Who is Graham Soult?

Described on BBC Look North as “the region’s best-known retail expert”, and by ITV as “a North East Mary Portas”, retail consultant Graham Soult is often named as being among the most influential retail people on Twitter. He owns and runs the retail consultancy business CannyInsights.com.

He has appeared regularly on TV, on radio, and in the press, including BBC’s The One Show, BBC News, The Guardian, Retail Week, Wired and Forbes, and is a frequent speaker on retail and marketing issues at conferences and seminars.

Graham is a Fellow of the Institute of Place Management (IPM), and also serves as an Expert with England’s High Streets Task Force, an initiative to support communities and local authorities in transforming their high streets.

He also manages Indie Durham City, a project similar to Shop Chester-le-Street that works to support independent businesses in Durham city centre, and to help them spread the word about what they offer.