I went to forest hill yesterday & they have quite a lot of good shops & cafes which have opened recently. The high street seems to be really evolving. One thing I picked up on was the 'I love forest hill' bags sold in the shops. Neat bit of advertising, also good way of getting it out there that community mind to use your local high street.
At one of the Sydenham meetings a FH representative mentioned some kind of national initiative called I think 'plugging the leakes' whereby trying to show how much further £50 spent on your high street/ area goes then when you spend in big stores. And how shops can also spend locally helping to revive an area.
Is Sydenham considering launching a 'shop local' initiative, similar to forest hill, as part of the Mary portas scheme?
I hope if they do a shop local bag is isn't "I heart Sydenham' or similar (you can buy these on ebay, they are very generic and lots of areas have them, it's not very unique or clever) but something bespoke, that is part of a well thought out brand for Sydenham. I think Chris Best wants this to be Sydenham Smiles (correct me if I'm wrong Chris), but I think it needs looking at in a wider context and perhaps should be thrown out there as something for local designers and artists to pitch for like the Greyhound Competition.
But Jonekt, you are right in that Forest Hill is a great place to have a look around, have a coffee, a bite to eat etc. We go there a lot now.
The hubs for the Portas bids are there to extract ideas, define problems and involve the community in the solutions. So they may well establish a shop locally campaign, but it shouldn't just say 'shop local'.
