‘Alarm bells ringing’ as one in 10 town centre shops empty

The British Retail Consortium (BRC) said the national town centre vacancy rate of 11.3 per cent was the worst figure since its nationwide survey began in July 2011.

A fifth of store units were empty in Northern Ireland last month, while the rate for Wales was 15.1 per cent and for the North and Yorkshire region the figure stood at 14.6 per cent. Greater London had 7.6 per cent of its units lying empty.

BRC director general Stephen Robertson said the new figures would set “alarm bells ringing” as it confirmed the financial challenges for both customers and retailers were far from over. The survey also revealed footfall in the North and Yorkshire dropped 2.6 per cent on a year ago in the three months to October, compared with a 0.4 per cent decrease nationally.

Big brands including JJB Sports, Clinton Cards, Blacks Leisure, Game and Peacocks have either disappeared or scaled back their presence in town centres after going into administration. And the collapse of electricals chain Comet this month will be another blow.

Figures from the Office for National Statistics last week showed that retailers experienced a worse-than-expected drop in sales of 0.8 per cent in October, while a shock jump in the UK’s annual inflation rate to 2.7 per cent highlighted that incomes were being further squeezed amid increasing food prices.