, and everything is local to some extent - if we wanted to go to a "high street", it would be a local one, be it the borough centre high street east of us or the other borough's centre west of us.
- ghaff 2y agoResidents and tourists (whether from the area or not) often have different needs. When I worked in downtown Boston for a bit, I would rarely go to the "shopping areas" and, if I did, it was probably to go to a restaurant with someone.