Providing local entrepreneurs with affordable space is a commercial win-win

With rising business rates bills and ever-increasing competition for consumers’ time, the need to not just fill vacant units but to do so in a way that will enhance and complement the surrounding space has never been greater. Through our Really Local Stores programme, British Land has found a way to do that.

The programme provides affordable space to small businesses, social enterprises, community organisations and charities that source, manufacture or operate hyper-locally. Crucially though, it also offers expert support and access to fixtures and fittings to help entrepreneurs get their ideas off the ground and bridge the gap between initial concept and execution. In so doing, the programme provides organisations with prime locations that allow them to experiment and expand, helping to foster a healthy and innovative retail ecosystem.

There is sometimes an assumption that schemes like this should be viewed as part of a business’s ESG programme: a secondary priority tied to being a ‘responsible’ business. Really Local Stores, however, is embedded in the British Land commercialisation team, showing how initiatives like this can be a commercial win-win for all parties.

Last year, the programme contributed an estimated £4.7m of additional gross value to the UK economy and £2.6m in local and social economic value through employment and expert assistance. It supported 600 local entrepreneurs while providing a £0.7m net gain for British Land through business rate offsets, rental income and service charges.

Importantly, by introducing innovative, unique organisations and concepts to British Land’s spaces, the programme also enhanced our assets more broadly, driving footfall and sales.

For example, programme participant the Leith Collective stocks products from more than 450 local makers and creators at British Land’s Fort Kinnaird Shopping Centre in Edinburgh, enabling hundreds of entrepreneurs to follow their dream of becoming small business owners. The store offers unique pieces that literally cannot be found anywhere else, ranging from clothing and candles through to artwork and jewellery. With stock changing daily, the Leith Collective not only helps British Land reduce costs, it also acts as a footfall driver and attraction in its own right, benefiting the wider Fort Kinnaird scheme.

Historically, there has been a reluctance to talk about these successes and share the work that went into them. However, fostering a thriving and diverse retail sector is in everyone’s interest, and sharing ways to support entrepreneurs while meeting a real commercial challenge can only be a good thing. As a sector, we need to be braver about learning from each other, about celebrating success stories and articulating how solutions like this can be scalable and commercially beneficial for all.

One of the most valuable lessons we learned in the early stages of the programme was that taking and operating commercial space is a skill in itself. It became very clear that even with the best idea, entrepreneurs needed guidance and support to successfully get their concepts off the ground.

That is why the programme now includes a bespoke streamlined leasing process, as well as offering expert support from British Land staff. It is also why we produced our ‘Retail Ready: Space Guide’ in partnership with the Federation of Small Businesses and Really Local Stores participant, Curated Makers. The guide aims to remove some of the ambiguity from taking commercial space and to provide a first port of call for entrepreneurs pursuing a new venture.

The Really Local Stores programme offers a powerful blueprint for how to support local organisations and entrepreneurs while addressing a tangible commercial need. While we don’t claim to have all the answers and there will always be room for improvement, this initiative is an example of British Land’s holistic approach to maximising our retail portfolio’s performance and fostering local growth.