# data[].attributes.body
Article looking at inequality. Could be used as a starting point to judge inequality in your area.

# data[].attributes.body
How is place represented in Kingston/Wimbledon/New Malden? Is there a specific scheme in place to change the area.

# data[].attributes.body
Are there any clone towns in our area? How independent is New Malden/Tolworth/Worcester Park high street?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Britain's town centres are rapidly becoming indistinguishable, losing all sense of local identity as they are taken over by global and national chain stores, economists warned today.

A report from the New Economics Foundation estimated how far the nation's high streets had been taken over by a phenomenon it called "clone town Britain".

It found 42 of the 103 towns it surveyed in England, Scotland and Wales had become clones, with few local businesses supplied from the surrounding area and a diminished range of specialist outlets.

In these towns, independent butchers, greengrocers, pet shops and dry cleaners had been driven out by national supermarket retailers, fast food chains, mobile phone shops and global fashion outlets.

The most extreme example of a clone town was Exeter in Devon, the foundation said. On a scale awarding points for the number of independent outlets and range of specialist shops, it scored 6.9 out of 60.

At the other end of the scale, Hebden Bridge in West Yorkshire scored 48.6. This was the best example of what the foundation called a "home town" - one retaining its individual character. Others included Peebles, Lewes, Whitley Bay and Monmouth.

Inspectors assessed a run of 50 shops in Hebden Bridge and found only three were chain stores.

The foundation said 34 of the 103 high streets it surveyed could still be described as home towns. Another 37 were "border towns" where colonisation by the clones was not fully established.

Andrew Simms, the foundation's policy director, said: "Clone stores have a triple whammy on communities. They bleed the local economy of money, destroy the social glue provided by real local shops and steal the identity of our towns and cities. Then we are left with soulless clone towns.

"The argument that big retail is good because it provides consumers with choice is ironic, because in the end it leaves us with no choice at all."

Local people might be excited at first by the arrival of US retailers such as Gap and Starbucks. But they soon tired of "Latte-chino blandness".

The report added: "Banality has taken root like a relative from abroad invited to stay because their foreignness seemed interesting, before realising they were tiresome and refused to leave."

In Exeter, most independent shops had been driven off the high street by huge rents and business rates. It was left with little more than clothing retailers, electronics shops, stationers and bookstores.

"Yet for Exeter city council, it seems to be a case of a clone not far enough. After six years of heated debate, preliminary work has commenced on a £175m project to redevelop the town's centre, due to complete in autumn 2007."

It included demolition of Britain's first fully pedestrianised shopping mall to make way for even larger chain store developments.

The foundation also assessed 27 high streets across London and found 13 were clones, nine were home towns that retained their identity, and five were border towns. Wimbledon, Hammersmith and Clapham Junction were the most extreme of the clones, while Shepherd's Bush, Deptford and Bethnal Green scored highest for individuality.

Mr Simms said: "Britain doesn't have to become a nation of clone towns. Just as regulatory changes have allowed it, the right changes can begin to turn back the tide."

Planning law could be used to require developers to guarantee affordable premises for locally owned stores.

There should be a moratorium on further retail takeovers and a requirement that leading supermarkets reduce their market share to 8%, above which they damaged the retail supply chain.

Britain should adopt tactics used by towns in the US to resist invasion by the clone corporations, including community impact assessments of big retail developments and bans on "formula businesses".
Best and worst Top 10 clone towns with least local identity
Exeter

Dumfries

Stafford

Middlesbrough

Weston-super-Mare

Winchester

Newport

Dorchester, Dorset

Cheltenham

Burton-on-Trent
Top 10 home towns with most local identity
Hebden Bridge

Peebles

Bo'ness

Normanton, West Yorkshire

Frodsham

Emsworth

Hadleigh, Suffolk

Great Malvern

Lewes

Gainsborough

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Britain's town centres are rapidly becoming indistinguishable, losing all sense of local identity as they are taken over by global and national chain stores, economists warned today. A report from the New Economics Foundation estimated how far the nation's high streets had been taken over by a phenomenon it called "clone town Britain".

