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Coordinates: 51°24′36″N 0°50′24″W / 51.410°N 0.840°W / 51.410; -0.840

Wokingham
Wokingham Town Hall
Wokingham  Wokingham shown within Berkshire
Area	0.9 sq mi (2.3 km2)
Population	30,403 (2001)
- Density	33,781 /sq mi (13,043 /km2)
OS grid reference	SU8068
- London	33 mi (53 km)  ENE
Civil parish	Wokingham
Unitary authority	Wokingham
Ceremonial county	Berkshire
Region	South East
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	WOKINGHAM
Postcode district	RG40 RG41
Dialling code	0118
Police	Thames Valley
Fire	Royal Berkshire
Ambulance	South Central
EU Parliament	South East England
UK Parliament	Wokingham
Website	Wokingham Town Council
List of places: UK • England • Berkshire

Wokingham is a market town and civil parish in Berkshire in South East England about 33 miles (53 km) west of central London. It is about 7 miles (11 km) east-southeast of Reading and 3 miles (4.8 km) west of Bracknell. It contains an area of 557 acres (0.9 sq mi) and, according to the 2001 census, has a population of 30,403. It is the seat of the Borough of Wokingham.

Before 1844, the north of the parish of Wokingham was part of a detached portion, or exclave, of the county of Wiltshire, the border of which is some 30 miles (48 km) to the west. The Counties (Detached Parts) Act of that year resulted in its transfer to the county of Berkshire.^[1][2]

Wokingham was a borough before the 1974 reorganisation of local government, when it merged with Wokingham Rural District to form the new Wokingham District. What had been Wokingham Borough became Wokingham Town, but retained its mayor. The District Council applied for borough status, which was granted and came into force on 9 March 2007. As of this date, the District (which stretches from the Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire borders in the north to the Hampshire border in the southwest) has also been able to elect a mayor.^[3]

The formerly important industry of brick-making has given way to software development, light engineering and service industries.

In 2007 Halifax Estate Agents ranked the Borough of Wokingham as the number one place to live in the United Kingdom.^[4]

History[link]

All Saints' Church

Wokingham means 'Wocca's people's home'.^[5] Wocca was apparently a Saxon chieftain who would also have owned lands at Wokefield in Berkshire and Woking in Surrey. In Victorian times, the name became corrupted to Oakingham, and consequently the acorn with oak leaves is the town's heraldic charge, granted in the 19th century.

The courts of Windsor Forest were held at Wokingham and the town had the right to hold a market from 1219. The Bishop of Salisbury was largely responsible for the growth of the town during this period. He set out roads and plots making them available for rent. There are records showing that in 1258 he bought the rights to hold three town fairs every year.^[6] Queen Elizabeth granted a town charter in 1583. From the 14th to the 16th centuries, Wokingham was well known for its bell foundry which supplied many churches across the South of England.

During the Tudor period, Wokingham was well known as a producer of silk. Some of the houses involved in these cottage industries are still to be seen in Rose Street. The houses with the taller ground floors housed the looms. This can be seen from the position of the exterior beams of the houses. It is said that one of the original Mulberry bushes (favourite food of the silk worm), still remains in one of the gardens.

Wokingham was once famous for its bull-baiting. In 1661 George Staverton left a bequest in his will giving two bulls to be tethered in the Market Place and baited by dogs on St. Thomas' Day (21 December) each year. The bulls were paraded around the town a day or two before the event and then locked in the yard of the original Rose Inn which was situated on the site of the present-day Superdrug store. People travelled from miles around to see the dangerous spectacle. A number of dogs would be maimed or killed during the event and the bulls were eventually destroyed. The meat and leather were distributed amongst the poor people of the town. Some of the spectators also sustained fatal injuries. In 1794 on the morning after the bull-baiting Elizabeth North was found dead and covered with bruises. In 1808 55 year-old Martha May died after being hurt by fighters in the crowd. The cruel 'sport' was prohibited by the Corporation in 1821 but bulls were still provided at Christmas and the meat distributed to the poor. Bull-baiting was banned by Act of Parliament in 1833.

In the years 1643-44 Wokingham was regularly raided by both sides in the Civil War. These raids would involve the looting of livestock and trading goods, and over thirty buildings were burnt down, accounting for nearly 20% of buildings in the town at that time.^[6] It was not until the early 18th century that Wokingham had fully recovered.

