National high street ‘perfect day’ pilot launches in Altrincham

Photo credit – Anthony O’Neil.

The national high street ‘perfect day’ pilot launched in Altrincham on Friday (May 17).

The day was first suggested in Sir John Timpson’s The High Street Report, which called for a community-led approach towards supporting high streets, including one day in the year when every town centre looks the best it possibly can.

Altrincham businesses, schools, voluntary groups and Trafford council took part in litter picks, while local schools worked with the Keep Britain Tidy ‘Eco Schools’ programme to learn more about protecting the environment.

Altrincham high street was named Best High Street in England at last year’s Great British High Streets Awards.

Sir John Timpson, chair of the expert advisory panel on high streets said: ‘Altrincham is where I served my first customer, and that’s one of the reasons I proposed it as the pilot town for the ‘National High Street Perfect Day’.

‘It’s a town where the partnerships are working really hard in a challenging national high street environment to buck the trend.

‘The ‘Perfect Day’ concept is one which we use in my shops throughout the country and it has worked for us for years. On one day each year, in every part of the business, the whole team get involved to make sure they shine on the day!

‘Scaling it up to a whole town centre is an exciting proposition and I look forward to seeing the results in Altrincham.’

Last month the government has released more details of their Open Doors project, where they will work with the Meanwhile Foundation to help community groups move into unused retail units.

The government say they will work to match public and private landlords with community groups and the groups will be able to receive advice from Sir John Timpson’s High Streets Experts Panel.

The confirmed locations that will be part of the scheme are Stoke-on-Trent, Bradford, Rochford, Kettering and Slough.

Read NewStart’s feature on how ‘meanwhile use’ is opening doors in declining high streets here.