We must fight to save our dying high streets | Letters
John Harris offers a powerful lament on the decline of our high streets (Our towns have empty spaces where their souls used to be, Journal, 4 February), but the first big blow was not the crash of 2007-08 and the concurrent emergence of the internet as he suggests; out-of-town retail and the opening of the first malls like Brent Cross hastened the slow death of many high streets long before the crash or the rise of Amazon.
Around 40 years ago, in the wake of Brixton's "riots", big retailers pledged to stay in our poorest areas. A year or so later Marks & Spencer pulled out of Harlesden in Brent, north-west London; Boots and BHS had already gone; Woolworths followed, as did four of our five banks and many of our pubs - the high street's death came early to disadvantaged communities.
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