During the lockdown, we’ve been attending a number of webinars which has definitely been positive, as it’s easier to fit them into the day or catch-up later as opposed to taking time out for an event but the two (live and online) are not quite...
In 2019, Arup was commissioned to convene ‘The Future of Barking Town Centre Panel’, which was created to develop a vision for the future of the town centre in 2030. Whilst Barking is functioning well as a town centre, it is not fulfilling its potential. It...
Last week we posted a blog on Business Engagement, where we discussed the importance of strengthening relationships between councils & BID teams, with high street and town centre shops....
Over the past 12 months, we’ve been managing several stakeholder engagement projects. Whilst talking to business owners, BID members, workers, market traders and high street users in very different places, we’ve uncovered interesting findings on how these places work and what interventions might be needed...
Last month we visited Ruddington, a large village five miles from Nottingham with a host of indie shops, local history museums and a country park. In 2019, the village launched its own street market and we went along to celebrate the market’s first birthday. We met...
This week I attended BDO’s annual retail trading seminar for the first time. Presented by retail partner, Sophie Michael and Richard Lim of Retail Economics, the seminar took an in-depth look at the sector, trends over the past 10 years, Christmas trading and predictions for...
2019 has been a busy year at the Assembly Line. We have worked on a number of interesting and diverse projects and we are now planning ahead for 2020.We have capacity for new projects from March onwards. If you would like to collaborate on a...
Hawkins Brown, an international practice of architects, interior designers, urban designers and researchers invited The Assembly Line in last month to talk about ‘The role of markets and the changing high street’.The objective of the talk was for their team to learn more about the...
I’ve been spending a lot of time in the north west this year. I know the region well having grown up there and worked in Manchester early in my career. Now based in London, I have been used to returning for quick weekends to see...
Photo credit: Kriss Lee Chatsworth Road Market Traders’ and Residents’ Association (CRTRA) were the first group in Hackney, East London to launch a start-up trader programme for local residents at its weekly market.As the market grew from its early stages and expanded, the team wanted to ensure...