History
Beginning about 1,000 years ago the word "high" evolved into a term also referring to excellence or superior rank ("high sheriff", "high society"). "High" also applied to roads as they improved; "highway" emerged during the 17th century to replace "high street", and "High Street" began to be used to describe thoroughfares with significant retail areas in villages and towns.
In recent years, although "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 in many larger British towns combines a group of outdoor shopping streets (one or more of which may be pedestrianised), with an adjacent indoor shopping centre. The presence of chain stores on High Streets in settlements around the UK is part of the clone town theory, which has among its concerns the loss of "sociability" offered by traditional shopping. "The demise of the small shop would mean that people will not just be disadvantaged in their role as consumers but also as members of communities – the erosion of small shops is viewed as the erosion of the 'social glue' that binds communities together, entrenching social exclusion in the UK."
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