In 1723, the 'Black Act' was passed in Parliament to make it an offence to black one's face to commit criminal acts. It was named after an infamous band of ruffians, known as the 'Wokingham Blacks', who terrorised the local area until 29 of them were arrested after fighting a pitched battle with Grenadier Guards in Bracknell.

Historically, the local accent could be described as a blend of traditional London Cockney, influenced by aspects of West Country pronunciation. However, the rapid expansion of the town, and subsequent influx of non locals, has led to a decline of this speech pattern since the 1970s. In the 21st Century, traditional Wokingham accents are becoming rare, particularly amongst young people, who are increasingly influenced by the spread of Multicultural London English.

Governance[link]

Arms of Wokingham town council, as displayed on the entrance of the town hall

Northern Wokingham, centred on Ashridge, was, archaically, a detached part of Wiltshire. This area extended well into the town centre (and the area currently where the Dowlesgreen, Norreys and Bean Oak estates currently are situated) until transferred to Berkshire in 1844. The ancient parish was divided in 1894 into urban and rural civil parishes, Wokingham Without forming the latter.

Wokingham was one of the boroughs left unreformed by the Municipal Corporations Act 1835, and was reformed subsequently in 1883. Wokingham merged with the Wokingham Rural District in 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972 to form the non-metropolitan district of Wokingham, which has been a unitary authority area since 1998. It consists of 54 elected councillors and is presided over by one councillor who is elected annually to be the chairman of the council. Elections to the council are held in three out of every four years, with the Conservative party having had a majority since the 2002 election.^[7] The Borough Council Offices are based at Shute End in the town of Wokingham.

A successor parish continued in existence in Wokingham and is governed by Wokingham Town Council. The council is elected every four years and consists of twenty-five councillors representing Emmbrook, Evendons, Norreys and Wescott, the four wards of the town. Every year, they elect one of their number as mayor. The present town hall was erected in 1860 on the site of the guildhall.

The Wokingham constituency's MP is the Conservative John Redwood and he has represented the town since 1987.

Geography[link]

Agates Meadow

Wokingham is on the Emm Brook in the Loddon Valley in central Berkshire situated 33 miles (53.1 km) west of central London. It sits between the larger towns of Reading and Bracknell and was originally in a band of agricultural land on the western edge of Windsor Forest. Suburbs include Emmbrook, Matthewsgreen, Dowlesgreen, Woosehill, Limmerhill and Eastheath. Older names include Woodcray and Luckley Green.

The soil is a rich loam with a subsoil of sand and gravel.

Wokingham currently consists of the town centre, with main residential areas radiating in all directions. These include Woosehill to the west, Emmbrook to the northwest, Dowlesgreen, Norreys, Keephatch and Bean Oak to the east and to the south Wescott and Eastheath.

Much of Wokingham has been developed over the past 80 years. Woosehill and Dowlesgreen were built on farmland in the late 1960s and early '70s, along with Bean Oak. Keephatch was built in the early '90s. The Norreys Estate was built in the 1960s; however, Norreys Avenue is the oldest residential road in that area, having been built in the late 1940s as emergency housing following the Second World War. Norreys Avenue has a horseshoe shape and occupies the site of the demolished Norreys Manor. Much of the road contains 1940s-style prefabricated houses, although there are some brick houses along with three blocks of 1950s police houses.

In 2010, the council set up WEL (Wokingham Enterprise Limited) to manage a £100m regeneration project to redevelop the town centre with new retail, leisure and residential facilities, parking, roads and open spaces.[1]

Several major expansion projects around the town are planned over the next decade, including on land to the north and south, and at the former military base at nearby Arborfield Garrison.

Transport[link]

Train services to Reading, London Waterloo and Gatwick Airport run from Wokingham railway station. There are three level crossings in Wokingham (the Star Lane crossing on Easthampstead Road, the Waterloo crossing on Waterloo Road and the crossing on Barkham Road). These have been scenes of fatalities in 2007, 2008 and 2010, see list of level crossing accidents.

Most local bus services are provided by First Group but the Sunday and bank holiday services from Wokingham to Reading are operated by Courtney Coaches.

