The UK really needs to ditch the high street. It's just such terrible town planning, that the intended "social hub of the community" is a main road filled with through traffic and parking spaces.
That's just not an environment where anyone wants to spend their time, and the decline is so painful to see. So many now are just betting shops, letting agents and kebab takeaways - but if these were pedestrian zones these could be so much more. See large European cafes with people eating and drinking outside on the street until late.
If your town doesn't have them, write to your local council! And don't vote Conservative, as they have announced further opposition to anything restricting motor cars.
There are many high streets in London that show removing cars, or expanding pavements, improves the high street. I would rather see more effort made to divert cars another way rather than close the high street. Too often that means making a privately owned public space as the prime spot.
There's a gap somewhere between "main road" and full pedestrianisation.
King's Road in Chelsea is an example that immediately comes to mind.
Really what it comes down to is that nice areas with approximately the right density of people have nice high streets.
You could pedestrianise Oxford Street but it'd still be a grim place to be because there are hordes of people - at a certain point the people have a similar effect to cars in that it's not really pleasant to pause outside any more.
Are you forgetting the weather and how poorly prepared most of the British are for it? Even in new build pedestrianised areas like.. Coal Drops Yard, outdoor seating is limited and normally nearly empty once the midday heat has passed.
I haven't spent a lot of time in that immediate area but I'm not sure why that complex wasn't designed with more of an outdoor orientation. That's not universal in London. I'd say Covent Garden and Camden Town were at least somewhat more outdoor/quasi-outdoor friendly.
Really this reflects how much "planning" is (a) historical accident and (b) powerless against bigger economic forces. The old high street concept was very dependent on having someone in the house who could go shopping during the weekday. Which, in the present era, basically limits you to pensioners and other benefit recipients. Pedestrianisation would probably help in some of those cases but it's not a magic wand. And of course many of London's "high streets" are completely vital to its sluggish surface transport movement.
I dunno, there's probably more gainfully-employed people with the opportunity to go shopping during weekdays than there were 5 years ago. Home working often comes with flexitime, as if a company doesn't care where you do the work as long as it gets done, they usually don't care when as long as you meet your deadlines and show up for meetings.
The main high street in my town is fully pedestrianised (although fully concrete too) and attracts a lot of foot traffic.
The second in line is pretty much buses / taxis only and is also quite popular.
Shopping is now concentrated on retail estates and the "high streets" are almost always pedestrianised making it harder to injury the various drunks, junkies and homeless which now (ironically) call the high street "home".
That's just not an environment where anyone wants to spend their time, and the decline is so painful to see. So many now are just betting shops, letting agents and kebab takeaways - but if these were pedestrian zones these could be so much more. See large European cafes with people eating and drinking outside on the street until late.