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Is it the end of the high street or just a period of change? Is it getting worse? Or is it levelling out?
D
o you shop online? Yes? Well, it’s partly your fault then. Our high streets have been crumbling since the arrival of out of town retail parks. Now, since the online
shopping frenzy became a habit, even the retail parks have empty units – but some high streets are becoming ghost towns as retailers struggle to pay rents set in good times from revenues received in bad times. The Local Data Company’s latest Shop
Vacancy report, titled ‘A Gathering Storm?’, actually shows a slow down of the increase in shop vacancy across Britain in the first half of 2010, but the regional differences are becoming more apparent than ever.
The picTure across GreaT BriTain (see table 1 and 2 overleaf) Town centre vacancy rates in the UK have risen from just over 12 per cent at the end of 2009, to 13 per cent at the end of June
2010. The table shows the weak state of the retail markets in large northern and Midland cities, but there are only three southern centres in the table; Watford at 17, Bristol at 23 and Reading at 24. Bristol has only half the vacancy rate of the worst large centre – Blackpool – which has nearly 30 per cent vacancy.
reGional variaTions There is a clear North/South divide in shop vacancy. The big centres in London and the South East are holding up well, further north vacancy rates are much higher. The survey shows the increase in vacancy rates is slowing down, which seems a comfort, until you consider those economies anchored by the public sector and realise that this could be a temporary respite. The philosophy underpinning the new
coalition administration is to shrink the State for good. For some big northern centres, this may be the perfect storm.
Average Vacancy Rate (%) 0
5
East Midlands Eastern London North East North West Scotland South East South West Wales
West Midlands Yorkshire & The Humber
Large centres Medium centres Small centres Regional vacancy rates across the UK PROPERTYdrum OCTOBER 2010 33 10 15 20
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