It was once the epicentre of the community, a place where independent shops and businesses thrived and people flocked to work, socialise - sometimes even to shop.

Today however the humble high street tells a different story. Overshadowed by gargantuan out-of-town shopping malls and cut-price chain stores, many independent retailers have long disappeared from town centres, leaving a rash of boarded-up windows pawn brokers and betting shops in their wake.

Bristol is no different from the situation in the rest of the country. But help may be at hand. And who better to bring the high street into the 21st century than so-called 'Queen of Shops' Mary Portas?

Ms Portas, who is credited with turning Harvey Nichols into a leading fashion brand and has her own BBC TV series 'Mary Queen of Shops', has put together a list of recommendations to "breathe economic and community life" back into high streets and town centres.

Writing on her website, she spelt out her plans to “professionalise” high street management, reduce business rates and create a level playing field with out of town shopping malls.

"I want to put the heart back into the centre of our High Streets, re-imagined as destinations for socialising, culture, health, wellbeing, creativity and learning," she said.

"The new High Streets won’t just be about selling goods," she added. "They should become places where we go to engage with other people in our communities, where shopping is just one small part of a rich mix of activities."

A summary of her 28 recommendations are below – how many do you agree with? To read the full report click here or to see a list of top 10 indeoendant shops in Bristol click here.

1. Put in place a “Town Team”: a visionary, strategic and strong operational management team for high streets

2. Empower successful Business Improvement Districts to take on more responsibilities and powers and become “Super-BIDs”

3. Legislate to allow landlords to become high street investors by contributing to their Business Improvement District

4. Establish a new “National Market Day” where budding shopkeepers can try their hand at operating a low-cost retail business

5. Make it easier for people to become market traders by removing unnecessary regulations so that anyone can trade on the high street unless there is a valid reason why not

6. Government should consider whether business rates can better support small businesses and independent retailers

7. Local authorities should use their new discretionary powers to give business rate concessions to new local businesses

8. Make business rates work for business by reviewing the use of the RPI with a view to changing the calculation to CPI

9. Local areas should implement free controlled parking schemes that work for their town centres and we should have a new parking league table

10. Town Teams should focus on making high streets accessible, attractive and safe

11. Government should include high street deregulation as part of their ongoing work on freeing up red tape

12. Address the restrictive aspects of the ‘Use Class’ system to make it easier to change the uses of key properties on the high street

13. Put betting shops into a separate ‘Use Class’ of their own

14. Make explicit a presumption in favour of town centre development in the wording of the National Planning Policy Framework

15. Introduce Secretary of State “exceptional sign off ” for all new out-of-town developments and require all large new developments to have an “affordable shops” quota

16. Large retailers should support and mentor local businesses and independent retailers

17. Retailers should report on their support of local high streets in their annual report

18. Encourage a contract of care between landlords and their commercial tenants by promoting the leasing code and supporting the use of lease structures other than upward only rent reviews, especially for small businesses

19. Explore further disincentives to prevent landlords from leaving units vacant

20. Banks who own empty property on the high street should either administer these assets well or be required to sell them

21. Local authorities should make more proactive use of Compulsory Purchase Order powers to encourage the redevelopment of key high street retail space

22. Empower local authorities to step in when landlords are negligent with new “Empty Shop Management Orders”

23. Introduce a public register of high street landlords

24. Run a high profile campaign to get people involved in Neighbourhood Plans

25. Promote the inclusion of the High Street in Neighbourhood Plans

26. Developers should make a financial contribution to ensure that the local community has a strong voice in the planning system

27. Support imaginative community use of empty properties through Community Right to Buy, Meanwhile Use and a new “Community Right to Try”

28. Run a number of High Street Pilots to test proof of concept