What exactly does "high street" mean?

Question

Today I was again confronted with the use of the expression "high street," which is specific to the UK (or at least unused in the US). What exactly does it mean? What is a "high-street shop"? I've encountered the term on many occasions, but not enough to get a clear idea of exactly what it means. Is it a fancy shop? An expensive one? A shop in a certain type of area of the city? Or what?

It's rather like references to "Soho," which I've never understood. I presume it's a part of London? (Although this is further complicated by the fact (?) that there is also a part of New York called Soho, I think.)

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Usenet · Accepted Answer

[nq:1]Today I was again confronted with the use of the expression "high street," which is specific to the UK (or ... it a fancy shop? An expensive one? A shop in a certain type of area of the city? Or what?[/nq]
The "high street" is the main street of a town or of an area within a city. A high-street shop is a typical shop you would find on such a high street. It would probably be used to distinguish it from a department store, a shopping centre (mall in AE) or a corner shop (a small shop selling groceries and other things of daily use in traditional residential areas).
[nq:1]It's rather like references to "Soho," which I've never understood. I presume it's a part of London? (Although this is further complicated by the fact (?) that there is also a part of New York called Soho, I think.)[/nq]
Soho is part of the entertainment district and was long famous as a red-light district. There are still quite a lot of strip joints and *** clubs in parts of the area but I'm not certain how much prostitution goes on there today.
The New York Soho (actually SoHo I understand - at least originally) is the area south of Houston (Street).
Einde O'Callaghan

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]The "high street" is the main street of a town or of an area within a city. A high-street shop ... AE) or a corner shop (a small shop selling groceries and other things of daily use in traditional residential areas).[/nq]
It's all very confusing to me. Only the concept of a shopping center seems to be common with the U.S. Corner shops don't exist in much of the U.S., many parts of which postdate the automobile and aren't designed for people on foot (which means that just about all retailers are concentrated in centers of some kind). Department stores are typically only found in shopping centers (they are then called "anchor tenants" in the trade, albeit not by consumers).
In much of the U.S., such as Southern California, all shops are in malls of some kind, either true shopping centers in the modern sense (enclosed malls on multiple levels with hundreds of stores) or strip centers, meaning a line of stores with a parking lot next to a major street.

If I understand your definition correctly, the closest U.S. equivalent would be a nice store in a busy pedestrian downtown area. (Perhaps "downtown" is a near synonym?) A lot of cities have no such areas anymore, though.
[nq:1]Soho is part of the entertainment district and was long famous as a red-light district. There are still quite a lot of strip joints and *** clubs in parts of the area but I'm not certain how much prostitution goes on there today.[/nq]
I probably walked through it once, without actually knowing it. Long ago on a trip to London I spent the weekend walking around and wandered through many areas until quite late at night. I had no idea where I was most of the time, but I still managed to find my way back to the train station to return to my hotel in the boring 'burbs.
[nq:1]The New York Soho (actually SoHo I understand - at least originally) is the area south of Houston (Street).[/nq]
And is it a red-light district also? I've seen even less of New York than I've seen of London (I felt safer walking in London so I was a bit more adventurous).

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Usenet · Answer

[nq:2]The "high street" is the main street of a town ... and other things of daily use in traditional residential areas).[/nq]
[nq:1]It's all very confusing to me. Only the concept of a shopping center seems to be common with the U.S. ... busy pedestrian downtown area. (Perhaps "downtown" is a near synonym?) A lot of cities have no such areas anymore, though.[/nq]
That would probably be the closest. But it's not just in cities but in smaller towns as well. And in london there are over 20 High Streets, the main streets of former villages/small towns absorbed by the city.
[nq:2]The New York Soho (actually SoHo I understand - at least originally) is the area south of Houston (Street).[/nq]
[nq:1]And is it a red-light district also? I've seen even less of New York than I've seen of London (I felt safer walking in London so I was a bit more adventurous).[/nq]
I think it's more of an artistic area near Greenwich village. It's a long time since I was in New York, so it could be quite different today.

Einde O'Callaghan

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]And in london there are over 20 High Streets, the main streets of former villages/small towns absorbed by the city.[/nq]
So these are specifically identified streets? Are they actually named "High Street"?

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Usenet · Answer

[nq:2]And in london there are over 20 High Streets, the main streets of former villages/small towns absorbed by the city.[/nq]
[nq:1]So these are specifically identified streets? Are they actually named "High Street"?[/nq]
Yes - that's why I capitalised the words, but not all high streets are called High Street. I always thought the American equivalent was often called Main Street.

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]Yes - that's why I capitalised the words, but not all high streets are called High Street. I always thought the American equivalent was often called Main Street.[/nq]
There are many towns with Main Streets in the USA. American towns tend not to be very inventive: many streets are named after trees, Presidents, etc., or are simply numbered (First Street, Fifth Avenue, etc.).
Anyway, nowadays it's quite unusual to actually have a Main Street by that name with shops of the type that "high-street" apparently refers to. A lot of people will just drive to the nearest shopping mall.

Note that malls are distinct from centers in that a shopping mall truly does resemble a mall of sorts, with stores rising on either side of a pedestrian parkway, usually completely indoors nowadays, and often with several floors and a few twists and turns in the mall for variety. A shopping mall is a shopping center, but not all shopping centers are malls, since some are simply gatherings of shops by the side of a road (the "strip centers" or "strip malls" in this context mall isn't really used correctly).

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What exactly does "high street" mean?

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