Towns and cities in the north of England have twice as many empty shops as those in the south — with the North-East boasting the highest rate of vacancies in the country.
The latest figures from the Local Data Company (LDC) — which monitors 3,000 town and shopping centres and retail parks — claim that one-in-five shops in the north was is now empty, compared to a one-in-10 return for southern counties.
But despite the growing national divide, the LDC reported an overall “marked improvement” with vacancy rates continuing to fall since the 2012 high of 14.6 per cent. The average rate was 13.3 per cent during the second half of last year, down 0.8 per cent on the same period a year earlier.
Regionally, the North-East has taken over the dubious claim of having the emptiest shopping streets. Its vacancy rate between July and December last year stood at 18.8 per cent. Previously, the worst performing region had been the North West, whose rate slipped to 18.6 per cent for the same period.
The LDC’s director is Matthew Hopkinson who explained that individually the worst-performing towns and cities all had vacancy rates above 25 per cent. “That,” he added, “is still one-in-four shops lying empty and showing no sign of improvement.
“We also found that 20 per cent of the shops we tracked had been empty for more than three years, amounting to almost 10,000 outlets — that’s the equivalent of five Manchesters lying empty.”
The locations with the highest vacancy rates are the Potteries towns of Burslem and Hanley at 29.4 per cent and 27.7 per cent respectively. They are followed by Hartlepool (North-East) 27.3 per cent, West Bromwich (West Midlands) 27.1 per cent and Droylsden (North West) 26.8 per cent.
The locations with the lowest vacancy rates are Debden (East of England) and Highgate (Greater London) which report no vacancies at all. Making up the top five are Beaconsfield (South East) 0.9 per cent, Stanmore (Greater London) 1.1 per cent and Eastgate, Lincoln (East Midlands) 1.3 per cent.
In the North-East the news prompted an immediate call for the Government to do more to strengthen its commitment to the region’s high streets. “These figures demonstrate the real challenges that many shopping streets continue to face across our region,” commented Simon Hanson, North-East development manager for the Federation of Small Businesses.
“The biggest issue that many of our high streets members raise is the high cost of business rates and the inflexibility of some local authorities to support them.
“In some areas we have seen business rates rise higher than rents which is unacceptable,” Hanson added. “If local authorities are serious about supporting high streets more needs to be done to get the appropriate business rates reliefs to eligible businesses.”
