KMTV's Gabriel Morris has been looking at how Tonbridge highstreet has changed over the years.
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00:00 Another day of trading on the Tunbridge High Street.
00:04 Workers getting their lunch, friends meeting and those visiting a number of independent stores.
00:10 But our high streets are going through a challenging time.
00:13 This butcher has diversified. He now has an online service in order to survive.
00:19 We send a lot of beef to Scotland, which is surprising really.
00:22 So people do buy a vast variety of meats, both in store and online.
00:28 And speaking to shoppers on the high street, they say it's the variety of the stores on the high streets that let Tunbridge down.
00:34 There are 14 estate agents, 19 hairdressers and 12 independent cafes or restaurants, out of the 147 businesses here.
00:43 We've lost a lot of shops, a lot of charity shops here now and everything.
00:49 We both come from Tunbridge Wells and we find the high street here, the shopping's much better here.
00:55 A lot more shops, a lot more shops.
00:57 There's an awful lot of restaurants, an awful lot of charity shops, but not so much variety of other things.
01:08 There were six banks on the high street, but that's now down to two, impacting cash users and there are also no business banking options within the town.
01:17 We've actually written to Tom Tuganac, our MP, who has replied he's trying to get a banking hub in Tunbridge, which we need because we can't get change.
01:29 We have to drive 15 miles to get change for our till. It's not acceptable. It does affect our business.
01:36 And it's not just the banks. The post office closed last year.
01:40 It's had a huge impact, especially for small businesses. For people who rely on posting their goods, there's a gentleman from South Tunbridge who has to travel over to Tunbridge Wells to use their posting facilities
01:53 because our tiny one-counter temporary post office isn't up to it.
02:00 People have to take hours out of their working week in order to go and use the post office services. So it's a massive problem.
02:10 There's a search for a new location and customers can currently use a temporary post office within the castle, but that doesn't provide the full service a typical post office would offer.
02:21 The local authority here think that the High Street is sustainable, but a growing concern is that without a proper bank, it might make the High Street an unattractive place for future businesses to set up shop.
02:35 Well, my report highlighted some of the recent issues in Tunbridge High Street with the bank closures.
02:41 But there have long been issues on the High Street with competition from out-of-town shopping centres and a rise in online retail spaces.
02:49 In the last decade, we've had some big names leaving High Streets across Kent, and we've been able to use historic streets imagery to analyse Tunbridge High Street to look at how the retail offering has changed since 2009, the year after the financial crash and up until this year, 2023.
03:07 Well, this year, there were 145 shops on the main High Street, but there were 20 more back in 2009. So where have these stores gone and are there more empty units?
03:21 Well, let's look at the number of closed units. We can see the latest imagery only eight, but there were more empty units in a year after the financial crash.
03:30 We can see that many of the units have been combined or converted into office or residential settings.
03:36 So what about the variety of the shops on the High Street? How has that changed in the past decade?
03:41 Well, the most common type of commercial space on the High Street is some of the chains, whether that be a cafe or clothing.
03:48 This year, there were 33, and in 2009, 53. So there has been a considerable reduction.
03:56 This could be because more people are choosing to shop online. The online clothing market is growing and delivery times have reduced, with some companies now offering same-day delivery.
04:07 There's been a reduction in the number of chains. So what's taken the place of those stores?
04:12 Well, there has been an increase in the number of charity shops, estate agents and independent stores.
04:18 We've also seen new types of outlets pop up. There are now free shops selling just vapes.
04:24 But one of the biggest increases is the number of independent cafes and restaurants.
04:29 We found 12 this year, making up 10% of the total commercial units on the High Street.
04:35 Back in 2009, just five. That was 3% of the High Street. So big changes there.
04:41 It is a changing High Street. The offering, the variety of the stores has changed.
04:45 Retail experts say people want an experience on the High Street. Perhaps that explains the rise in cafes and restaurants.
04:53 But we have also seen other High Streets offering things such as escape rooms and rage rooms.
04:58 And we know one of Tunbridge's unique selling points is the historic Phil and the castle there.
05:04 Well, I spoke to the leader of Tunbridge and Morningborough Council about the importance of the events which are held in the town centre and how they support the local economy.
05:13 Visitor numbers are sky high and increasing all the time.
05:17 We've really got a great asset on our hands and we're really proud that the council is able to facilitate and deliver some of these events.
05:26 They've made such a difference. They've really invested in local economy.
05:30 Local businesses have told us that they're really, really happy to see all of these events and all these people visiting the town.
05:37 And it encourages people to come back. And I don't think this can be underestimated at all.