One in five shops now empty in region's big centres

The latest Local Data Company report shows vacancies have continued to rise over the last six months, although at a lower rate than before.

Of the region's large retail centres, Bradford has been hit the worst, with 22 per cent of shops standing empty.

Sheffield, Hull and Doncaster follow closely behind, while the vacancy rate in Leeds, the country's seventh biggest retail centre, is 17 per cent.

At the other end of the scale, smaller centres like Scarborough, Meadowhall and Pontefract have dipped below three per cent.

According to data collected between July and December 2009, 12.4 per cent of shops stand empty across the UK, compared with an average of 10 per cent last June. The first half of 2009 saw vacancies increase by 100 per cent.

Of the UK's large retail centres, Wolverhampton has been hit the worst, with 23.9 per cent of its shops standing empty, while the seaside town of Margate, in Kent, tops the table of medium-sized centres with 27.2 per cent of shops empty.

Central London stayed around the national average, while centres on the outskirts of the capital, around Uxbridge and Essex, dipped below 10 per cent, signalling hopes that the worst is now over.

According to the survey of more than 700 town centres, overall shop vacancy has very nearly doubled in England and Wales since the end of 2008.

The northern regions, whose centres dominate the vacancy data, show the highest vacancy rates, with the North-East particularly badly hit at 14 per cent. The South and East, including London, saw a 33 per cent increase in vacancy rates in the second half of 2009, with average vacancy at just around nine per cent. In total, vacancy rates across the South and East have increased 190 per cent since the peak of the market in September 2007.

Liz Peace, chief executive of the British Property Federation, said: "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 under-investment.

"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."

John Hubbard, director of Leeds retail agency at BNP Paribas Real Estate, added: "It is frightening what is happening at the moment.

"As an agent, clients and landlords don't want me to be negative, but it's the truth.

"Thirty years ago, you wouldn't have seen any empty shops in the centre of towns and cities but now rents have been pegged back and landlords are having to pay people a ton of money to take retail units off their hands."

It is understood that the landlord of the Muji store, on the corner of Briggate and the Headrow, in Leeds, would pay a new tenant 1m to take over the shop, which has a rent of more than 3,000 a month, yet no big names are willing to make the commitment.

Mr Hubbard added: "In the short term it's hard to know who is going to take these shops because a lot of people are waiting for the new shopping centres, like Sevenstone, in Sheffield, and Trinity and the Eastgate Quarter, in Leeds, to be built before they move."

Call to safeguard retail districts

The British Retail Consortium (BRC) has called on councils, retailers and residents to work together in order to safeguard the success of British high streets.

Town centres can have a bright future but they need to be actively planned, managed and nurtured, the BRC warned.

Director general Stephen Robertson said: "It's good to see closure rates now slowing in some towns, though a lot of our high streets are in a bad way after the recession.

"But many of the problems of town centres have more fundamental causes than simply the economic slowdown and they will not disappear just because recovery is under way.

"High street shops are often battling big bills for business rates and rents, parking and access difficulties, as well as failure to manage and invest in the area.

"High streets are the heart of local communities and economies – providing jobs and essential services. Their future success cannot be left to chance. Town centres need to be actively managed by local authorities with their retailers, other businesses and residents."