WhatShopHere has been set up by Dan Outram, a filmmaker who volunteered in his local community to find retailers for a new parade of shops on his local high-street, Swain's Lane.   This involved finding out what local people wanted, and then negotiating with the landlord during the hunt for eight new tenants.  During the process he learnt various lessons about the needs and priorities of the different groups involved, and later realised that he could create this platform to benefit other high-streets further afield.

Before community engagement on Swain’s lane, the parade had been blighted by the previous owner, with shops boarded up for years.  But the reborn high-street now includes a butcher, a greengrocer, a florist, a fishmonger-restaurant, a deli, a dry cleaner, a bagel shop, and a cafe - a selection which corresponds almost precisely with the most popular choices in the community poll.   The parade has become one of the most vibrant and popular shopping destinations in the area.  The butcher, Leslie Wood senior, has been working in the business for almost 50-years, and he’s been smashing his sales records week after week (his last shop was on a very popular high street in Primrose Hill, so his previous records were already impressive.)   Regular customers of the lane now include the likes of Jamie Oliver, Liam Gallagher, and Charles Dance… it’s been quite a dramatic turn-around.  

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Swain's lane on Google street-view, before community involvement: