It’s easy to believe that the outlook for many of our town and city centres is bleak thanks to the continued rise of online shopping and the increasing number of people now working from home rather than in an office.Yet there are other schools of thought and Andrew Mear is certainly one of those who thinks differently.Doom mongering, he believes, is pointless when time can be better spent on looking forward and finding creative solutions.MD of San Pedro Properties, a Yorkshire company that specialises in redeveloping historic buildings, he is also chair of Skipton BID aka Business Improvement District.Finding ways to help our high streets to stay relevant is a must, he says, but that doesn’t just mean retail. His own successful business in Skipton, High Corn Mill, is a great example of how a building can move with the times.His father bought it just over 30 years ago when it was a semi-derelict folk museum.