Tim Greenslade lives close to Kingland Crescent in Poole town centre but it was the sort of street he used to make a point of steering clear of. “It was dead and depressing,” he said. “We’d avoid it at all costs.”

It is very different now. Thanks to a scheme aimed at reimagining down-at-heel town centre streets, there are a string of thriving independent shops, including Greenslade’s fishmongers, on Kingland. “It’s a brilliant community,” he said.

The row of 10 shops has revived after a project launched by the landlord LGIM (Legal & General Investment Management) Real Assets in 2021 to find ambitious local entrepreneurs and offer them space free of rent and business rates for two years.

When the Guardian visited the Dorset town this week, Greenslade was doing brisk business selling locally caught cockles, clams, sole, plaice, bass and lobsters to local people and tourists.

Customers flitted in and out of other shops such as Boiler Room Records, the Viper cocktail bar and the Titanium Flower jewellery shop, while a busker played in the sunshine.

“The scheme gave me a chance to see if my business could work here without so much pressure,” said Jon Rowe, 35. For years he ran a mobile cafe from a converted Land Rover but was able to give a bricks and mortar-based business a try.

It has turned out well. Grounded Coffee on Kingland now employs six people, roasts coffee for other shops (the aroma of its Sweet Breeze blend was wafting over the street) and is aiming to expand.

Of the 10 original businesses that launched, six remain. For various reasons, a cafe, zero waste shop, art store and perfumery have moved on but they have been replaced by newcomers drawn to the bustle. Only one unit is empty but is to become a toy shop soon.

It has meant new careers for some. Hope Dean, the owner of house plant emporium Wild Roots, lost her job in event management during Covid. “I always wanted to work in plants and this was my chance,” she said.

Her aim is to pair the customer with the ideal plant. “I try to never sell someone the wrong plant,” she said. “There’s nothing worse than taking a plant home and having it die on you. I match people with the plant that will suit them and their lifestyle.”

Born and bred in Poole, Dean, 29, said she, too, used to avoid Kingland Crescent. “It was a dirty, funny walkway with boarded-up shops. Now it’s vibrant, upbeat, colourful.”

Legal & General says its model is not just about handing over the keys to shops and letting people get on with it. It offers mentoring sessions and legal advice as well as generous financial offers. And now the two-year rent-free period is over, it has not whacked up prices but makes sure it keeps the shops affordable for the businesses.

The figures look impressive. After the new shops opened there was a 16% increase in footfall on the street compared with pre-Covid levels. Average turnover per unit this spring increased by 36% against last.

Kingland is also drawing more people into the nearby Dolphin shopping centre, which Legal & General also owns. The company says the presence of the 10 independents has generated an additional £2.2m for the centre with footfall higher than pre-pandemic levels, bucking the national trend.

There are other reasons to head to the Dolphin. NHS services and adult education services are being offered there, and there are market stores for microtraders and event spaces used by artists to fitness instructors.

Brownsea House, a former jobcentre linked to the shopping centre, has been converted into Foundry, a sleek co-working space with desk space, offices and studios.

The idea here is to hang on to workers who used to commute out of Poole every day for larger cities such as Bristol, Southampton and London. Foundry has only just opened but already translators, tech firms and podcast creators are based there. It means more younger people, with money to spend, are staying in Poole for the working day, helping keep businesses such as those on Kingland Crescent buzzing.

Business owners and shoppers agree that Poole needed an injection of imagination. Though the town has one of the most expensive chunks of real estate in Britain – Sandbanks – it can sometimes feel like a poor relation to its glitzier neighbour, Bournemouth.

The plan from Legal & General now is to transfer what it has learned from Kingland to other high streets, retail parks and the ground floor of residential developments, tailoring the model to towns’ individual needs.

Steve Wyatt, 46, owner of Restored Retro on Kingland, which refurbishes 1960s and 70s furniture, used to love visiting high streets with his mother. “There was a greengrocers, a fishmongers, an electric shop,” he said. “All that seemed to vanish. But here we’re recreating that sense of community and turned the high street back into a destination again. This is a great place to be.”