Leisure, property, and the viability of town centres

Much has been written about the positive benefits associated with the growth in town centres of leisure enterprises, particularly those associated with the 'evening economy'. Coinciding as it has with concerns about the future viability of many of these centres, the promotion of leisure and tourism businesses-and the concomitant conversion of property-has become a core strategy for many local authorities and town-centre managers. Informed by the work of Sharon Zukin, the authors argue that, rather than reflecting the increasing strength of urban areas, the opposite may be the case, particularly in smaller provincial towns. Using case-study data, the authors show that, rather than compete for space, most new leisure businesses employ opportunist strategies, colonising areas no longer required by other occupiers-whether retail, commercial, or industrial. As a result, they argue, the emergence of concentrations of leisure-based property occupiers in town centres signals little more than a delay in the economic restructuring of the area.