And that will be England gone

This is such a privileged article I don't even know where to start.

Most places in England were like this 25 years ago. But haven't been since ~2008. In most cities, only the few posher areas in a given city still have little high streets with nice shops and cafes and in most of them they're booming, regardless of whether (expensive) chain shops like Jojo Maman Bebe have moved on. In the other places there are vacant units, charity shops, an inexplicable number of always-empty Turkish barbers and takeaways.

Ultimately, yes, online world has changed things. But I would hazard a guess that at least in the writer's social circle, if not the writer, there would be significant opposition to construction of new housing and densification, which is the only way that you can realistically still have such amenities in person.