Institutions[link]

Charities[link]

• The Lucas Hospital, almshouses founded in 1663 for sixteen elderly men from the surrounding parishes.
• Wokingham United Charities providing grants to people living within the Wokingham area relieving poverty, hardship and distress. Also providing sheltered accommodation for local people.

Churches[link]

Wokingham Baptist Church

• Wokingham Vineyard
• All Saints' Church (CofE), transformed from a chapel-of-ease of Sonning in 1190
• Corpus Christi Catholic Church
• St. Paul's Church (CofE), built by John Walter III in 1864
• Wokingham Baptist Church
• Wokingham Methodist Church
• Church at the White House School (CofE)^{[dead link]}
• Woosehill Community Church
• Norreys Church

Manors[link]

• Evendon's Manor
• Ashridge Manor (now in Hurst, Berkshire)
• Beche's Manor (burnt down 1953)
• Keep Hatch (Built 1871-4, demolished late 1990s due to dereliction to make way for the Keephatch housing estate)
• Buckhurst Manor (now St. Anne's Manor)
• Norreys' Manor (demolished long ago, now Norreys Avenue)

Education[link]

Secondary schools[link]

Wokingham is served by four state secondary schools. The Emmbrook School and St Crispin's School are mixed-sex comprehensive schools, both of which have specialist status as Maths and Computing Colleges. The Holt School, founded in 1931 in the Dower House of Beche's Manor, is a girls' school and is a specialist Language College and Science College. The Forest School is a boys' school and is a specialist Business and Enterprise College. It is in Winnersh but it shares the same catchment area as the Holt and the majority of the pupils are from Wokingham - A small number of Wokingham pupils gain places at Reading School and Kendrick School, the two single-sex grammar schools in Reading.

Private schools[link]

Bearwood College

• Luckley-Oakfield School founded at Luckley House in 1918 for girls aged 11–18
• Ludgrove School, moved to Wixenford House in 1937
• Bearwood College, actually at Sindlesham, but often referred to as being in Wokingham
• White House Preparatory School, for girls aged 2–11

Primary schools[link]

• Bearwood Primary School
• Wescott Infant School
• Westende Junior School
• St Paul's C of E Junior School
• Emmbrook Junior School
• Keep Hatch Primary School
• St Teresa's Roman Catholic Primary School
• All Saints' C of E Aided Primary
• Hawthorns Primary School
• St Sebastian's C of E Primary School

The University of Reading's main campus at Whiteknights is situated approximately 6 miles (9.5 km) to the northwest of Wokingham.

Literature[link]

In the 18th century, the Ballad of Molly Mogg was written in Wokingham. Molly was the barmaid daughter of the publican of the old Rose Inn (not on the site of the present one). She was well-known to local Binfield man, Alexander Pope, who, during a storm, found himself stranded at the inn with his friends, Gay, Swift and Arbuthnot. They wrote the ballad extolling her virtues to pass the time.

The character of Tom the chimney sweep in Charles Kingsley's classic childhood story The Water Babies was based on the life and times of a Wokingham boy called James Seaward, who was a boy sweep in Victorian times. In his later years Seaward swept the chimneys at Charles Kingsley's home at the Rectory in Eversley, Hampshire. Seaward was elected Alderman of Wokingham from 1909 until his death in 1921. He had 12 children and many of his descendants still live locally. The Water Babies are the subject of Wokingham's first public sculpture, installed in 1999, which graces the upper level entrance to Wokingham Library.

Modern notoriety[link]

In 1984, Mark Tildesley, a seven year old schoolboy, disappeared after leaving home to go to the fairground. The seven-year-old’s body has never been found.

The case remains unsolved despite being featured heavily in the national press and on BBC TVs Crimewatch.^[8]

Film[link]

The 1971 film Blind Terror, starring Mia Farrow and directed by Brian Clemens, was filmed largely in Wokingham. The railway station can clearly be seen, as can the town centre and the interior of the Old Rose pub. One of the scenes from Series 3, Episode 7 of the ITV drama, Primeval was filmed in the Red Lion pub in the town centre.

One of the Superman Films used the Phoenix Plaza bowling alley in Wokingham for one of its scenes.

The popular TV series The Vicar of Dibley used the Wokingham town hall as a set in one episode.

