Retail consultant for stronger high streets and thriving independent businesses
I’m Lesley Taylor, a retail, enterprise and partnership consultant based in Portsmouth, Hampshire. I help councils, BIDs and partner organisations design support that works, and I help independent business owners get more people through the door – and more of them buying.
How can I help?
There are two ways to work with me, depending on who you are.
I represent an organisation
Councils, Business Improvement Districts, universities, charities and place partnerships. I design and deliver business support programmes, build partnerships that last, and help you find the funding to make them happen.
I run a business
Shops, salons, cafés, galleries and service businesses. I visit your premises, look at it the way your customers do, and leave you with a practical plan you can actually do.
What I do
Programme design, partnership development and practical retail advice for independent businesses.
Strategy & Programme Design
High street support programmes, enterprise initiatives and community engagement, designed around what local businesses actually need.
Partnership Development
Bringing councils, BIDs, universities, charities and businesses together so projects have more reach and more impact.
Enterprise & Retail Consultancy
Retail Health Checks, visual merchandising training, shopfront and in-store design, and retail mentoring for independent businesses.
The Retail Health Check
For independent businesses: a practical review of your premises, followed by a clear action plan and a follow-up visit to help you put it into practice.
Often free through a local council, BID or university programme.
The visit
I look at your business from your customers’ point of view: window and shopfront, layout, displays, signage and how people move around. [Typical length of visit]
Your action pack
A short, prioritised plan: quick fixes you can do this week and longer-term changes worth planning for.
The follow-up
I come back to see how it’s going, help with next steps and point you to other specialist support if you need it.
From department-store windows to the high street
More than 30 years’ experience across retail, design, education and enterprise.
Senior visual merchandising
Department stores
Ten years in senior visual merchandising and creative head-office roles, including Debenhams and Allders.
Style Union
1997
Brand Manager for the Burton Group’s multi-brand menswear trial store in Guildford.
Gloss Interiors
Fifteen years
Running my own interior design and styling business, Gloss Interiors.
Teaching
Since 2007
Lecturing at UAL, Istituto Marangoni and Solent University. MA Interior Design, SFHEA.
Re:So, Solent University
Eight years
Academic lead for a student-run store, community hub and enterprise platform.
Independent consultant
Today
Programmes, partnerships and Retail Health Checks across Hampshire and the South.
Debenhams Allders London College of Fashion Solent University GO! Southampton REVO
Collaborations and partnerships
Better high streets are built together. My work is a map of partnerships – BIDs, councils, universities, galleries and the independent businesses at the heart of it all.
Retail Remedies
With GO! Southampton and Solent University
A 12-week programme giving up to 12 independent retailers a rapid retail review, an improvement pack and follow-up support.
Re:So, The Solent Retail Initiative
At Solent University
A student-run retail store, community hub and enterprise platform, with partners including Southampton City Art Gallery and Victorious Festival.
Creative retailing knowledge exchange
With UAL’s Not Just a Shop and Belfast School of Art
Three university stores sharing what works, 2023–2025, from student employability to winning senior support.
Research and writing
I write about retail past and present – its history and its enterprise – for CHORD, the Centre for the History of Retailing and Distribution. Every article is open access.
7 October 2026
Entrepreneurship in Higher Education: creative retailing in three UK universities
What three university stores selling student work learned from each other.
22 January 2025
Style Union: challenges for high street menswear brands in 1990s Britain
A multi-brand menswear trial store, told from my own archive as its Brand Manager.
1 October 2023
St Mags: fashion at the heart of the community
How a church community shop in Southsea puts people before profit.
“Whether designing programmes from the ground up or enhancing existing provision, Lesley always starts with the learner and carefully considers how people learn, engage and apply new knowledge.”
Michelle Merry
[Role, organisation]
Frequently asked questions
I’m based in Portsmouth and work across Southampton, the Solent, Hampshire and the wider South of England.
What does a retail consultant do?
A retail consultant looks at how a business attracts and serves customers – the shopfront, layout, displays, signage and customer experience – and recommends practical changes that increase footfall and sales. I also design programmes so councils and BIDs can offer this help to many businesses at once.
Is a Retail Health Check free?
It often is. When a council, BID or university is funding a programme, the health check is free for eligible businesses. Otherwise I can give you a quote. [Pricing approach]
Do you work with councils and BIDs?
Yes. I design and deliver business support programmes for councils, Business Improvement Districts, universities, charities and place partnerships, including Retail Remedies with GO! Southampton and town centre programmes in Crawley and Horsham.
Let’s talk about your high street
Whether you represent a place or run a business, I’d love to hear what you’re working on. I’ll reply within [two working days].