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Gateshead high street 'worst hit by recession'

Gateshead high street is apparently among those worst hit by shop closures due to the recession.

Retail research firm Experian surveyed British town centres and found Gateshead, along with Harwich in Essex and Walkden in Greater Manchester, has almost 60% of retail premises standing empty.

The findings featured in a special BBC Money Programme on Tuesday night, presented by retail commentator Mary Portas, about why the health of the UK’s high street is vital to the economy.

She visited town centres full of boarded up shops and spoke to prominent figures in the retail industry including Sir Stuart Rose, executive chairman of Marks & Spencer and Justin King, chief executive of Sainsbury’s.

Charlie Mayfield, chairman of John Lewis told the programme: “Retail employs more people than any other private sector business in the UK. So it matters a lot for jobs and it’s not just any jobs because actually retail offers jobs for people who want to be creative, people who want to work in distribution, someone who wants to work part time. You know, retail can offer a huge range of jobs. So it’s actually vital to the economy.”

Mr King said: “I think what we are seeing is getting over the worst of the shock of entering a recession. It is less bad than we feared but I don’t think you can start to say its green shoots just yet. We are certainly not seeing growth returning in total to retail markets.”

Sheila Johnston, director of development and enterprise at Gateshead Council said: “We haven’t seen the report in question, but there are some unique circumstances around the high street in Gateshead.

“The retail offer has suffered from the loss of big chains like Woolworths and the Co-op but most of the units in the centre of town weren’t geared towards modern shopping. That’s why the council has taken pro-active steps to start the transformation of the centre of Gateshead, starting with the demolition of Trinity Square. We are currently working with Tesco to bring a modern development to the town centre that will include a mix of shops, leisure facilities and housing.

“Gateshead Council has also produced a long term plan called ‘fit for a city’ that will encourage the development of the whole of the urban core of the town. We have also launched other projects to encourage businesses to come to the town centre, including a project that offers free accommodation for small businesses to utilise empty buildings.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .