Accountants Ernst & Young have warned of a decade of gloom for high-street retailers as shoppers try to reconcile the rising cost of living with falling incomes.

As reported in the T&A, the Prime Minister, worried about low-level activity in the nation’s high streets, has commissioned TV troubleshooter Mary ‘Queen of Shops’ Portas to come up with proposals for reviving the retail sector.

She has announced her commission from David Cameron on a dedicated website – maryportas.com: The Future Of The High Street.

What the 48-year-old copper-haired management consultant and reality television star would make of Bradford city centre, with its 100-or-so closed shopping units, 14 betting and gaming emporiums, nine assorted pound shops and numerous charity outlets, can only be surmised.

Next week, a 15th betting shop is opening on the corner of Piece Hall Yard and Kirkgate, opposite Age Concern.

Some, like Val Summerscales, secretary of the Bradford Chamber of Trade, which represents small businesses, objected to it.

She says: “But Bradford Council said it wasn’t a change-of-use – there used to be a loan company in the premises, so it was still finance.

“I suspect that in future, betting shop companies will go for premises without a retail classification, therefore there will be no grounds for objections on change-of-use.”

About five weeks from now, the now-boarded-up Lord Clarke pub, formerly The Goose, at the junction of Bridge Street and Market Street should emerge transformed as the Ginger Goose.

At a time of reported retail gloom, licensee Martin Hubbard believes there is potential for a city-centre pub, in spite of the battery of traffic restrictions on Market Street.

He says: “There is still quite a lot of foot traffic and people will travel in to a well-run pub where people can get food and sit and relax and enjoy themselves without being pestered.

“We’ve just got to keep it clean and tidy without yobs hanging about outside and creating problems.”

He plans to open on June 24, the last Friday in the month. “That will give us enough time to do the refurbishment we have to do and Friday is pay day,” he adds.

A walk round central Bradford shows there are upbeat and busy areas, from Great Horton Road near Bradford College and the University, Kirkgate Market in the centre, and along Leeds Road.

More centrally, the pattern is mixed: Darley Street and North Parade are busy, but Market Street and Ivegate are a shadow of what they used to be five or six years ago.

So what needs to happen to make the city centre more attractive to retailers and shoppers alike?

“Free car parking to compete with purpose-built out-of-town retail outlets like Forster Square,” says Val Summerscales.

“If there has to be new pay-and-display parking, why not make the first hour free to encourage people to stay for two?

“Secondly, a town centre has either got to be retail or not retail at all. You can have some leisure, but if you have a core retail area as Bradford has, the prime numbers have to be retail; the rest is ancillary.”

Shipley-based commercial property agency Mark Brearley & Company has been in business for 17 years. Mr Brearley says the demolition of ‘anchor stores’ such as British Home Stores, Mothercare, and C&A on Broadway has affected Market Street, Ivegate, Hustlergate and Bank Street.

“There’s no reason for pedestrians to walk down from the Kirkgate Centre,” he adds.

“The solution is the Broadway shopping centre (Westfield). Retailers come to Bradford, do a bit of investigation, find there’s uncertainty and, rather than risk being in the wrong location, will go and look at another town.

“To be honest, Broadway is the main uncertainty in the city. There is no major reason for shoppers to come into Bradford because the offer is not there any more.

“Forster Square retail park is virtually the city centre for retailing, and it’s got free parking. There is certainty that it’s going to be there in ten years’ time, doing the same thing.”