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
In evaluating thousands of public spaces around the world, PPS has found that successful ones have four key qualities.

# data[].attributes.body
Document discussing sustainable living in London. Could link to Cambridge Housing area. Links to the Egan wheel of sustainability and ... wheel.

# data[].attributes.body
Can regeneration ensure London’s future? Is it relevant for our local area?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The protesters came with trumpets and flags, banging saucepans as they approached Haringey town hall.

Inside, councillors were discussing a hugely controversial scheme to regenerate the north London borough, which has the highest level of wage inequality in the country.

This "development vehicle", worth £2bn, is unprecedented in its scope. It will knock down estates and rebuild them more densely, adding 6,400 new homes to the borough over a 20-year period, and guaranteeing social housing for all those who currently have it.

After the hearings the public was sent out, and behind closed doors the council voted to do the deal with Australian developer Lendlease.

The reaction was one of anger, with fears that local residents would be forced out of their neighbourhoods to make room for expensive homes to be sold to investors.

The local MPs urged the council to rethink the deal and a legal challenge was lodged last week. After Grenfell, there is a new focus on the condition and provision of social housing, and a mistrust of councils and gentrification.

Much of the opposition centres around the council's new partner: Australian developer Lendlease is currently overhauling the Heygate estate in Elephant and Castle, south London, packing it with luxury homes out of reach for many Londoners.

It replaced 1,194 social-rented flats with just 82, with just 20pc of other properties are affordable; Lendlease argues that instead it has improved the community in other ways. "Could we have put more into affordable housing? Sure," says Dan Labbad, Lendlease's chief executive of operations outside Australia. "But that means we wouldn't have gotten the park, the transport upgrades, the leisure centre. There isn't endless money."

Despite the huge outcry at the terms of the development, Labbad thinks it was a good deal. "I think that what we have done at the Elephant and Castle is ground-breaking and I'm very proud of it. I was thinking if they Heygate was still standing today empty, or almost empty, what would it be?"

While the Southwark deal was done on different terms - with the council selling the land to the developer - it has left a bad taste in the mouth of those who fear something similar will happen to them in Haringey.

Another issue is the vast scale of the project, the risk of which is being shared 50/50 between the two in a joint venture, with the council retaining control of the land and guaranteeing that 40pc of the additional homes will be affordable.

The sheer size, and the control being given over to one company, however, is worrying to protesters - and also sets a precedent for more regeneration on such a vast scale. "The model is unproven, and the scale at which Haringey is undertaking it is unprecedented," Professor Loretta Lees of the University of Leicester wrote in evidence to a hearing. "This dwarfs anything that has gone before it," said a campaigner. "The council is out of its league here."

It is the urgency of the housing crisis in London that spurred the council to commit to such a large-scale intervention, says Claire Kober, leader of Haringey council. "I empathise with the position of the tenants in the estates. The security of our homes is fundamental. Even though their right of return with the same rent and security of tenure is guaranteed, it doesn't stop you feeling very nervous. I know and understand that."

But Lendlease may have bitten off more than it can chew. "We thought it might be too large and too complex for us to deal with so we stepped away," says Ian Sutcliffe, chief executive of regeneration specialist Countryside which works in estates across the country. "The bigger the developments get the more complex they inevitably get." Countryside has made its name redeveloping schemes with 500-1000 homes. "It takes a real skill set to manage that over the time when it is multiples of thousands, and that is a challenge even for those that have lots of experience... I wouldn't want to be Lendlease."

Credit: Martin Pope

Regeneration of our estates is going to become a more urgent task as mid-century urban fabric needs upgrading to build homes fit to live in. It could also go some way to solving the housing crisis: a report by Savills last year found that by regenerating and densifying housing estates, an additional 360,000 homes could be built in London alone. Savills has estimated that 64,000 new homes need to built in the capital every year just to meet demand.

