Mary Portas? We didn’t need her cash to revive our Crouch End high street

 
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27 April 2012

A community scheme that has helped revitalise Crouch End should be used as a blueprint to regenerate high streets across London without “Mary Portas money”, it was claimed today.

The Crouch End Project has enabled retailers to compete against chain stores with a loyalty card, late shopping nights, an online discount network and a Crouch End shopping bag.

Haringey council has already approached the entrepreneur behind the initiative for advice on doing the same thing in Wood Green, Green Lanes, Tottenham and Muswell Hill.

Clare Richmond, a mother-of-two who gave up her job in marketing to launch the project, said that other areas of London should follow suit without the need for £100,000 government handouts under the Portas pilot town scheme.

“We have made a success of regenerating Crouch End and we have done it for next to nothing,” she said. “I can show any high street how to do the same.”

Last year, retail guru Portas produced a government-backed report which came up with recommendations to revive high streets, and many towns are now vying to become one of 12 Portas pilots, which will share more than £1 million of funding and receive advice from the Mary Queen of Shops presenter.

Mrs Richmond, 46, said: “Mary Portas has great ideas, but she is making the mistake of not recognising that trying to mobilise a community into doing something is not about money.

"To breathe new life into a high street, businesses need to be encouraged to get involved and unite. It is about talking, sharing, involving themselves and not about getting a great wad of cash.”

Mrs Richmond started the scheme in 2007, after she found Crouch End had become “a ghost town”. “Local stores realised there was a problem, but they were at a loss about what to do to solve it,” she said.

She offered her marketing expertise free of charge and set about rebranding the area. Since then the loyalty card, which entitles shoppers to discounts and deals at local stores, has been issued to more than 10,000 people.

“As a result, independent shops have been able to prosper, while larger multiples have been kept to a minimum,” she said.

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