Why Newquay’s high street is suddenly filling up with new names

Walk through the town centre this week and the shutters that were down a few months ago are telling a different story. A run of new businesses has picked Newquay for its next move, and most of them have timed the arrival for the town’s busiest weeks of the year. Newquay BID has been counting them off, from national names to independents that have travelled down the A39 to open a second home.

📷Credit: Newquay BID

A value chain opens to queues

The clearest sign of the shift was the crowd on Bank Street. Poundstretcher, the discount chain whose windows promise that “every penny counts”, threw open its Newquay doors at 9am on Friday 31 July, with a free goody bag on offer for the first 100 customers through the door. Shoppers were lining the pavement well before opening, past the neighbouring Cornish Oven, with red and white balloon columns marking the entrance.

The store brings another value option to the centre of town, aimed squarely at the summer footfall that fills Newquay from July onwards.

A Wadebridge favourite heads to the coast

Tiny Thai is making the trip too. The restaurant built a following in Wadebridge, and Newquay BID says the team is bringing the same authentic Thai cooking and its signature cocktails to the town. The BID’s announcement put the opening at “this Saturday”, so anyone hoping to be among the first through the door will want to check the exact date with the restaurant.

📷Credit: Newquay BID

Food, drink and a green flag on the harbourside

Down towards the harbour, Rattler Beach House is already trading. The Cornish cider brand’s beachside spot has added another food and drink destination to a town that leans hard on its restaurants and bars through the season, its bright green Rattler flags flying over the outdoor tables.

Two charities grow on the high street

The new arrivals are not all commercial. Children’s Hospice South West has opened a charity shop in the town, its lime green frontage now part of the high street and a new way for shoppers to support the cause while they browse. The hospice mascot was out front to mark the occasion.

Cornwall Air Ambulance is going the other way and getting bigger. The charity is expanding into larger premises on Bank Street, a move Newquay BID reads as a sign of how well its existing Newquay shop has done and a better base for the community to back the service that funds lifesaving flights across the county.

📷Credit: Newquay BID

A vote of confidence in the town

Newquay BID has framed the run of openings as new investment, new jobs and more reasons to visit the centre of town, and a sign of growing confidence in Newquay as a place to live, work and visit. The organisation has asked shoppers to give the businesses a warm welcome and keep the momentum going.

For a high street that, like many across Cornwall, has watched units sit empty in recent years, a summer of ribbon-cuttings is the kind of problem worth having.

📷Credit: Newquay BID