Whether you’re looking at the town as a place to live, work or visit, Market Harborough has many appeals. The town has picturesque countryside surroundings, a strong community spirit, transport links to London and Leicester, and a historic town centre.
The town centre itself has recently received praise from an expert from the British Independent Retailers Association (BIRA). It seems that we are forever told that the high street is in decline, with a number of shops shutting every day across the UK, but Market Harborough goes against the mould and is forever attracting new shops to the popular town centre.
What makes Market Harborough so appealing?
The deputy chief executive officer at BIRA, Michael Weedon, highlighted five reasons that the town centre is successful:
- Market Harborough’s shop vacancy levels are down to three per cent, significantly below the national average of 12.4 per cent.
- The town is fortunate enough to have a range of traditional family-run shops as well as regular high street names. However the number of independent stores in comparison to other towns is high – this ultimately gives the town its originality and character.
- The shop turnover (2 per cent) is again lower than the national average of 14 per cent per year.
- The revitalised market hall provides a great example of the variety of shopping available in the town.
- The town has a good parking policy, providing a mixture of free and reasonably priced paid-for spaces.
With a wide range of boutique stores, bakeries, public houses, butchers and high end clothing stores, the cobbled streets of Harborough are bustling with vibrancy. The fact that the majority of these stores are independent makes the town unique and differentiates it far away from being another ‘clone-town’.
Advice about living and working in Market Harborough
To find out more about the Harborough area and the properties available, call Naylors today on 01858 450020.