Time to reshape the High Street
Up to one in five shops lies empty across Kent, the Midlands and the North East. This is the downbeat finding of the latest Local Data Company (LDC) report, which shows that vacancies have continued to rise during the past two quarters – although the rate of increase is slowing.
Data for July-December 2009 show that 12.4% of shops were empty across Great Britain, compared with 10% in June 2009. This followed a 100% jump in vacancies during the first half of 2009.
The LDC has surveyed more than 700 town centres and concludes that overall shop vacancy has nearly doubled in England and Wales since 2008. Vacancy rates vary between regions, with the rate for the North East at 14% while the average figure for the South East (including London) is 9%.
Among individual locations, the survey identifies Wolverhampton as the worst-hit large retail centre, with 23.9% of its shops empty, followed by Bradford, Middlesborough and Sheffield. Among mid-sized towns Margate tops the list with a vacancy rate of 27.2%. Central London has fared much better and centres on the edges of Greater London are also improving, with vacancy rates back down below 10%.
The British Property Federation, in response to this data, is calling for government measures to make it easier to convert shops and help in the “fundamental reshaping of high streets” that is underway as people do more and more of their shopping online.