To do this, working with private companies is crucial, says Adam Challis, head of residential research at JLL. Councils, decimated by cuts, also face a cap on borrowing, he says, and "in the absence of serious government money to fill the gap, if you are creating sub-market housing a subsidy is required." This comes in the form of a private developer, selling and renting off private homes created by building more densely, creating extra cash for the council too. (The Haringey scheme will bring in an estimated £275m to the council's coffers.)

Critics have argued that councils should take on the regeneration themselves instead of selling out to developers, but the risk is too high, argues Kober. "The council can provide land, but not the finance or expertise. There are development companies wholly owned by councils, but nothing of this scale that could be delivered by them."

The ambition of Haringey to face the shortage of homes head on may be admirable - but can it be done any better?

The task of regeneration requires "softer skills" of communication and empathy, often overlooked by many housebuilders whose work does not involved 'decanting' residents - a developer's term for moving people out of their homes. In Haringey, a survey carried out last year by the council's advisors PPCR Associates found that 34pc of people in the first estate to be overhauled knew "nothing" of the regeneration proposals.

"We are on site for five to 15 years, so we have to make sure we become part of the community itself," says Sutcliffe. "Time spent upfront discussing with residents...actually saves time later on."

Credit: Heathcliff O'Malley

Due to the soaring rises in rents and house prices, the acute concern of residents in regenerated estates that they will be squeezed out is "very much a London phenomenon," says Stephen Teagle, head of regeneration at Galliford Try. "There will be a sense of displacement, that they won't be able to afford the homes."

Regeneration is not just knocking down homes and rebuilding them but providing a better place to live, with more green space, leisure facilities, and increased safety - and part of the challenge is communicating that to residents.

"I have often heard it said that we are making people move out from an area, and nothing could be further from the truth," says Sutcliffe. He describes how before Countryside's redevelopment of Acton Gardens an estate in Ealing, west London, the company surveyed residents, 80pc of whom wanted to move away. Four years into the project, 80pc want to stay.

"You have to make sure that the sense of community is not lost," he says. "We have become more skilled in the softer issues of this because we have been doing it for 35 years." The estate is more than one kilometre across, and Sutcliffe says that it's important to rehouse residents near where they lived - even if it costs more for the developer.

"When we undertook regeneration of an estate in Grimsby, we flew residents down to one we had regenerated in Plymouth," adds Teagle. "They spent time with those residents and from that process they raised points with us to address - what to repeat and what not to."

Developers entering these kinds of deals should welcome scepticism as it produces engagement, he adds. "By communities challenging what you're doing, that's helped create the most successful schemes."

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
It's controversial but crucial for London's future: how can you make regeneration work?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The protesters came with trumpets and flags, banging saucepans as they approached Haringey town hall. Inside, councillors were discussing a hugely controversial scheme to regenerate the north London borough, which has the highest level of wage inequality in the country. This "development vehicle", worth £2bn, is unprecedented in its scope.

# data[].attributes.body
Are there any communities near you were they have put together sustainable communities? Plans for Cambridge Estate?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Marmalade Lane: the car-free, triple-glazed, 42-house oasis

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
It may be the only good thing to emerge from the 2008 financial crisis. What do the first families to settle into Cambridge's new co-housing development make of multigenerational living?

# data[].attributes.body
Are there any high streets locally you could study? What is being done about them? How could you study different high streets? Vacant shops? Shop types? Cost?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
'Meanwhile spaces': the empty shops becoming a creative force across the country

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
From hat-makers to carpenters, art centres to gift boutiques, new life is coming to properties abandoned in the retail slump

# data[].attributes.body
Are there nay places in the Kingston borough with social inequality?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Too poor to play: children in social housing blocked from communal playground

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
In a move reminiscent of the 'poor doors' scandal, a London developer has segregated play areas for richer and poorer residents

# data[].attributes.body
What impact has internet shopping had on local High Streets?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
An iconic department store in New Malden announced it will close after over 100 years this week (March 4).

