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One in five shops empty in north of England

04/02/2015

More than one in five shops in northern towns in the UK are empty, according to research from the Local Data Company. This compares to one in ten shops in the south of the UK, highlighting the growing north/south divide.

Despite the regional divide widening, overall there has been a “market improvement” in the number of empty shops. The average vacancy rate was 13.3% in the last six months of last year, down 0.8% on the same period a year earlier, and well below the 14.6% peak in February 2012. The North East was the worst effected region, which had a shop vacancy rate of 18.8% in the last six months of 2014. London was the best performing region with only 8.7% of shops vacant.

The research also found that 20% of all the shops it tracked had been vacant for more than three years, which amounts to almost 10,000 outlets.

Local Data Company director Matthew Hopkinson said:
"At a regional level the polarisation between the North and the South is as wide as ever with London's vacancy rate being less than half that of the northern regions.
"While the numbers announced to date are small beer to the totals, the significance lies with the fact that whilst traditional shops have been closing it has been the supermarkets and convenience stores that have been expanding significantly which has kept the occupancy rates balanced.
"The question as to who will occupy these newly vacant stores as well as those, which have been empty for a while is a very difficult one to answer positively."

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