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High Street Vacancies On the Rise
Listed under: News
Published: Thursday, February 11, 2010
The number of shop vacancies in the UK has hit a new high over the past year, seeing a staggering one in five outlets remain empty across town centres in Kent, the Midlands and North East, according to the latest Local Data Company (LDC) report unveiled at the recent British Property Federation (BPF) Retail Summit.
The findings, which reveal that the rate of store vacancies has continued to rise over the last two quarters, show the number of stores remaining empty across the UK currently stands at 12.4% – up ten percent on June 2009. This is a vast improvement on last year, which saw the level of vacancies rise 100% in the first six months alone.
Despite showing slightly better results than 2009, the survey makes for worrying reading, revealing that the number of overall shop vacancies has nearly doubled in England and Wales over the past two years, rising a whopping 190% across the South and East alone. Shopping centres in the Midlands, Wales and South West also struggled, seeing the level of dormant properties rise 46% and 18% respectively.
Of the country's largest shopping centres, Wolverhampton was the worst hit, seeing 23.9% of its retail outlets remain unused last year. Bradford, Middlesborough and Sheffield also suffered, as did Margate, which saw 27.3% of retail outlets become vacant in 2009.
However, areas in and around the Capital appear to have been less affected, with the vacancy rates in London, Uxbridge and Essex remaining below the ten percent national average.
Commenting on the findings, Liz Peace, chief executive of the BPF, says, “The fact of the matter is that Brits now do a lot more shopping over the web, so we’re seeing a fundamental reshaping of high streets. The next Government will need to balance cuts in spending with ideas for reinvigorating regions that have suffered from years of underinvestment. This doesn’t mean simply building more shops, but a thorough re-evaluation of what we need and how we take existing empty properties and use them for other things.
“We must encourage councils to make it easier for people to convert shops and people must accept that we won’t go back to the high streets of yesteryear,” she concludes.
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The findings, which reveal that the rate of store vacancies has continued to rise over the last two quarters, show the number of stores remaining empty across the UK currently stands at 12.4% – up ten percent on June 2009. This is a vast improvement on last year, which saw the level of vacancies rise 100% in the first six months alone.
Despite showing slightly better results than 2009, the survey makes for worrying reading, revealing that the number of overall shop vacancies has nearly doubled in England and Wales over the past two years, rising a whopping 190% across the South and East alone. Shopping centres in the Midlands, Wales and South West also struggled, seeing the level of dormant properties rise 46% and 18% respectively.
Of the country's largest shopping centres, Wolverhampton was the worst hit, seeing 23.9% of its retail outlets remain unused last year. Bradford, Middlesborough and Sheffield also suffered, as did Margate, which saw 27.3% of retail outlets become vacant in 2009.
However, areas in and around the Capital appear to have been less affected, with the vacancy rates in London, Uxbridge and Essex remaining below the ten percent national average.
Commenting on the findings, Liz Peace, chief executive of the BPF, says, “The fact of the matter is that Brits now do a lot more shopping over the web, so we’re seeing a fundamental reshaping of high streets. The next Government will need to balance cuts in spending with ideas for reinvigorating regions that have suffered from years of underinvestment. This doesn’t mean simply building more shops, but a thorough re-evaluation of what we need and how we take existing empty properties and use them for other things.
“We must encourage councils to make it easier for people to convert shops and people must accept that we won’t go back to the high streets of yesteryear,” she concludes.
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