The Tudor Williams department store traded from its site at 53-59 High Street for over a century.

In a press release which accompanied the announcement, a spokesperson for the store said they were "greatly saddened" by the decision and announced a massive closing sale during the final weeks of trading.

Tudor Williams said: "One of the areas most loved family-run department stores, Tudor Williams, is greatly saddened to announce its intention to close after over 100 years of trading in New Malden and shall embark on a Great £1,000,000 Store Closing Sale, beginning Friday May 17, with a final closure date of Saturday June 29."

Managing Group Director John Morris meanwhile described the context of spiralling costs and the wider difficulties faced by high street retailers in recent years as having influenced the decision.

Mr Morris said: "Despite the tremendous effort by our New Malden management and staff and the extensive refurbishment, the store has unfortunately not seen the necessary improvement in sales.

"With ongoing rising costs, and the tough retail climate, it is with the greatest of reluctance we have concluded that we are unable to continue trading at the store."

"Neither our Dorking store nor our sister store, Elphicks of Farnham, which has recently undergone a major refurbishment, are affected by this decision and will continue to trade as normal."

Tudor Williams said that they will sell all stock ahead of the closure, while any "special orders" would be handled by sister store Elphicks of Farnham.

The Lynch Sales Company, sales event specialists based in Chattanooga, Tennessee (US), who also have a branch office in Emsworth, UK, will coordinate the sale.

The department store began life as a small corner shop in 1913 according to information on the Tudor Williams website:

"Mr Tudor Williams came to New Malden from Wales in 1913 and purchased a small corner shop. Initially the business concentrated on Millinery and Haberdashery and over the years this was developed by both Mr and Mrs Williams, with the business acquiring adjacent properties as the range of stock began to develop."

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Iconic New Malden department store to close after 100+ years

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
An iconic department store in New Malden announced it will close after over 100 years this week (March 4). The Tudor Williams department store traded from its site at 53-59 High Street for over a century.

# data[].attributes.body
How are some communities changing with local developments?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
How 'placemaking' is tearing apart social housing communities | Nye Jones

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
It's gentrification by any other name, helping councils to force out tenants and decimate public housing, says the freelance writer Nye Jones

# data[].attributes.headline
High Street decline = community decline?

# data[].attributes.subject
High Street decline = community decline?

# data[].attributes.body
As less people use the high street, is it changing how people communicate?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The north London suburb of Burnt Oak has one of the least attractive high streets in Britain. Last year, it ranked 995 on a list of 1,000 retail destinations compiled by the commercial property agency Harper Dennis Hobbs.

Burnt Oak's high street once boasted a market, several banks, a school uniform shop, a book shop and shoe shop. Today, it is made up of hair salons, betting shops and fried chicken shops.

In February, the suburb even lost its Tesco Metro, leaving the area's elderly and disabled having to take a bus ride to do their shopping.

High streets across Britain are transforming, according to the Local Data Company, a research firm, with banks and clothing shops giving way to service companies such as coffee shops, barbers and nail salons.

But locals in Burnt Oak said the changes on their high street have been accompanied by diminishing sense of community and fewer jobs for younger residents.

"We haven't got much selection [of shops] and that's killing the high street," said 49-year-old Bobby Fasogbon, who runs Flash Flooring, a local flooring business.

"We've got only two shops that sell clothes, two carpet shops and the rest are groceries," he said. "Where do you expect the community to find work?"

The more the high street has gone downhill, the more the area has gone downhill

Michelle Tye, a longtime resident

The retail sector is the largest employer in Britain, accounting for 15.2 per cent of jobs, according to the House of Commons' library. The Local Data Company predicted that the ongoing contraction in bricks-and-mortar retailing will put 35,000 jobs at risk this year.

"Local opportunities in this street? No, there is none," said Lawrence Graham, manager of the Burnt Oak Opportunity Support Team, or Boost, which tries to match up local businesses with local employees.

