Our latest guest on The Modern House podcast is Appear Here founder and CEO, Ross Bailey, who started the ‘Airbnb for retail’ company aged 21. Listen to the episode here.

Ross, now aged 28, has been an entrepreneur from a young age. He recalls offering his dog-walking services to his local community when he was a boy, DJing at wedding parties aged 12, and setting up nightclub events for under 18s when he was a teenager. In fact, it was his give-it-a-go attitude that led to the formation of Appear Here. In 2012, during the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee, Ross was selling ‘Lizzie Stardust’ t-shirts with the Queen’s face made to look like David Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust, when he looked to get a physical space. Finding the process more arduous than he realised, an idea he had about a platform for unused retail spaces came flashing back.

But the seeds for Appear Here may have been planted even earlier. Ross’ parents met working at a small hair salon, and bought the shop when they were 25. Now in their 60s, they still run it today. Growing up, Ross saw how the salon was a lot more than just a shop on a high street: it was a community hub, a place his parents’ relationship was bound up in and what allowed them to buy a house. Perhaps that explains why Ross is optimistic about the power of retail and the high street – he’s seen first-hand the success of independent shops when they engage a local community and offer something more than just a place to buy things.

But how has the global pandemic changed things? Is the future of the high street looking better or worse after Covid? Hear Ross discuss all that and more on The Modern House Podcast, and find out what he picked as his top three living spaces around the world. Make sure to subscribe to the podcast so that you never miss an episode, and if you could rate and review us, we’d be more than grateful. As ever, happy listening.