After Cardiff’s Queen Street was called the best in Britain, we take a look at another high street just down the road, as Newport’s city centre sees the main shopping street lined with empty shop fronts.
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00:00The amazing thing is that, the surprising thing is that it's as busy as it is, but then
00:08it is a fairly nice day.
00:09The afternoon shift, you know, it's Newport, it's not great, but that's what it is really.
00:17I think that's kind of our thoughts on it, it could be better, but it is what it is.
00:22I'd definitely say if there was less, there's definitely a lot of empty shops, there's just
00:27nothing killing them.
00:29To be honest, it's gone right down hill, and I don't think they're going to bring it back
00:32up.
00:33Out of town shopping, but the biggest part is car parks, places of car parks.
00:40It's hard to tell why some town centres just naturally do better than others, and whatever
00:45Cardiff is doing seems to be working compared to places like Newport.
00:49Being named the best in the UK was a surprise for people in Cardiff, but for those in Newport,
00:54it's clear that being quite so close to the capital gives Newport a massive disadvantage.
00:59Because for people outside the cities, that argument could easily be, why would you go
01:03to Newport when you could go to Cardiff?
01:06I think being sandwiched partly between Cardiff and Bristol, both of which are larger regional
01:14shopping centres, it's definitely to the disadvantage of Castaway.
01:20People are hopeful in Newport though, and they say that more is being done to help it,
01:24and with some time, Newport's town centre could definitely improve.
01:28Maybe it will never have what Cardiff has, but Newport still has a massive capability
01:33for growth.
01:34I think it's starting to change, I think on a positive note, I think things are getting
01:40a little bit better in certain parts, I think there's some interesting new ideas, I know
01:45some of the local traders and I think they're doing a good job of trying to regenerate it.
01:49Maybe not in the traditional sense, but we're seeing a lot of local business, especially
01:54at that end of town, are really starting to work towards something a little bit nicer.