Can flex save the high street?

It is no secret that our high streets are in trouble. According to data from Local Data Company, some 14% of high street shops are empty (2024), compared with 11% in 2017. At the same time, more and more professionals are working from home or would like to work near home. So, why hasn’t flex saved the high street yet?

Landlords and local authorities are looking at the flexible workspace market to offer solutions, but it is by no means the silver bullet. It is all about the right proposition for the right operator. Here are my ideas on how to make it work.

Find a hybrid operator

You need to find or create a flexible space operator whose proposition is a real hybridised business – with a strong food and beverage (F&B) offer or leisure/service. This provides two solutions: it gets people working on the high street and helps to activate it through increased footfall.

Oru Space is a superb example of this. Starting out in Dulwich, they have recently opened a second site in Sutton. Their business plan offers flexible working and serviced office space alongside a strong wellbeing offer, restaurant – Trinco – and coffee shop. In Sutton, they also boast a childcare offer, which is a godsend to any parent.

Be smart with staffing and costs

Finding an operator that has a hybridised business also helps with one of the biggest costs in the business – staff. With the correct training, the barista, sales assistant or other could also duplicate as the community manager.

The other opportunity is putting out a tender within the community for a charity or not for profit to act as an operator, which enables them to generate funds and diversify their offer. There are organisations already doing this like Tree Shepherd in South London, but I’m sure that any charity working in social mobility or delivering employment training would love to be able to have a base and create a pipeline for their users and wider community to work in a space.

Consider a franchise (or create one)

The greatest cost to a flexible workspace is the overheads. I’m surprised we have not seen a brand that is offering a high street coworking franchise opportunity, with guidelines, technology and sales/marketing expertise. This is a tool that is used by many businesses in the F&B market, the best example being McDonalds.

Creating a franchise enables the franchisee to use a framework that works and provides a support system and brand awareness, which are the biggest hurdles. If this was created, it would transform the high street. It would also solve one of the biggest challenges to launching a high street space: having a local champion, ideally networked in the business community, that will help acquire customers.

The high street has failed for a number of reasons. One is the rise of online shopping, which has resulted in falling footfall. By getting more people working on the high street, we can increase footfall and money being spent locally. This presents high street landlords with a real opportunity, but it is not the rescue remedy. It needs to be used strategically using the right operators and as part of a wider plan.