"The opportunities, if there were [some], would be good because people want to work. They want the chance of earning more and growing in themselves," he added.

The loss of its shops has sent Burnt Oak into a negative spiral, as its residents travel further afield to work and to spend their money.

"The more the high street has gone downhill, the more the area has gone downhill," said Michelle Tye, a longtime resident. "If you want some chicken or fruit, fine, but beyond that, we don't even have a supermarket in Burnt Oak."

A study by We Made That, an architecture firm, found that three quarters of London shoppers said that interacting with the community was the "best thing" about their high street. The study concluded that for the most marginalised or isolated in society, such as the elderly, young people, newly arrived immigrants and jobseekers, a trip to the high street represents an important chance to meet others.

"You've got to have intergenerational living, enabling people to come together. It's important for young people to interact with old people, for old people to interact with young people," said Matthew Hopkinson, director and co-founder of data-driven consultancy Didobi, who contributed to the Grimsey review, a report on the state of high streets.

Barnet's Conservative-controlled council is trying to reverse the trend, promising to invest £650,000 in Burnt Oak's town centre. Aspens Florist, a newly renovated shop, has received a grant. "The council gave us a grant and done our shop up, which is amazing. But none of the other shops are following suit," said Joanne Jones.

Councillor Daniel Thomas, chair of the committee responsible for the project, said shop-owners now need to help themselves. "We need the town as a whole to articulate themselves and create a strategy so that when we do get grants, we do have a plan to spend it."

The Grimsey review called for local authorities to be able to fine landlords who leave their shops empty and to have the power to convert sub-high streets to residential or relocate successful shops to the town centre. It also said a new Town Centre Commission should draw up a strategy for Britain's high streets.

Sara Conway, a Labour opposition councillor, said Burnt Oak needed greater intervention and that the money to improve existing shops "wasn't as well spent as it could have been".

She said she would "welcome something that would be a multi-use hub space that could be community as well, you could have some start-ups there, you could have some people selling stuff on the shop front . . . I think this area needs a particular approach, lots of our high streets do as well."
This article has been amended since publication to show that Matthew Hopkinson is a director at Didobi

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
How high street decline is hitting community cohesion

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The north London suburb of Burnt Oak has one of the least attractive high streets in Britain. Last year, it ranked 995 on a list of 1,000 retail destinations compiled by the commercial property agency Harper Dennis Hobbs. Burnt Oak's high street once boasted a market, several banks, a school uniform shop, a book shop and shoe shop.

# data[].attributes.headline
What do people think about globalisation?

# data[].attributes.subject
What do people think about globalisation?

# data[].attributes.body
Could people in Kingston have different ideas of globalisation?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
This is what countries around the world think about globalization

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
This infographic from Raconteur highlights survey data on the topic of globalization for 19 countries.

# data[].attributes.body
How is the Kingston pound attempting to keep money local?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Why build a local currency for Kingston?

Have you ever wondered what happens to your cash when you spend it in Kingston-upon-Thames? Well most of it (80-90%) leaves the borough within a day, then leaves the county and a lot of it leaves the UK - untaxed!

Driving around the borough you will see some empty shop units where hard working small businesses used to fill our high streets - yes even in affluent Surrey. Do we want to lose our high streets and shopping parades? Imagine if we could keep some of the money circulating around the Kingston Borough, what could that mean for any struggling independent businesses? What could it mean for jobs?

We all have choices as to where to spend and invest our money. If we commit to using Kingston Pounds as part of our weekly spend we will be taking control over what our money is doing and we will be investing in our own town and community.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Why we're building a local currency for Kingston

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Have you ever wondered what happens to your cash when you spend it in Kingston-upon-Thames? Well most of it (80-90%) leaves the borough within a day, then leaves the county and a lot of it leaves the UK - untaxed!

