In reply to:

but i think that is because the High Road-- (or more common High Street) is the UK (but not scotish) equiviant of Main street


No, of troy. High road and high street are two very different things. The high street is, as you say, the generic equivalent of the USn Main Street. The high road is a long distance road -- think Tolkein's The Road Goes Ever On.

Traditionally to be a street, a thoroughfare had to have buildings on both sides, but that distinction is sadly declining. Oxford Street is a main shopping street in London, but when it leaves the city it used to be called the Oxford Road, until by bureaucratic whim it became the A40.

Bingley



Bingley