Sir Terry Leahy has said that the closure of small, independent shops on the High Street is “part of progress”, that some High Streets are “medieval” (is this bad?), and that out-of-town shopping malls and supermarkets are the way forward.
The former Chief Executive of Tesco was speaking on the BBC radio programme, Desert Island Discs.
He has also endowed the University of Manchester with a Centre for Sustainable Consumption.
Commercial property owners, and the pension funds behind them, will not be happy with the “silver lining” comment that shop closures will help with falling rents. All in all, a good case study for urbanists of dismal development. Link:
http://m.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-21310808