Notable people[link]

• Anna Bebington, bronze medallist at the Beijing Olympics in 2008 in the women's double sculls^[9]
• Luke Bedford, composer
• Thomas Bradley, chaplain to King Charles I
• Sir Richard Browne, 1st Baronet of London
• Tom Burrows, cricketer
• The Cooper Temple Clause, post-hardcore punk band
• Captain Martin Crieff (Cabin Pressure (radio series))
• Claude Duval, highwayman who owned a house in the town
• Dick Francis, writer
• Thomas Godwin, Bishop of Bath and Wells, born and died in Wokingham
• Nicholas Hoult, actor
• Stephen Hughes, footballer, born in Wokingham
• Steven Lewington, professional wrestler formerly known as "The British Babe", now wrestling as "DJ Gabriel" with WWE
• Frederick Lucas, founder of The Tablet
• Henry Lucas, founder of the Lucasian Professorship of Mathematics at Cambridge University
• Sir Henry Marten, Judge of the Admiralty Court
• Bonnie Norris, youngest woman to reach the summit of Mount Everest
• John Dawson Read, singer-songwriter
• Leslie Sears, cricketer
• Russell Slade, football manager
• Anne Snelgrove, MP
• Bill Stone, veteran of both world wars lived in Sindlesham
• William Talman, architect and landscape designer
• Nathan Tyson, footballer, went to Forest School
• John Walter III, local benefactor and proprietor of The Times newspaper
• Will Young, singer

Sport and leisure[link]

• There are public parks at Barkham Road Recreation Ground, Langborough Recreation Ground, Cantley Park, Chestnut Park, Elizabeth Road Recreation Ground, Elms Field, Riverside Walk and Waverley Park.
• The council provide a number of leisure facilities such as the Carnival Pool, St. Crispin's Sports Centre and the Pinewood Leisure Centre. Pinewood is the base for over 20 clubs and associations. There is a King George V Playing Field behind St. Crispin's in memory of King George V.
• The local football team is Wokingham and Emmbrook F.C.
• The Wokingham Half Marathon is held in February each year and starts and finishes at Cantley Park.
• Wokingham Library is in Denmark Street.
• Wokingham Cricket Club (founded 1825) play at their ground on Wellington Road.

Speedway racing was staged at California in Reading. Before then the track, known then as Longmoor was used as a training track. After the war the track featured in the Southern Area League in the 1950s. The team were known as the Poppies. The site of the stadium is now part of a nature reserve but a few remnants of the track remain.

Twin towns[link]

Wokingham is twinned with:

• — Erftstadt in Germany
• — Viry-Châtillon in France

Further reading[link]

• Goatley, K. Wokingham: The Town of my Life. Reading: Conservatree Print and Design, 2004. ISBN 0-9534735-9-7.
• The Wokingham Society. Wokingham: A Chronology, 1978.
• Wyatt, B. Wokingham in Old Photographs. Stroud, Gloucestershire: Budding Books, 1999. ISBN 1-84015-128-5.
• Harison, J. Living Heritage - 300 years of bells, ringing and bellringers at All Saints Wokingham, 2009. ISBN 0-9563740-0-4.

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Wokingham

• Wokingham Town Council
• Wokingham Borough Council
• The Wokingham Times
• Royal Berkshire History: Wokingham
• Wokingham weather monitoring station

Mary Portas aka Mary Queen of Shops (born 28 May 1960),^[1] is an English businesswoman, retail expert, and broadcaster, best-known for her retail and business related television shows, and most recently for her appointment by the British prime minister to lead a review into the future of Britain's high streets.

Early life and education[link]

Portas was born and brought up in Rickmansworth, Hertfordshire, in a family of five children. She was educated at St Joan of Arc Catholic School, Rickmansworth.^[2] Her mother died of meningits when Portas was aged 16, and her father, a sales director of Brooke Bond, the tea manufacturer,^[3] died of a heart attack two years later forcing Portas, aged 18, to turn down a place at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in order to look after her younger brother.

