Architecture+Design Scotland

Show navigation

High Street exhibition

Do we really value our High Streets or are they simply past their sell-by date? With vacancies up and shopper numbers down, is it time to rethink? In Scotland the High Street began as a marketplace, a hub of social activity - busy, raucous and messy. This exhibition shows its evolution, our changing shops and shopping habits, and the impact this has had today. Specially commissioned films gather people's stories of the High Street and document a recent journey through 15 Scottish High Streets. It suggests remedies to ensure our future High Streets are sustainable and thriving places.

The exhibition is created by Architecture +  Design Scotland, with kind support by the Scottish Government and Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland.

High Street People

High Streets need people. They are sociable places with shopkeepers, small talk and neighbourhood gossip, full of activity and interaction. They require shoppers, shop owners, entrepreneurs and original ideas. At the exhibition you can see films of lots of different people talking about High Streets, from long-standing family businesses and community co-operatives to planners,politicians and town centre managers.

Here is some of what they said:

“One of the frustrations we found is the lack of council support . . . we’re a social enterprise . . . and people not really understanding the value or the skills that go into creating these shops on the local High Street.”

“If you don’t have a high street, what have you got?... houses, people floating about . . . you don’t have a centre that brings it all together.”

“I love it, I love being on the High Street, I love the interaction, I love my customers, I love when they come into the shop, living in a small town, you get your regulars, you know everybody on the High Street, all the shopkeepers know each other and look out for each other.”

“In the old days, the town was the area where everybody came to do their shopping. So it was like a magnet to people. And now that magnet is broken, because we’ve created a culture where the town centre is not the most important place to go.”

High Street History

The exhibition explores the history of the Scottish High Street from the 12th century with the reign of David I and the establishment of the early royal burghs, Scotland’s first organised trading centres. There were no shops on the High Street. Instead it widened to accommodate the marketplace the burgh’s social hub a place of exchange, gossip and commerce where people from the town and countryside would meet to sell local produce and buy imported goods from merchants. From the medieval period to the 17th and early 18th century the street market was the main source for daily food and provisions. As the towns grew and developed, so did the public buildings and structures required to support the population, trading and the collection of taxes.

Some of the landmark’s of today’s towns developed during this time including the weigh house, the tollbooth, the mercat (market) and the Tron (the public weighing machine).

High Street Places

What do Scottish High Streets look like today? The media frequently reports retail job losses, chain stores going bust and the independents that are left struggling. The result is vacant shop units that have a degrading effect on the overall centre. But this is not the whole picture: there are still places in Scotland where the High Street remains a vibrant commercial and civic centre despite these challenges. Documenting a journey through 15 High Streets in Scotland, the film on show at the High Street exhibition presents a visual mix of locations and populations, from wealthy commuter towns to former industrial towns. Every shop on each street was noted, and the results highlight the make-up of the street and types of businesses on the High Streets today.

High Street Shops – Architecture

Scotland’s medieval shops were simple lean-to timber booths offering shelter and security existing alongside open market stalls. In the seventeenth century ground floors of piazzas provided shopping under cover and were encouraged by Burgh authorities for their fire-proof stone construction. Glass was pivotal in shop design. Initially expensive, this restricted windows to small panes until the Glass Tax was lifted in 1845. From 1850 onwards window panes increased in size, slowly at first, but along with architectural cast iron mass produced in Scottish foundries, streetscapes were transformed. The twentieth century witnessed construction of elegant Edwardian shops and substantial department stores but traditional styles were eclipsed by the Art Deco Movement of the inter-war period. World War II halted development and post-war enthusiasm for minimalist designs waned. Vitrolite and chrome gradually diminished in favour of plate glass, aluminium and plastic.

The High Street exhibition recently featured in the Scotsman - click here to read article

The High Street exhibition runs until 17 April 2012.
It is open Monday-Saturday 10:30-17:00.
Please note that The Lighthouse is closed from 16:00 on 24 December and will reopen on 4 January 2012.

Images by Alan Dimmick