# data[].attributes.body
What impact do certain evens have on how Kingston is used?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
What's On Kingston Upon Thames, Events in Kingston - In Kingston

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Entertainment in Kingston is a lively and varied offering featuring everything from the latest theatre productions at the Rose Theatre through to public cultural events and the annual International Youth Arts Festival

# data[].attributes.body
Independent shops in Wolverhampton bucking the trend of shop closure.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
"It's rubbish," said Doreen Whitingham as she sat on a bench in Dudley Street, Wolverhampton's main shopping drag. "This place used to be brilliant for shopping. We had British Home Stores over there. That's gone. We had good little supermarkets and fruit and veg shops. All vanished. I'm sorry but it's crap now."

Another shopper, Judith Baba, is sad rather than angry. She likes her trips into the city centre but says there are big gaps on the high street. "Places like WHSmith aren't here in the city centre any more, which is strange," she says. "I don't drive so have to rely on my daughter to take me to out-of-town places for some things. I think it's a pity."

A report by the accountancy firm PwC and The Local Data Company suggests the chains are quitting Wolverhampton. According to the report, Wolverhampton experienced a net decline of 13 stores in the first six months of 2019, making it one of the hardest-hit city or town centres across Britain.

The stores that have closed in that period range from Patisserie Valerie to the dessert emporium Icestone Gelato. A bike shop, nightclub, loan agency and calendar store also left town.

Dudley Street is by no means devoid of shops. There is a Marks & Spencer, the loss of which is often seen as the death knell to a shopping drag. There are busy fast food chains and fashion shops. But there are gaps.

The corner site that Starbucks used to occupy is vacant, while between the Thorntons chocolate shop and Next there are two empty units, one grimly shuttered. One used to be an EE phone shop; the other a Foot Locker. That BHS site is being redeveloped and due to be taken over by the discount household goods stores B&M and also a Wilko.

And there is worse to come. In October 2017 excited Wolverhampton shoppers queued for the opening of a new Debenhams store in the Mander Centre. In April it was named as one of 22 branches that would be closing. The city council called it a "shock.".

And the future of the city's flagship department store Beatties (established 1877) is also in doubt. It is one of the House of Fraser stores bought by Mike Ashley's Sports Direct - a chain which he has said was facing "terminal" challenges. Many of Beatties' shelves looked sparse and some areas were completely empty.

The University of Wolverhampton has proposed buying Beatties and turning it into student digs, space for business startups and art exhibitions and for what it calls "pop-up retail and leisure opportunities".

Shopper Linda Woodall said the loss of Beatties would be a major blow. "For me, Beatties was Wolverhampton," she said. "This place is becoming all cafes and charity shops."

However, is still possible to find interesting, thriving shops in Wolverhampton, if you know where to look.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest

Wolverhampton's bustling market. Photograph: Fabio De Paola/The Guardian

Places such as Oldies Unlimited, a specialist in rare records on Darlington Street. Simon Malpas, who runs the store with his father, Roger, said Wolverhampton used to have a reputation as a rough and ready sort of place. "But it's on the up."

It doesn't surprise Malpas that some chains are leaving. "They can find cheaper rents and rates in the out-of-town places," he said. "More could be done to help keep the shops here."

Further down Darlington Street, Blooms Menswear was bustling. It has operated for 60 years and has 25 full-time staff members.

Blooms' director, Tom Vant, who has worked there since 1981, said Wolverhampton's high street faced a lot of competition, including a revitalised Birmingham a 20-minute train ride away, the out-of-town Merry Hill shopping centre 10 miles to the south and the internet.

Vant said Blooms had prospered because, unlike high street rivals, it offered a bespoke, personal service. "We pride ourselves on it. We are a destination store," he said.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest

Simon Malpas, the owner of Oldies Unlimited rare records store. Photograph: Fabio De Paola/The Guardian

The revamped market at the bottom of Snow Hill was also thriving.

Housed in a bright collection of converted shipping containers, the market, which has been in existence since 1204, boasts no fewer than two fishmongers, at least half a dozen butchers, two Caribbean grocers, sari stalls and food takeaway stalls.

