Viability of town centres uncertain

National retail chains are deserting high streets in the north of England en masse, calling into question the long-term viability of once-vibrant shopping destinations, according to research.

Vacancy rates in many town centres in the north and Midlands are now approaching 30 per cent, according to the Local Data Company, which publishes its six-monthly health check on the nation’s high streets today.

Stockport, Blackpool, Grimsby, Stockton-on-Tees, Hartlepool and Dudley are among the retail centres worst affected, with nearly one in every three shops vacant. Average vacancy rates in the north-west region have increased to 17 per cent, the highest in the country. However, the national average vacancy rate has flattened out at 14.5 per cent over the past year, stabilised by recovering town centres in the more affluent south-east.

Mary Portas, the government’s retail adviser, who is due to report this autumn on how to tackle the high street’s fading fortunes, has admitted that some areas are beyond redemption.

“There are towns where it’s dead,” she told the BBC. “The horse has bolted. Give up. It’s bonkers to say we can do them all, we won’t be able to.”

Ms Portas added that residential conversion may be the only outcome for some – a conclusion challenged by Matthew Hopkinson, director of the Local Data Company, which compiled the research. “Who’s going to want to live in a deserted town centre, or pay for houses to be built there?” he said.

“These areas have no jobs, no prospects, and no shops. To have a vibrant town centre, you need wealth creation through local employment to support it.”

Mr Hopkinson said the deterioration of high streets followed a pattern across the UK.

“Vacancy increases the most around the periphery, until whole streets are no longer viable,” he said. “Reduced footfall deters the national retailers, who are happier trading in large shopping centres.

“Then, the discounters and pawnbrokers who were previously in secondary locations are able to move to prime positions.”

Stockport, where nearly 28 per cent of shops are vacant, saw 63 retailers close their doors in the first six months of this year. A fifth of these were national retail chains, including River Island, Jane Norman, Evans and Birthdays.

Although 39 shops opened in the same period, the majority were independent retailers. Tellingly, the only two national chains to take shops were both alternative finance providers – Cash Converters and the Cheque Centre.

“The north of England clearly has much more exposure to public sector cuts and falls in house prices than the south, so shoppers here are more bargain hungry,” said Tarlok Teji, retail analyst at Manchester Business School.

“Those who do have money are using it to pay down debts in the event that things get worse.”

Despite the gloomy outlook, budget retailers are still expanding on some high streets. On Wednesday, 99p Stores revealed that Barclays Corporate had provided a £20m facility to enable it to double the number of its shops to 300 across Europe in the next four years.