Aberfeldy Town Centre Overview

4.59 Aberfeldy is a Burgh in Perth and Kinross, with a population of circa 2,000 residents. It is a pleasant market town (there is still a monthly farmers market on the first Sunday of the month) that sits beside a large bend in the River Tay. The town provides a base for visitors to many of the surrounding rural and historic attractions.

4.60 Aberfeldy is an adjunct and mid-point between the busy tourist route along the A9 and the popular Loch Tay, with its busy water sports attractions and surrounding countryside active sports and pursuits facilities, including Loch Tay and Highland Safaris.

4.61 Aberfeldy is reputed to have been first made famous as the setting for a famous Robert Burns poem, The Birks of Aberfeldy which references the many Birch trees in the area and a popular circular walk. Indeed, the town centre has a small park area called the Birks, and the recently renovated cinema takes its name from the poem as well. The town is also the home of the famous regiment The Black Watch, with Bonnie Prince Charlie, The Jacobites and General Wade all providing further history intersections and access points for the area.

4.62 The town benefits from the large Victoria Park, a couple of golf courses, numerous nearby attractions, including the Dewar’s Distillery, local active leisure facilities and is host to a variety of different holiday accommodation options.

4.63 In regards the primary research data captured for Aberfeldy, 23 surveys were received from businesses either in or near the town centre (21 via face-to-face survey and 2 online) and of the 1,013 respondents to the household survey, only 30 residents said they use it most often for their shopping and service needs.

4.64 The study has also looked at the Charrette produced for the town in 2015, this being one of a series completed across Perth and Kinross by a team of specialists. The aims were to identify potential physical and placemaking interventions for the town centre (not an overall regeneration strategy). The Charrette is a grounded report and includes engagement with local community and community groups. It identified strengths as independent shops, parks, the Square and surrounding countryside. Weaknesses included parking, scruffy / car dominated centre and poor arrival. Improvements identified included improving the public realm, increasing attraction to tourists and visitors, enhancing existing assets, improving connection to surrounding countryside and visitor attractions, and addressing the large dominant vacant unit (now occupied). Much of the report’s ambitions remain relevant and pertinent to the town as can be seen from the healthcheck.

Accessibility and Environment

4.65 Aberfeldy is on the A827 which connects to the A9, south of Pitlochry and north of Dunkeld. The A827 connects the A9 to Loch Tay and onto the A85. The town’s railway station and line closed in 1965 as part the Beeching Report.

4.66 The town is easily accessed by car, bus and on foot. There is a bus stop on Chapel Street that has many bus routes stopping at it, offering services to Perth, Crieff, Blairgowrie and other local towns. Parking is limited to on street parking, a couple of small car parks, and to the main car park (38 spaces) behind the Co-op foodstore where parking is free for two hours.

4.67 Pedestrian access is easy with good pavements and crossing points. The town centre has a pleasant environment, a clear central ‘square’ albeit with the main road passing through it. There are plenty of seats, flowers in planters and baskets. The town feels clean and friendly / welcoming. The quality of the built environment is pretty good, with a few notable exceptions. The signage to other attractions within the town could be improved. Victoria Park and its facilities barely get a mention.

Diversity of Uses and Retailer Representation

4.68 Aberfeldy’s town centre offer consists of circa 76 retail / commercial units in total based on the visual review. The vast majority are local independents or regional businesses, The Original Factory Shop, Premier convenience store and Co-op being in the minority of national brands. Davidsons pharmacy is a regional multiple. The review identified only 4 vacant units / non active, equating to 5% of the town centre.

4.69 The convenience food offer is limited in number with 6 units, although the Co-op foodstore is the largest unit in the town centre. It is a reasonable size food store for the town. There is also a smaller branded convenience store (Premier) and a butcher, plus a baker. The daytime food / catering offer is good, with several food styles and price points available. The evening offer is also reasonable with 3 pubs, and Italian, Chinese and Indian restaurants. The larger hotels also offer a food service.

