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Britain lost 6,000 retail outlets in five years

By Nithya Bose in UK Business News, posted July 29, 2023

Britain has seen the closure of 6,000 stores in the past five years as shop owners face financial strains, new figures show.

The shutdown has resulted in "gap-toothed high streets" in cities across the country.

The combination of factors such as Covid, the ongoing cost of living crisis, and the burden of "crippling" business rates has led to businesses deserting retail spaces.

The British Retail Consortium (BRC) issued a warning, stressing the need for local councils to devise a "cohesive plan" to rejuvenate shopping areas.

The second-quarter data from the BRC's Local Data Company (LDC) vacancy monitor showed that the overall vacancy rate across Britain reached 13.9 percent.

It’s a slight decrease of 0.1 percentage point from the first quarter, but an increase of 0.1 points from the same period last year.

Shopping centre vacancies remained unchanged at 17.8 percent, while high street vacancies rose by 0.1 to 13.9 percent.

Regions such as Greater London, the southeast, and the east of England maintained the lowest vacancy rates.

London had improvement in the last quarter due to the opening of new flagship stores and an increase in office workers and tourists.

The north-east and the Midlands experienced the highest vacancy rates, followed by Wales and Scotland.

The BRC chief executive, Helen Dickinson, said: “The past five years saw Britain lose 6,000 retail outlets, with crippling business rates and the impact of the Covid lockdowns a key part of decisions to close stores and think twice about new openings.

“To inject more vibrancy into high streets and town centres, and prevent further store closures, government should review the broken business rates system.

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“Currently, there’s an additional £400m going on retailers’ bills next April, which will put a brake on the vital investment that our towns and cities so desperately need.

“The government announcement earlier in the week about making changes of use to vacant units easier is welcome but it’s important local councils have a cohesive plan, and don’t leave gap-toothed high streets that are no longer a customer destination and risk becoming inviable. Government should go one step further and freeze rates bills next year.”

Lucy Stainton, commercial director at the LDC, said: “Across all location types, vacancy has reached critical levels, highlighting an ever-increasing need to redevelop units to breathe life back into retail destinations.

“With the continuing trend in mind, we do not foresee any improvements to vacancy rates in future. However, given that the latest rises in vacancy have not been particularly significant, we anticipate that any increases in the near future will be gradual.”

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