Career[link]

Portas started her career in retail with a Saturday job in John Lewis. She then had a part-time, and later a full-time, job with Harrods where she was responsible for window displays for about three years,^[2] before joining TopShop as display manager. While in this job, she was spotted by Burton Group chairman Sir Ralph Halpern.^[4]

Her next role brought Portas her first taste of fame and public acclaim, as creative director of Harvey Nichols. Portas is credited with turning Harvey Nichols into a leading modern fashion brand.^[5] She created the groundbreaking Harvey Nichols window displays that became part of the guided tours of London — one of her most famous displays was "Autumn Intrusion" - a commission by artist Thomas Heatherwick that won a D&AD Gold award in 1997.^[6][7] She then persuaded the store's owners to use younger designers, and gained publicity in the BBC’s Absolutely Fabulous series in the 1990s, after promising writer and star of the show Jennifer Saunders the run of the store for research in return for Saunders namechecking the business.^[8] By the age of 30, Portas was a member of the company's board.

Portas left Harvey Nichols in 1997 to launch Yellowdoor, a Retail & Brand agency that she now runs with Peter Cross. Yellowdoor advises retail, fashion, luxury, and consumer brands on Strategy, Communications, and Marketing.^[9] Yellowdoor's current clients include, Westfield London, Westfield Stratford City, Clarks, Swarovski, Havaianas and Australian retail brands Sportsgirl and Sussan.^[9]

Yellowdoor has worked with many retail and luxury brands, including Patek Phillipe, Boden, John Smedley^{[disambiguation needed ]}, Holland & Holland, Clinique, Louis Vuitton, Oasis, Radley, House of Fraser Acne and Matalan.

Portas is claimed to be one of the UK's foremost authorities on retail and brand communication.^[10][11] She regularly travels around the world advising on retail strategy and frequently lectures on the theme of brands and retail. Notably, Portas spoke alongside Neil Armstrong at the Cannes Palais Festivals in October 2007, ^[12][13] and is due to speak at the Yorkshire International Business Convention with the Dalai Lama in June 2012 ^[14].

Notable career milestones[link]

Before the age of 30, Portas became a member of the board at Harvey Nichols.

In 1997 Portas left Harvey Nichols to launch her consultancy business, Yellowdoor. When asked in Radio Times interview why she left Harvey Nichols, Portas is quoted to have said "I wanted to create my own world. I wanted freedom."

Mary's first television appearance was a a guest on Richard & Judy in 2005, where she was spotted by television producer Patricia Llewellyn who would go on to sign Portas to production company Optomen Television.

Portas began writing her weekly 'Shop!' column for the Telegraph Magazine in 2005, in which she reviews a different retailer every week.

The column is said to have inspired Mary's first television series, Mary Queen of Shops, which aired on BBC2 on 31st May 2007.

On 19 June 2009, in a ceremony at Galashiels, Heriot-Watt University awarded Portas a Doctorate of Letters in recognition of her career and her contribution to the advancement of marketing and brand communications within the retail sector.

In December 2009, Portas opened her first permanent 'Living & Giving Shop' in support of charity Save the Children. She was also named as the charity's Glabal Retail Ambassador.

In 2011, Portas moved from BBC to Channel 4. Her first series for the channel was 'Mary Portas: Secret Shopper' which aired in January 2011.

In August 2011, Portas opened her own shop, called "Mary & House of Fraser" within UK department store House of Fraser's Oxford Street flagship. The store stocks her first fashion collection, called 'Mary Portas', as well as other product collaborations including a footwear collection with Clarks - "Mary & Clarks", and a hoisery collection with Charnos - "Mary & Charnos". Portas also launched a new product innovation, 'Armery', which is a hoisery-type garment for the arms. The product is designed to "banish bingo wings".

In the December 2011 issue of fashion industry journal Drapers, Mary was named as the 6th most influential person in fashion.

On the 13th December 2011, Mary published The Portas Review, an independant report into the future of Britain's high streets. She was appointed in May 2011 by British Prime Minister, David Cameron. The report sets out 28 key recommendations to rescue Britains high streets.

Books[link]

Portas' first book, Windows - the Art of Retail Display, ISBN 978-0500019443 was published in five languages by Thames & Hudson.

Her second book, How to Shop with Mary, Queen of Shops, ISBN 978-1846072147 was published by BBC Books in 2007 to accompany the television series. The book was co-authored by Peter Cross, Josh Sims and Melanie Rickey.

