Durham’s Silver Street has reduced vacant and available shop units from 11 to four in a year. What’s the secret?

There’s no magic formula, but place leadership, funded business support, and proactive landlords and agents all play a part.

Anyone in the North East will likely have seen or read something about Durham’s Silver Street in the last fortnight – and, for once, it’s all positive coverage of a high street story!

For those not familiar with what I do, my role in Durham is that I spend three days a month managing the Indie Durham City business support project – which launched during lockdown in 2020 and is currently funded until March 2024 – on behalf of City of Durham Parish Council.

Filming for Look North in January 2023, with the new Vodafone, Kokoro and Tortilla behind. Photograph by Graham Soult
Filming for Look North in January 2023, with the new Vodafone, Kokoro and Tortilla behind. Photograph by Graham Soult

During Covid, Silver Street faced many of the same challenges as other high streets around the country, losing big names such as Topshop, Carphone Warehouse, M&Co, Clintons, Superdry and Hotter – on top of the M&S that had already departed in 2018.

In many cases, these were due to companies collapsing or downsizing at the national level, rather than a Durham-specific problem, though that subtlety is often lost when people are only really familiar with their own local high street.

A year ago, in January 2022, the street had 11 voids – though that was itself a slight improvement on the worst period two years earlier.

Now, 12 months on – and as reported in the Northern Echo and on BBC Look North (above) – the situation is much healthier, with six new arrivals in place, three more let or under offer, and two departures, reducing the number of available empty units from 11 to just four.

New arrivals

Moon Jewellery in Durham's Silver Street pictured in December 2022. Photograph by Graham Soult
Moon Jewellery in Durham’s Silver Street pictured in December 2022. Photograph by Graham Soult

The new arrivals are:

Coming soon

The former Mountain Warehouse and Superdry in Durham's Silver Street, both under offer in December 2022. Photograph by Graham Soult
The former Mountain Warehouse and Superdry in Durham’s Silver Street, both under offer in December 2022. Photograph by Graham Soult

And coming soon are:

In addition, independent leisure complex STACK is taking all floors of the ex-M&S, replacing current short-term ground-floor occupant Yorkshire Trading Company, which we are still keen to keep elsewhere in the city.

Vacant and available

The former Carphone Warehouse bears no signs of being actively marketed. Photograph by Graham Soult
The former Carphone Warehouse bears no signs of being actively marketed. Photograph by Graham Soult

Elsewhere in the street, these four units are still vacant and available:

So what is the secret?

Inside Moon Jewellery in Durham's Silver Street pictured in December 2022. Photograph by Graham Soult
Inside Moon Jewellery in Durham’s Silver Street pictured in December 2022. Photograph by Graham Soult

So, how has this progress been achieved?

There’s no magic formula, and it’s worth recognising that Durham has character and appeal that not all places can offer – though that’s partly why trading there is often prohibitively expensive.

However, my Northern Echo column and the Look North report highlight many of the key themes:

What next?

While we can be pleased with the positive progress in Durham, there is always more to do.

Some new arrivals and old favourites will sadly fail, and this churn will mean that there are units that need filling again in the future.

Elsewhere in the city, we still have some stubborn voids that will be almost impossible to viably let unless business rates are reformed or those properties, like the ones in Silver Street, are extensively reconfigured.

However, I’m detecting an energy in the city – and even a positivity on social media – that hasn’t been present for a while, summed up beautifully by Moon Jewellery owner Jo in the Look North report:

“We come to Durham now and we smile, and it’s a great community. We love it!”

Durham doesn’t have all the answers, but by embracing some of the principles of how we are going about things, there’s no reason why other towns and cities can’t have more to smile about too!

A version of this article was originally published on LinkedIn.

Get us involved

Drop us a line if you’d like us to help your town or city centre in a similar way to how our work has had a positive impact in Durham.

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