SADLY, the plight of St Helens town centre is not an easy thing to turn around.


Town centres all over the country have various problems and issues some often unique to the location, others not.


It has to be said though that the diversity of shops in St Helens has declined enormously.


Back in the early 80s, even at a time of mass de-industrialisation and higher unemployment, the town centre had a far better range of shops than exists today and there was more of a positive vibe about it.


In reality, St Helens town centre hasn’t seen any significant shopping development improvements since the Hardshaw Centre was constructed and opened in 1982.


In more recent years, significant changes have taken place in Widnes, there has been the development of Liverpool One and the redevelopment of Golden Square Warrington.

Other large shopping centres have been the go-to places to shop.
Online shopping has also had a massive effect.


Sadly though the town centre environment of St Helens is nowhere near the quality it should be to encourage new stores to invest and attract people to shop.


It is also worth highlighting the lack of a Debenhams, Primark and Waterstones is also significant and that Warrington still has most of the stores that once occupied St Helens town centre.


Simon Skidmore, 
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