"People complain about the high street vanishing," said Jim James, who was buying pasties from the baker's stall. "It may just be that the high street's shifted out from the town and city centres into places like this. I reckon it can still be found if you look hard enough."

Sign up to the daily Business Today email or follow Guardian Business on Twitter at @BusinessDesk

The Labour-controlled city council said Wolverhampton retailers faced the same challenges as in many other places across the country.

It said it was working hard to revitalise Wolverhampton through a range of developments and initiatives, ranging from a cinema, leisure and restaurant complex called Westside and a new state-of-the art railway station, due to open next year.

The city also attracted headlines in the summer when the online retailer eBay opened a popup shop to showcase local small businesses - the first of its kind.
Topics

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Wolverhampton wonders: the indie shops bucking the high street trend

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
"It's rubbish," said Doreen Whitingham as she sat on a bench in Dudley Street, Wolverhampton's main shopping drag. "This place used to be brilliant for shopping. We had British Home Stores over there. That's gone. We had good little supermarkets and fruit and veg shops. All vanished. I'm sorry but it's crap now."

# data[].attributes.body
Retailers want changes for rents to prevent business closure.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Retailers and unions are calling for urgent government action to help struggling high streets as new data shows the number of shops, pubs and restaurants lying empty is rising at the fastest pace in nearly a decade.

About 16 stores closed their doors every day in the first half of 2019 while only nine opened, resulting in a net decline of 1,234 chain stores on Britain's top 500 high streets according to analysis by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) and high street analysts the Local Data Company (LDC).

The decline, which does not include independent shops, was faster than the net 1,123 closures during the same period last year - after just 222 in 2017 - and is the highest recorded since LDC began monitoring high streets in 2010.

Britain's high streets recorded 1,234 more store closures than openings in the first half of 2019

The shop closure data reflects a crisis on the high street that has cost tens of thousands of jobs. The retail industry employed 57,000 less people in the three months to the end of August compared to the same period a year before, according to new data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) released on Tuesday. It was the fifth consecutive quarter of decline.

Major chains including Karen Millen, Jack Wills, Bathstore, Patisserie Valerie and Debenhams have gone into administration this year after the collapse of House of Fraser, Evans Cycles, Maplin and Poundworld in 2018. Some of those chains are still in business, taken over by new operators after their collapse, but have closed outlets.

Many other retailers, including Topshop owner Arcadia, Monsoon, New Look, Carpetright and Homebase have been forced to seek legal agreements with their landlords to shut stores and slash their rent bills to stave off insolvency.

"The government must address the growing crisis on our high streets," said Paddy Lillis, general secretary of the shopworkers union Usdaw,which has launched a Save our Shops petition.

Usdaw, and some of the UK's biggest retailers including Tesco and Sainsburys, have demanded a review of business rates and other taxes to ensure there is a level playing field with online rivals. Last month, more than 50 major UK retailers, ranging from Marks & Spencer to Harrods, Greggs and John Lewis wrote to chancellor Sajid Javid to demand an urgent review of business rates to safeguard the high street.

Top 10 categories for openings

They pointed out that retailers account for around 5% of the British economy but pay about 10% of all business taxes and about 25% of business rates.

Usdaw also wants better support for communities and a minimum wage of £10 an hour to help protect 4.5m jobs in the retail sector.

The government recently increased its high street rescue fund by £325m to £1bn, promising to pump extra money into 100 towns including Blackpool, Scarborough and Clacton. It has also announced £900m in business rates relief for small retailers and a taskforce of experts to assist local authorities in developing "innovative strategies to help high streets evolve".

But retailers say a complete overhaul of property taxes is required to help fend off competition from online-only operators such as Amazon and Asos.

"High streets are undergoing a fundamental change in response to changing shopping habits, new technologies and rising costs of doing business, so it is vital that government supports the industry to make the necessary investment to adapt," said Dr Liliana Danila, economist at the British Retail Consortium.

