Mary Portas’ links to firms causing the high street crisis

Mary Portas today unveiled her report into the state of the UK high street. She claims it is at crisis point.

As one Rotherham retailer on Sky News pointed out, since the big chain stores left their high street for large shopping centres like Westfield and out-of-town malls (or just due to the recession), local traders have found it difficult.

And the lack of diversity on high streets, even in city suburbs, is leaving them in the grip of a few large chains. This lack of diversity and lack of incentive for shoppers to hit the high street is a problem which Portas’ herself concludes is significant.

But one question no journalists dared put to Portas this morning was the role her company has played in the downfall of the High Street.

As I wrote back in May (and as also reported in Private Eye and the Daily Mail), while one one hand advising on the British high street, Mary Portas works for Westfield, Oasis, Clarks and a host of other chain stores which have contributed so significantly to the downfall of the High Street.

None of the broadcasters thought it relevant to ask about that though. I assume that’s just because they didn’t bother Googling ‘Mary Portas shopping centre’, where the original blog post lies fourth on the search rankings.

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