In ancient Rome the citizens had a propensity for hanging out in public baths, the French, at least as far as the stereotype goes, spent all their time sitting and chatting outside cafes and of course the English had their Renaissance coffee houses, Gin Lane and of course the pub.

In ancient Rome the citizens had a propensity for hanging out in public baths, the French, at least as far as the stereotype goes, spent all their time sitting and chatting outside cafes and of course the English had their Renaissance coffee houses, Gin Lane and of course the pub. In 1989, Ray Oldenburg threaded these phenomena together into what he called The Third Place; the one that’s neither work nor home and which fulfils an essential role in the community not served by more formal and occasional venues such as village halls or town meetings. The Third Place is a kind of social glue and although it now has a name, it is clearly a fundamental societal need as the examples above stretching over centuries attest. Nearly twenty years after Oldenburg, Starbucks was citing itself as such a place and that, if we have heard the phrase, is almost certainly where we heard it.

Fast forward to today and witness the supposed decline of the high street and town centres, the loss of community spirit and the replacement of social skills by Facebook postings, and pubs closing at biblical rates. Should we despair of our society? Of course not, this fundamental need to meet, exchange, and hang out is as strong as ever, but where is this hanging out going to take place in the future and who is competing for it?

The obvious contenders to vie for the role of social hub is any organisation with under used real estate: restaurants seek to find a way of using assets outside meal times, petrol station ‘C’-stores try to attract non-motorists, hotels, who have massively under-leveraged facilities, try to monetise them better.

The two key contenders in this battle are shopping centres and hotels, with the former being the odds-on favourite because of their higher footfall, wider demographic and the existing diversity of offer, often including restaurants, cinema, skating, events and so on. The benefits of winning are obvious: footfall, dwell time, spend, but that’s not the key question. For me the real winner is a Third Place that does two things: it delivers memorable experiences beyond the norm, that are literally remarkable and hence serves as a magnet, as intu seeks to do with its national event ‘Everyone’s Invited’ for example, and secondly, it goes beyond a relationship of commercial convenience and earns its place at the true heart of the community. And that takes a proactive, invested-in stance, not being satisfied that people value you for your convenience, cleanliness and easy parking.

When the new entity arises, perhaps called a shopping centre, but so very much more, it will have an almost systemic role in society. The need for the Third Place will have been fulfilled, but moved, as it has moved throughout history from bathhouse, to coffee house, to shopping centre.

Ian Wood, Intu

Topics