In The Death and Life of Great American Cities, Jane Jacobs proposed four conditions for generating and maintaining vibrant urban diversity (mixed uses, short blocks, aged buildings, and sufficient density), but subsequent empirical work to test them has been limited. This study responds by studying town and city centres in Great Britain in the wake of coronavirusinduced restrictions to answer the question: can Jane Jacobs’ four rules for generating urban diversity help explain why some High Streets in Britain have demonstrated more resilience than others?