What is the high street for? For years, the default answer was retail. When footfall fell and vacancy rose, many town centres were left exposed.
In Stockport, we decided that simply waiting for retail to return was not a strategy.
We needed a joined-up approach: repurposing underused buildings, supporting businesses, improving public spaces, and shaping a town centre that works for people as well as retailers.
It began in 2016 when the council purchased Merseyway Shopping Centre, giving us the ability to unlock long-vacant space.
That led to a series of bold but coordinated interventions: the creation of Stockroom (see below); investment in the Merseyway Innovation Centre, providing start-up, creative and flexible office space; improvements to the public realm that make streets welcoming and vibrant; and a continuing home for retail with the revamp of a former BHS store with two anchor retail tenants.
Together, these interventions combine culture, civic services and business within our Strategic Regeneration Framework, delivering a town centre that works for people and the economy together.
Opened in May 2025, Stockroom sits at the heart of this approach. Bringing together library services, creativity, learning, civic support, and everyday services in one place, it shows how councils can sustainably use existing buildings to create long-term social infrastructure.
Residents helped shape the space at every step, designing furniture, contributing to branding and co-designing the creative programme.
Families, young people, older residents and community groups all had a say, ensuring Stockroom reflects the community it serves.
Feedback from residents constantly tells us how easy the space is to use and how inclusive it feels. It’s accessible, friendly, and full of life – a shared living room for the whole town.
Crucially, Stockroom was never intended as a standalone project. It sits at the heart of the UK’s largest town centre regeneration, where council leadership and Stockport’s Mayoral Development Corporation have unlocked private investment to deliver new neighbourhoods, business space and thousands of new homes.
Culture here is not decoration, it is economic infrastructure.
The impact has been immediate, with visits to Merseyway up 15 per cent, footfall rising, time spent in our town centre up, and businesses reporting benefits beyond traditional shopping hours.
More importantly, Stockroom changes how residents experience the high street: parents registering a birth can receive early years advice and borrow their child’s first book in the same visit, while young people use creative spaces for workshops and gigs, and grandparents bring children for storytime while enjoying a coffee.
Since opening, more than 10,000 hours of public computer use have supported job searches and training, while children’s book loans have risen by 285 per cent compared with our other town centre library.
Stockport’s town centre continues to evolve, with new homes, workspaces and neighbourhoods. But, as the town changes, Stockroom will remain a constant anchor, a civic space that grows with the community, supports participation and ensures regeneration remains rooted in our people
By designing town centres around people’s everyday lives, rather than solely retail, we have created places that are resilient, vibrant and built to last.
For us, the message is clear: the future of the high street lies in shaping it around its people.