Shopping streets are haemorrhaging – the government has to do something about it

This is not just about being able to buy things, the effects of the pandemic on our high streets is about people’s wellbeing, writes Chris Blackhurst

The pandemic merely speeded up the downward shift of high streets (Getty)

There is nowhere in Wigan for a lady to buy a bra.

Apparently, that’s the complaint often made to Janet Dickinson, who runs Lady Designer Wear, the last women’s boutique in Wigan town centre. “There are ladies coming in here saying they can’t even get a bra.”

It just could be that the bra-wearing women of Wigan could make the difference, and that, finally, the government may wake up to what is occurring on our high streets. Because, heaven knows, so far, they have resolutely ignored the crisis that is unfolding in our land.