High Street
High Street, or
the High Street (often abbreviated to High St.), is the generic
name (and frequently the official name) of the primary
business street of
towns or
cities in the
United Kingdom &
Ireland. It is usually a focal point for
shops and
retailers in the
city centre, and is most often used in reference to retailing. The equivalent in the
United States and
Canada is
Main Street, a term also used in smaller towns and villages in
Scotland. In
Jamaica as well as North East England and some sections of Canada, the usual term is Front Street. In Cornwall (and also in some towns in Devon), the equivalent is Fore Street.
High Street is the most common street name in the U.K. According to a survey by the
Halifax, there are 5,410 High Streets compared to 3,811 Station Roads and 2,702 Main Streets.
Starting at least 10 centuries ago, the word
high gradually evolved to also mean something excellent or of superior rank, as evidenced in
high sheriff and
high society. It was applied to roads as they improved, and the word
highway has been recorded from the early
ninth century. "High Street" began to be used to describe the thoroughfares containing the main retail areas in villages and towns.
In recent years, although the term "High Street" is still used to refer to commerce, shopping has begun to shift to purpose-built out-of-town
shopping centres and supermarkets. However compared to the United States town and city centre shopping remains widespread. The town centre of a British town of any size combines a group of outdoor shopping streets, one or more of which may be
pedestrianised, with an adjacent indoor
shopping centre.
The large presence of
chain stores on High Streets repeated in settlements around the U.K. is part of the
clone town theory.
The term "High Street" is often used to describe common stores found on a typical high street, to differentiate them from more specialist or less common outlets. For example, someone might refer to "High Street banks" or "High Street shops".
*
High Street, Oxford*
World Wide Words Etymology of High Street*
Pictures, information and shops for many of the High Streets in Britain (mainly Scotland at the moment)
