High Street Split
With three in four Brits saying it’s important to support shops on their local high street, but a worrying economic climate leading to national brands favouring an online presence, we wanted to discover what the UK high street actually looks like in 2019 and how that differs by location.
The UK's Average High Street
To find out, we analysed a sample of 6,682 businesses across 120 high streets from towns in all 12 regions of England, as well as Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. We categorised businesses and shops by their function (for example, food and drink, retail or recreational) to understand just how our high streets are made up.
– Community 2.60%
– Discount Store 2.52%
– Home/Interior 2.25%
– Estate Agent 2.20%
– Gambling 2.18%
– Business 1.08%
– Pawn Broker 0.58%
– Recreational 0.56%
– Automotive 0.42%
– Services 0.25%
As you can see, despite the headlines, retail still retains a strong presence on the UK high street, accounting for nearly one in three businesses. In fact, a recent survey revealed B&M* as the most wanted retailer on the high street.
Cafes and other food and drink businesses make up the next highest proportion, coming in at nine per cent and eight per cent respectively. On the other side of the scale, service companies (e.g. dry cleaners) make up a much smaller proportion of our high streets at just 0.25 per cent. This was followed closely by automotive services and recreational establishments like gyms, both of which also came in at less than one per cent.
Regional High Streets
Find out how the high streets in your region look by using the interactive table below:
| Category | South East | East of England | West Midlands | London | North West | South West | Yorkshire | North East | East Midlands | Scotland | Wales | Northern Ireland | UK Average | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Retail
Book Shop, Electronics, Pet Shop etc.
|
34.30% | 30.74% | 19.39% | 20.07% | 28.80% | 36.61% | 41.77% | 25.34% | 23.21% | 29.57% | 35.94% | 38.13% | 30.32% | |
| Café
Coffee Shop, Tea Shop etc.
|
6.95% | 5.01% | 4.02% | 7.74% | 12.58% | 13.93% | 10.13% | 11.38% | 13.33% | 6.98% | 10.63% | 8.53% | 9.27% | |
| Food & Drink
Bar, Club, Restaurantetc.
|
7.07% | 6.56% | 7.48% | 16.16% | 9.94% | 7.10% | 5.06% | 10.86% | 8.40% | 9.03% | 5.63% | 5.60% | 8.24% | |
| Charity | 8.57% | 7.25% | 8.59% | 5.78% | 8.92% | 8.20% | 4.43% | 8.97% | 12.35% | 8.21% | 8.13% | 3.73% | 7.76% | |
| Banks | 6.14% | 7.43% | 6.79% | 4.34% | 4.67% | 4.10% | 8.86% | 7.59% | 4.44% | 5.95% | 7.81% | 7.20% | 6.28% | |
| Hair & Beauty
Hairdressers, Nail Bar, Tanning etc.
|
7.65% | 6.56% | 6.79% | 7.48% | 5.27% | 4.37% | 4.75% | 6.38% | 4.69% | 7.19% | 3.44% | 4.80% | 5.78% | |
| Grocery
Butchers, Corner Shop, Supermarket etc.
|
2.43% | 5.01% | 6.51% | 5.44% | 4.67% | 4.92% | 6.01% | 6.03% | 4.69% | 6.78% | 6.25% | 5.07% | 5.32% | |
| Fast Food
Subway, Takeaway etc.
|
2.55% | 8.64% | 8.17% | 4.59% | 2.43% | 3.28% | 2.22% | 5.34% | 4.94% | 5.95% | 3.13% | 2.93% | 4.51% | |
| Health
Chiropractor, Massage, Opticians etc.
|
5.10% | 3.97% | 3.60% | 6.63% | 3.04% | 3.01% | 3.48% | 1.90% | 5.19% | 4.11% | 3.44% | 4.00% | 3.95% | |
| Travel Agent | 2.90% | 3.45% | 3.05% | 1.36% | 3.25% | 2.19% | 3.16% | 3.10% | 3.46% | 2.46% | 2.81% | 2.13% | 2.78% | |
| Community
Church, Dentist, Library etc.
|
1.85% | 2.94% | 3.05% | 2.72% | 1.83% | 2.73% | 1.58% | 1.72% | 3.46% | 2.67% | 3.75% | 2.93% | 2.60% | |
| Discount Store | 1.85% | 2.07% | 6.65% | 1.02% | 4.87% | 2.19% | 1.27% | 2.76% | 0.99% | 2.05% | 1.88% | 2.67% | 2.52% | |
| Home & Interior
Antiques, Furniture, Homeware etc.