"The business rate system holds back investment, reduces productivity and increases regional disparities ... The government must address the much-needed reforms to this broken tax system before more jobs are lost and stores are closed."

Quick guide
Why are UK high street retailers in trouble?
Show Hide

What's the problem?

Physical retailers have been hit by a combination of changing habits, unseasonably warm weather, rising costs and broader economic problems. In 2018 Toys R Us, Maplin and Poundworld disappeared as a result.

In terms of habits, shoppers are switching to buying online. The likes of Amazon have an unfair advantage because they have a lower business rate bill, which holds down costs and enables online retailers to woo shoppers with low prices. Business rates are taxes, based on the value of commercial property, that are imposed on traditional retailers with physical stores.

At the same time, there is a move away from buying 'stuff' as more people live in smaller homes and rent rather than buy. Those pressures have come just as rising labour and product costs, partly fuelled by Brexit, have coincided with economic and political uncertainty that has dampened consumer confidence.

What help do retailers need?

Retailers with a high-street presence want the government to change business rates. They also want more political certainty as the potential for a no deal Brexit means some are not only incurring additional costs for stockpiling goods but are unsure about the impact of tariffs after October 2019. Retailers also want more investment in town centres to help them adapt to changing trends, as well as a cut to high parking charges which they say put off shoppers.

What is the government doing?

In the October 2018 budget the government announced some relief on business rates for independent shopkeepers. It has also set up a £675m 'future high streets' fund under which local councils can bid for up to £25m towards regeneration projects such as refurbishing local historic buildings and improving transport links. The fund will also pay for the creation of a high street taskforce to provide expertise and hands-on support to local areas.

What is the outlook in 2019?

Some retailers could go under. Weakened by a difficult Christmas - which accounts for the entire annual profits of many retailers, and with further Brexit wobbles to come - retailers are facing a tough 2019. Another rise in the national minimum wage in April and the falling value of the pound against the dollar, which is used to buy goods in the far east, have also added to costs and hit profits.

Photograph: David Levene

Was this helpful?

Thank you for your feedback.

Retail chains have been hit by a mix of low consumer confidence, which has cut spending, and rising costs from business rates, an increase in the legal minimum wage, and higher cost prices as a result of the decline in the value of the pound since the EU referendum.

The rise of online shopping and a shift in how consumers spend their leisure time - towards spending more of their spare cash on holidays and dining and drinking at home - have also hit high streets and shopping malls.

Fashion chains were hardest hit in the first six months of this year, with a net decline of 118 stores as chains such as New Look, LK Bennett, and Yorkshire-based menswear specialist Greenwoods either restructured or went bust, according to the PwC/LDC study.

Restaurants, estate agents, pubs and bars also registered substantial numbers of closures.

Categories of closures

Wales was the hardest hit region, with a net 2.3% fall in store numbers - meaning one in every 44 stores in Wales closed its doors in the first half of this year. However, every region registered a decline in store numbers. The east of England, west and east Midlands, Yorkshire and the Humber all reported declines of more than 2%, while Greater London and south-west England were just under 2%.

"There's been no let-up in the changing ways that people shop and the cost pressures affecting high street operators," said Lisa Hooker, consumer markets leader at PwC. "As consumers continue to change the way they shop and spend their leisure time, the reality is that we may need fewer high streets in the future."

Wales lost 2.3% of its high street shops* in the first half of 2019

There are some high street success stories. Takeaways, health clubs, pet shops and discount stores are the fastest growing outlets.

A similar decline in store numbers is expected in the second half of 2019 as recently approved restructurign deals, including Topshop and Dorothy Perkins owner Arcadia, are implemented. Hooker said there could be greater stability next year "subject to world economics and politics."
Topics

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Retailers call for action as high street store closures soar

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Retailers and unions are calling for urgent government action to help struggling high streets as new data shows the number of shops, pubs and restaurants lying empty is rising at the fastest pace in nearly a decade.