4.70 The service offer is extensive with circa 20 operators, 5 of which are hair and beauty alone, and there is a good cross-section of other service providers including pharmacy, optometrist, launderettes, estate agents and PC repair shop.

4.71 The comparison goods offer is also good at 19 operators, providing a good mix of gift, clothing and general merchandise stores, as would be expected for a rural market town such as Aberfeldy Many of these retailers are also appealing to the visitors. The market, a farmers’ market, is located on the town square, outside Birks Cinema.

4.72 Other uses in the town centre include three hotels / large B&B facilities, the Birks Cinema, a small number of offices, several residential units and a small number of take-away only businesses (3).

4.73 For a town of its size, Aberfeldy is already offering a multipurpose visit location.

4.74 Experian Goad do not have floorspace data for Aberfeldy, however based on the observations of the place review and using measurements from ProMap, CPW Planning has estimated the comparison floorspace to be 1,570 sqm. and the convenience floorspace to be 580 sqm.

Customer Behaviour and Views

4.75 According to the 23 businesses that returned surveys in Aberfeldy Town Centre, their customers are mainly local residents (92% of businesses said this), tourists / visitors (70%), people passing through (61%) and local workers (52%).

4.76 According to customers who state they use Aberfeldy as their first-choice centre for shop and services, two thirds (68%) travel by car (and ap41Prox. one third walk). This is different from 2016, when 42% drove and 57% walked. There is quite a spread of dwell times in the town from less than 30 minutes to up to 3 hours, 30% stay for 1 – 2 hours (up on 2016 22%). 18% stay for less than 30 minutes well down on 35% in 2016. 30 minutes to an hour also has 18% of visits. This further confirms Aberfeldy is a multipurpose centre.

4.77 Customers are mainly using the food (75%, in line with 2016), non-food shopping 57% (up from 32% in 2016), health services (25%) and cafes / restaurants 24% (both of which didn’t feature in 2016).

4.78 The customer frequency of visit is very mixed, with daily (11%) and weekly (19%), monthly (15%) and less often (22%) all being stated. Since Covid, 64% are visiting at the same frequency, 21% visiting more often, and only 15% visiting less often. Being close to home / convenient (46%), friendly (19%) and nice environment (17%) are all likes about the centre; the same three likes were identified in 2016 albeit environment was the lead ‘like’ at 56% then. Desired improvements during the day include easier to park (26%), while most people (56%) said nothing in particular With regards to suggested evening improvements, 72% cited nothing in particular and a quarter said more cafes and restaurants.

4.79 There is no available footfall information for Aberfeldy, however the visit frequency, customer and business trend information would indicate that footfall levels are close to if not at pre covid levels.

4.80 The evening visits are less frequent than daytime, with over 60% saying they don’t visit in evenings, Those that do tend to visit monthly, a change to 2016 when a quarter didn’t visit and a third visited weekly. Reasons for evening visits are dominated by the cinema (63%) which was not registered in 2016, followed by visiting eateries (37%) and pubs (34%) similar to 2016.

4.81 We have selected some key findings from the household survey research and present these in the graphs below. They are focused on customers’ frequency of centre visits post-Covid; average dwell time; the top

5 main ‘likes’ about the centre; and the top 5 suggested improvements to encourage them to visit the centre more often.

Top 5 main ‘likes’ (2022 vs 2016 Study)

4.82

Top 5 suggested improvements (2022 vs 2016 Study)

The graphs below are based on the findings of the business survey. They show the performance of businesses compared to pre-pandemic trading; the business outlook; the degree to which businesses would recommend the location as a place to trade; and the importance of visitors to the centre.

Current Trading Compared to Pre- Pandemic

Indicators of Vitality and Viability

Indicators of Vitality and Viability

4.83 Aberfeldy would appear to be in good health on many measures. Vacancy levels are low based on the review with only 5% of units vacant. There is clear visual evidence of businesses investing in their units Many units had recent improved fit outs and businesses had good levels of shop fit and display. Many of the businesses are long term and established with 75% having traded for over 10 years, while 26% of businesses in the survey had been trading for less than 5 years.