Journalism[link]

Since 2005 Mary has written a weekly column Shop!, for the Daily Telegraph magazine, reviewing shops across the country. She started writing the column in 2005 and it was her critiquing of shops that was the inspiration for the BBC documentary and accompanying book.^[15] Each week, Portas reviews shop based on their shopability, service and website - awarding retailers marks out of 10.

Portas' top-rated shops include Louis Vuitton, Reiss, John Lewis, Liberty and APC.

Between 2008 and 2010 Portas wrote a weekly column for consumer fashion magazine Grazia, offering career advice and mentoring to the magazine's readers.

Television career[link]

Portas' programmes are shown in over 20 international territories, including on Australia's Lifestyle Channel.

Mary Queen of Shops (2007 - 2010) was Portas' first series. The format follows Mary helping struggling independent shops by offering retail and business advice. As part of the process, retailers also received a full shop-fit redesign overseen by Portas.

Series Guide:

• Series 1 (4 episodes): 31st May - 21st June 2007 - this series saw Portas visit 4 failing independent fashion boutiques aiming to revitalize their businesses. The BBC published a tie-in book entitled How to Shop with Mary Queen of Shops.
• Series 2 (6 episodes): 9th June - 14th July 2008
• Series 3 (6 episodes): 7th June - 12th July 2009 - this series saw Mary broaden her focus from fashion boutiques to saving key shops on the high street. Retailers inluded a local shop, a greengrocer, a baker, an interiors shop, a hairdressers, and a hardware shop. Notably, the first episode in the series featured a Wimbledon based bakery whose owner refused to accept any of Mary's recommendations. The series earned Portas a nomination for the British Academy Television Awards's Best Feature award, which was eventually won by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's series Hugh's Fish Fight.

Mary Queen of Charity Shops (5th November - 19th November 2009) saw Portas apply the business makeover format to the Orpington branch of Save the Children's network of Charity shops. By the end of the series Mary had successfully turned this worst-performing store into the best.

Mary Portas: Secret Shopper (19th January - 9th February 2011; 6 episodes)was Portas' first series following her move to Channel 4, and saw her using different disguises and secret filming to reveal bad customer service in UK shops.

Mary Queen of Frocks (4th October - 18th October 2011; 3 episodes) was a departure from the produced shows that Mary had presented previously, and instead was an observational documentary that followed Mary as she tried to launch her own shop aimed at 40+ women with UK retailer House of Fraser.

Mary's Bottom Line (March 2012; 3 episodes) shows Portas try to revitalize the UK's manufacturing industry by reopening an underwear factory in Manchester ^[16].

Other television appearances[link]

Mary hosted an episode of The Money Programme called Mary Portas: Save Our Shops in June 2009.

She appeared in the Panorama documentary On The Rack which exposed unethical production practices by fast fashion retailer Primark; and has appeared on The Apprentice: You're Fired four times.

In March 2011, Portas regularly appeared in the Channel 4 series Lily Allen: From Riches to Rags, in which she advised the pop star on her venture into fashion retail.

Mary's Living and Giving Shops for Save the Children[link]

Following the BBC2 series Mary Queen of Charity Shops in June 2009, Mary was appointed as Global Retail Ambassador for Save the Children.^[17] She developed the "Living & Giving" concept as a new type of charity shop that puts the local community at its heart - "not just a shop, but a place to inspire, share, create, meet and discover".^[18] The first Living & Giving shop Portas opened was a three-week-long pop up at Westfield London, earning the charity over £190,000.^[19] Portas has gone on to open five permanent Living & Giving shops, in Edinburgh, Westbourne Grove, Primrose Hill and Parson's Green and Barnes.^[18][19][20]

Retail venture[link]

In August 2011 she opened her first retail shop as a concession in House of Fraser's Oxford Street branch.^[21] The shop, named Mary & House of Fraser, sells clothing and lifestyle products aimed at the 40+ female market,^[22] and was filmed for a Channel 4 documentary Mary Queen of Frocks that aired in October 2011.

