Decline of the High Street: A quarter are failing as fast-food chains and 'pound shops' dominate

Published 17th Jun 2011

The divide between the best and worst town centres is growing as a quarter of high streets in the UK fail with fast food chains and pound shops dominating.

Shops standing empty have triggered a downward spiral in 83 out of 365 towns across the country in towns such as Bootle, Dunstable and Walsall.

Another 42 high streets are deemed to be degenerating such as Grimsby, Dartford and London's Walworth Road.

The decline reflects the squeeze on families' finances as consumer spending feels the bite from high inflation, stagnant wage growth and fears over the economic recovery.

Official figures released this week showed a worse than expected drop in retail sales of 1.4 per cent.

Some City analysts have put this down to the number of bank holidays we have had around Easter and the Royal wedding.

Paul Moody, from property consultancy Colliers, told the Financial Times: 'In most cases it is worse in the towns we monitored than it was last year.

'Retailers are migrating to the best-performing areas. Once you have rents falling and voids starting to grow in certain towns, it becomes a downward spiral.'

Colliers warned these 'terminal towns' would struggle to find public or private finance to spur future growth and were becoming dominated by pound stores and fast-food chains.

Shoppers are being drawn to out-of-town shopping centres and supermarkets in pursuit of a more affordable deal, Colliers found.

More than a quarter of towns are 'thriving', Colliers said, including market towns with loyal catchments or those with buoyant tourist demand, such as Brighton, Stratford-upon-Avon and Harrogate.

But just 3 per cent are designated as 'improving', including Barnsley, Ealing and Maidenhead, suggesting the number of thriving towns is unlikely to grow.

Retail rents increased in a greater proportion of towns than in the previous survey - 13 per cent in 2010 compared with 9% in 2009.

Colliers' analysis is based on historic and future indicators, including retail rents and vacancies, population growth or decline and employment prospects.

The number of vacant stores has fallen from 11.4% to 9.7%, according to Colliers, but the figure was skewed by quick-fix solutions such as pop-up shops and short-term lettings.

Source: ' ThisIsMoney '

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