Positively Putney recently ran an online survey, hosted by Colbalt Sky, local Putney business to find out what people thought of Putney town centre. A big thank you to the 233 people who responded across a broad demographic of the local community. Although, respondents expressed concerns regarding the high vacancy rates in the area, most remain optimistic that improvement is possible with effort and love from the community and businesses in the area. Many ideas about events, activities, improvements, retail opportunities and brands were suggested, which assists in understanding what the community would like to see in Putney.
• 73% of respondents were female
• 40% visited Putney town centre everyday
• Most popular form of transport was on foot followed by bus
• Reason for visiting was for shopping, followed by eating. Very few who completed the survey were visiting for work.
The top three frequented stores were:
1. Waitrose
2. Sainsburys
3. Boots
Waitrose was indicated as the publics favourite business in Putney, followed by Artisan and Blabar. However, 147 businesses were listed as being visited regularly by survey participants, and the primary reason for shopping in Putney is that it is “close to home”.
A general theme indicated is that you would like to see a larger variety of retail opportunities. The preference is for high quality brands with well known names or small independent boutiques and retailers. Consumers are also interested in seeing a larger range of independent dining options over more chain brands.
Environmentally, the largest concerns for Putney consumers are the high levels of traffic and air pollution. An overall improvement to the environment which includes adding more natural vegetation would assist in tacking these issues and encourage the public to visit more regularly. Consumers would also like Putney to be more pedestrian friendly.
The top 4 words used to describe Putney were:
• Friendly
• Congested
• Busy
• Safe
At Positively Putney, we really appreciate the time people took to complete the survey as it provides useful information for us to programme our work around, aswell as providing evidence to the brand names that we would like to encourage in. On the cleanliness of Putney we are looking at options to supplement the Council cleaning of the streets, and improve the back alley waste arrangements. We will continue to lobby for better air quality and simply make Putney town centre a nicer more appealing environment.