Government appointment[link]

The embedded lists in this article may contain items that are not encyclopedic. Please help out by removing such elements and incorporating appropriate items into the main body of the article. (December 2011)

In May 2011 she was appointed by the Prime Minister David Cameron and Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg to lead an independent review into the future of the high street. She published her report "The Portas Review" on 13 December 2011.^[23] Portas states the aim of her review to "put the heart back into the centre of our High Streets, re-imagined as destinations for socialising, culture, health, wellbeing, creativity and learning".^[24] The review goes on to detail 28 specific recommendations^[25] -

1. Put in place a “Town Team”: a visionary, strategic and strong operational management team for high streets

2. Empower successful Business Improvement Districts to take on more responsibilities and powers and become “Super-BIDs”

3. Legislate to allow landlords to become high street investors by contributing to their Business Improvement District

4. Establish a new “National Market Day” where budding shopkeepers can try their hand at operating a low-cost retail business

5. Make it easier for people to become market traders by removing unnecessary regulations so that anyone can trade on the high street unless there is a valid reason why not

6. Government should consider whether business rates can better support small businesses and independent retailers

7. Local authorities should use their new discretionary powers to give business rate concessions to new local businesses

8. Make business rates work for business by reviewing the use of the RPI with a view to changing the calculation to CPI

9. Local areas should implement free controlled parking schemes that work for their town centres and we should have a new parking league table

10. Town Teams should focus on making high streets accessible, attractive and safe

11. Government should include high street deregulation as part of their ongoing work on freeing up red tape

12. Address the restrictive aspects of the ‘Use Class’ system to make it easier to change the uses of key properties on the high street

13. Put betting shops into a separate ‘Use Class’ of their own

14. Make explicit a presumption in favour of town centre development in the wording of the National Planning Policy Framework

15. Introduce Secretary of State “exceptional sign off ” for all new out-of-town developments and require all large new developments to have an “affordable shops” quota

16. Large retailers should support and mentor local businesses and independent retailers

17. Retailers should report on their support of local high streets in their annual report

18. Encourage a contract of care between landlords and their commercial tenants by promoting the leasing code and supporting the use of lease structures other than upward only rent reviews, especially for small businesses

19. Explore further disincentives to prevent landlords from leaving units vacant

20. Banks who own empty property on the high street should either administer these assets well or be required to sell them

21. Local authorities should make more proactive use of Compulsory Purchase Order powers to encourage the redevelopment of key high street retail space

22. Empower local authorities to step in when landlords are negligent with new “Empty Shop Management Orders”

23. Introduce a public register of high street landlords

24. Run a high profile campaign to get people involved in Neighbourhood Plans

25. Promote the inclusion of the High Street in Neighbourhood Plans

26. Developers should make a financial contribution to ensure that the local community has a strong voice in the planning system

27. Support imaginative community use of empty properties through Community Right to Buy, Meanwhile Use and a new “Community Right to Try”

28. Run a number of High Street Pilots to test proof of concept

On 13 December the Prime Minister David Cameron issued a statement thanking Portas for her review and explaining that the Government would respond to her recommendations in Spring 2012.^[26] Cameron said "I am delighted that Mary Portas has produced such a clear vision of how we can create vibrant and diverse town centres and breathe life back into our high streets."^[26]

Portas Pilot towns[link]

On 4 February 2012 the minister for local government, Grant Shapps, announced that towns across England could bid to become Portas pilot areas. A total of 12 towns were to receive a share of £1m, as well as the support of the Minister, Whitehall, and Mary Portas.^[27][28] In May 2012 the twelve towns to be helped were announced as: Bedford, Croydon, Dartford, Greater Bedminster, Liskeard, Margate, Market Rasen, Nelson, Lancashire, Newbiggin-by-the-Sea, Stockport, Stockton-on-Tees and Wolverhampton.^[29]

Twitter[link]

She was named as one of the top 100 Tweeters in the UK by The Independent in 2011.

Personal life[link]

Portas was married to chemical engineer and Unilever executive Graham Portas for 14 years and together they had son Mylo (born 19 January 1994)^[30] and daughter Verity.^[2][31] Portas now lives with her civil partner,^[32] Grazia magazine fashion features editor Melanie Rickey, in Maida Vale with her children, after an amicable divorce from her husband.^[3] In 2012 it was announced in The Times that Rickey was pregnant with her first child.^[31]

She spends her money on art, wine, theatre and chocolate, and enjoys gardening.^[2]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Portas' website
• Shop!, The Telegraph's Saturday magazine
• Channel 4 website
• Portas' Twitter
• Yellowdoor - Portas' retail consultancy
• Mary Portas at the Internet Movie Database