Welsh Journals

THE GOAD SHOPPING CENTRE PLANS A NEW DATA SET FOR TOWN CENTRE RESEARCH IN BRITAIN: PERSPECTIVES AND DIRECTIONS G. Rowley CAMBRIA Rowley G. 1988. The Goad Shopping Centre Plans a new data source for town centre research in Britain perspectives and directions. Cambria, 15, 1-9. ISSN 0306-97% ABSTRACT A new and important data source on British Central Area retailing is considered. The importance of retailing to the Inner City economy is stressed and certain existing and emergent problems are isolated and briefly discussed. AUTHOR'S ADDRESS Dr G. Rowley, Department of Geography, University of Sheffield, Sheffield S10 2TN, South Yorkshire, England. (Revised paper accepted 5th October 1988) INTRODUCTION For some time those with interests in retailing have been hindered by an apparent paucity of accessible and comparable data on city centres in Britain (Dawson 1980). The curtailment of the Census of Distribution after 1971 has proved a further impediment, as has the dispersion of available data about planning and rating departments and conniercial ccmpanies. The general ebullience of retailing and the service industry overall, together with a mounting interest in retailing and associated services not only by academics but also by estate agents, investment institutions, property developers and the retailers themselves, is now effecting a particular growth in data sources on retailing, especially fran specialist research companies. The Chas. E. Goad ccmpany has been producing its Shopping Centre Plans (SCPs) since 1966 and its renowned Fire Insurance Plans (FIPs) go back to the nineteenth century (Rowley 1984). This note provides outline details of a further base set of publications, again from Goad, covering the central shopping districts of the major urban centres throughout the United Kingdom. The recently launched Goad Shopping Centre Reports (SCRs) will be of particular utility for all with both academic and professional/practical interests in city and town centre retailing, and for town, transport and commercial planners and market analysts, property developers and investment houses.