4.84 According to businesses, most of their customers are visiting at the same frequency or more often since pre Covid (85%) with a few visiting less (15%).

4.85 Most operators (60%) are satisfied with the current performance of their business, only 4% dissatisfied, and a similar amount (70%) are satisfied with the performance of Aberfeldy as a place to trade. Three quarters of businesses expect business to stay the same or improve, only a quarter anticipate declining sales.

4.86 In regards current versus pre Covid trading, about a third of businesses are up, 22% are level and a third are down. 70% expect to remain in their current premises and 44% are planning to adapt their businesses or expand the range of merchandise offered (20%). Only two said they expected to close.

4.87 Businesses overwhelmingly would recommend Aberfeldy as a place to trade (70%). One third are concerned about future trading prospects and two thirds are not concerned. The vast majority (87%) agree that tourists are important for the town; almost 40% said they account for between 20% and 50% of turnover.

Identified Issues and Improvements

4.88 The following table provides a SWOT analysis for Aberfeldy Town Centre going forward.

4.4 – Aberfeldy Town Centre SWOT

Strengths

Variety of reasons for customers to visit and use the town centre

Town centre environment is positive; well maintained and tidy

Good mix of retail categories including food, non-food, services and catering

Town centre environment is clean

There is evident civic pride visible, especially the seating, planting and flower displays

Easy access and connectivity to surrounding attractions

Strong services offer indicates good footfall

Good mix of local and regional independent businesses

Proximity to River Tay and Loch Tay

In town cinema

Positive rating of choice and quality of shops

High ‘satisfaction’ ratings for town by businesses

Tourist information centre and staff

Existing Aberfeldy Small Business Association

Opportunities

The businesses would like to see more cultural attractions (35%), more events (35%) and more leisure facilities (39%)

Encourage private landlords on the High Street to invest in their properties, to bring them up to the standard of others

Businesses would like to see improvements to a number of customer experience aspects, including parking (70%), toilets (70%), pavements and cleaning standards

Promote the monthly farmers market in the town centre

Build on the occasional existing market offer, add more themed markets

Make more of the history and heritage within the town centre, these are published and online, but not featured as part of the towns offer

Embrace the nearby tourist destinations – run joint information & promotional campaigns

Improve the pedestrian access to town centre (2016 was much higher)

Improve connectivity and links to Victoria Park and The Birks circular walk

Identify opportunities for additional visitor parking and overflow shopper parking

Create a stronger sense of place for town square, signage, welcome, seating

Provide support to businesses who are looking to adapt

Healthcheck Summary

Weaknesses

Limited parking, receives a high ‘poor’ rating in survey

Limited public transport, receives a high ‘poor’ rating in survey

Poor integration of Victoria Park and its facilities

Lack of pro-active promotion of nearby attractions, in the town

Profile of national multiple operators is out of sync with rest of town

Threats

Tourism and visitors are important to the local community / business community, external impacts on visitor numbers. Reduced marketing activity by surrounding attractions

Closure of surrounding attractions due to cost of operating and utilities

Competing centres being viewed as easier to use / access / park in

4.89 Aberfeldy would appear to be in a good position and in reasonable health when considering the findings of the household survey, business survey and objective place review. Businesses are broadly satisfied with it as a place to be doing business. Customers like to use it and use it for a variety of reasons. The strengths and opportunities clearly outweigh the weaknesses and threats.

4.90 Whilst the offer is improving, there are no obvious large scale development sites that would trigger a significant change in the mix, offer and uses of the town. The large hotel in the middle of the town occupies a large plot, but it only needs a makeover and tidy up, not replacing. Change and improvement will happen as units become available and this should be encouraged, whilst maintaining the broad mix of offer and reasons to visit. Further convenience, catering, services, leisure offers in the town centre will increase local visits and provide more services for visitors. This is in line with the evolving place and consumer trends and should be supported. Additional visitor focussed businesses will be a positive addition for the town centre.