Blog: Verdict on Mary Queen of the High Street, episode one

I think I expected too much from Mary Queen of the High Street, which aired for the first time last night (Tuesday).

Along with 1.5 million viewers, I watched how retail expert and TV presenter Mary Portas helped London’s Roman Road market out of the doldrums with her clever turnaround strategies.

But, however much I willed Mary to show me some real high-kicking high street action, it never came.

Roman Road is in a great position to take advantage of its location next to Spitalfields and Broadway market. Portas immediately recognised this, seeking to recreate the success of Broadway market, which has boomed since it introduced food to the offer a few years ago. She also planned to develop an anchor at either end of the market to pull in footfall, while attempting to get the council involved in the initiatives.

They were simple plans that make sense and it’s clear that Mary knows her stuff.  

Then we were introduced to a number of ‘characters’ from the old East End market, to give the show a lighter note. Mary took brik-a-brac stall owner Jeanette under her wing and, randomly, off to Paris in search of very trendy taxidermy for her stall.

But 45 minutes in, the only solid change I saw was the council digging up a bench. High streets have suffered tremendously since the economy collapsed in 2008. Many high street stalwarts from Woolworths to JJB Sports have disappeared and retailers have increasingly walked away from tertiary locations leaving many a bleak town centre.

These need real transformation, including tackling high car parking charges, lowering extortionate business rates, simplifying planning regulation and finding creative ways of filling vacant units. All points Mary made in her 28 recommendations but none of them were discussed in any detail on last night’s show.

Instead viewers were treated to a new version of an old format Mary Queen of Shops just on a larger scale. But maybe this is what I should have expected.

It was a missed opportunity to really dig down into the crucial issues that are killing high streets meaning Mary Portas failed to silence her critics.

Indeed as the battle to save our high streets continues, disappointingly, Mary Portas’ crown seems to be slipping.