Partner Article

North High Street hit hardest

THE number of shops closing in Britain is slowing but a north-south divide has reportedly emerged, a study has found.

According to the BBC, retail analysts the Local Data Company found one in seven outlets are currently empty.

Town centre vacancy rates rose from just over 12% at the end of 2009, to 13% at the end of June 2010.

It said big centres in London and the South East were “holding up well, while further north vacancy rates are much higher”.

The Local Data Company (LDC) visited more than 700 towns and cities between January and June 2010 for its survey.

Each retail outlet’s occupancy status was recorded as being occupied, vacant or demolished.

Ten of the 63 large centres examined across Britain, including Bath, Guildford, central London, Cardiff and Liverpool, showed an improvement over the last six months.

But among the 400 medium-sized centres, just 73 had improved. All but one of these - Grantham, Lincolnshire - were in the south.

Vacancy rates were found to be as low as 3.5% in Hythe, near Southampton, and Upminster, in Essex.

Empty shops were more commonplace further north. Some 30% of retail outlets were vacant in Altrincham, Cheshire, with Blackpool and Dewsbury, in West Yorkshire, not far behind.

“Many large and medium-sized centres in the Midlands and North are yet to see a material improvement in vacancy,” said the LDC.

Its business development director, Matthew Hopkinson, said the report “shows the reality of a slowed but still rising increase in shop vacancy rates across the country”.

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