|
4.52% | 2.25% | 4.71% | 5.44% | 0.81% | 1.09% | 0.32% | 2.07% | 0.74% | 0.82% | 1.25% | 2.93% | 2.25% | |
| Estate Agent | 2.55% | 2.76% | 3.05% | 3.83% | 1.42% | 1.37% | 1.90% | 1.21% | 2.96% | 1.23% | 0.63% | 3.47% | 2.20% | |
| Gambling
Arcade, Betting, Bingo etc.
|
2.20% | 1.73% | 3.74% | 1.79% | 2.03% | 1.37% | 1.90% | 1.21% | 3.21% | 2.46% | 2.19% | 2.40% | 2.18% | |
| Tourism
Hotel, Museum, Tourist Board etc.
|
0.46% | 0.17% | 0.28% | 0.68% | 1.83% | 2.19% | 1.58% | 2.07% | 0.99% | 1.44% | 1.56% | 0.53% | 1.15% | |
| Business
Solicitors, Accountants, PR Agency etc.
|
1.04% | 1.73% | 1.39% | 1.11% | 1.22% | 0.27% | 0.63% | 0.86% | 0.99% | 1.03% | 0.31% | 2.40% | 1.08% | |
| Pawn Brokers
Pawn Shop, Rent to Own etc.
|
0.46% | 0.52% | 1.52% | 0.68% | 0.81% | 0.55% | 0.32% | 0.34% | 0.49% | 0.62% | 0.63% | 0.00% | 0.58% | |
| Recreational
Cinema, Gym, Gallery etc.
|
1.16% | 0.00% | 0.55% | 1.53% | 0.61% | 0.27% | 0.63% | 0.52% | 0.49% | 0.41% | 0.31% | 0.27% | 0.56% | |
| Automotive
Taxi, Driving School, Car Rental etc.
|
0.00% | 0.35% | 0.28% | 0.68% | 1.01% | 0.27% | 0.00% | 0.34% | 0.49% | 1.03% | 0.31% | 0.27% | 0.42% | |
| Services
Dry Cleaners etc.
|
0.23% | 0.86% | 0.42% | 0.94% | 0.00% | 0.00% | 0.00% | 0.00% | 0.49% | 0.00% | 0.00% | 0.00% | 0.25% |
The Good and the Bad
Next, we grouped businesses by whether or not they might sway a buyer’s decision to move to a particular area, to understand where in the UK had the most and least ‘desirable’ high streets.
Most - Yorkshire
Least - West Midlands
Most - Wales
Least - Yorkshire
Most - East Midlands
Least - West Midlands
We ranked retail, community services like libraries, and cafes amongst the most desirable businesses to have on your high street, with towns in Yorkshire coming top for retail, but in turn having the least community services available. Towns located in the East Midlands have the highest number of cafes per high street, compared to West Midlands who had the least.
Most - West Midlands
Least - Northern Ireland
Most - West Midlands
Least - North East
Most - East England
Least - Yorkshire
Next, we looked at high streets with the highest proportion of pawn brokers, gambling shops and fast food outlets. Interestingly, the West Midlands had the highest proportion of pawn brokers and gambling shops as per our sample, with the East of England taking the title for most fast food establishments.
Independent V Chains
Research suggests that local independent shops are of high importance to British homeowners – in fact, more than one in three Brits would like to see a return to smaller, local shops in their town.
To find out which towns and regions in the UK are championing independent businesses, we grouped all the shops in our sample by whether or not they were owned by a franchise, or part of a chain of three or more stores.
Northern Ireland came out as the best place for independent stores, with more than one in two businesses on the high street (52 per cent) being independently owned. According to our data, Yorkshire came out as having the least independent high streets, with just over 28 per cent (around one in four) businesses coming out as independent.
How does your local high street stack up? If you think it needs a new independent business, why not check out our range of Commercial Mortgages to get you started. We also offer Auction Finance for those looking to pick up a cheap high street property on the market, and Commercial Loans for existing business owners looking to give their store a new lease of life.
Sources
All high street data sourced from Google.
Data collated May 2019, high street shops correct as of 2018.
Consumer statistics sourced from ‘High Street Rebooted Report’* and ‘The Times – The Future of Retail Report’
