How Labour is wrecking the High Street as 13,000 retailers shut in a single yr
High streets have been warned there is ‘worse to come’ after 13,479 shops closed their doors for good in 2024 – an increase of 28 per cent on the year before.
And in a gloomy report that raises fresh doubts about Labour’s handling of the economy, industry experts predicted that 17,350 outlets will shut in 2025.
That is the highest figure since the Centre for Retail Research (CRR), which compiled the document, began collecting the data in 2015.
The vast majority of those that closed last year – some 11,341 – were independent retailers, a 45.5 per cent jump on the previous 12 months.
Firms are set to be battered by Chancellor Rachel Reeves‘ plans to hike National Insurance contributions and implement an inflation-busting increase in the minimum wage from April.
Retailers have also begged the Government to reform the hated business rates system, a levy based on the rental value of a commercial property that means shops pay a premium compared with online giants such as Amazon.
High streets have been warned there is ‘worse to come’ after 13,479 shops closed their doors for good in 2024 – an increase of 28 per cent on the year before (pictured: Shoppers on Oxford Street)
In a gloomy report that raises fresh doubts about Labour’s handling of the economy, industry experts predicted that 17,350 outlets will shut in 2025 – pictured is Oxford Street, London
The CRR’s forecast of 17,350 store closures would make 2025 worse than 2022, when the withdrawal of government support following the pandemic caused 17,151 shops to close (pictured: HMV Oxford Street in November 2023)
Business leaders have called for the Chancellor to rethink ‘urgently’ her policies to prevent Britain’s high streets from becoming ghost towns.
The CRR’s forecast of 17,350 store closures would make 2025 worse than 2022, when the withdrawal of government support following the pandemic caused 17,151 shops to close. Around 16,145 stores shut at the height of lockdown in 2020.
Professor Joshua Bamfield, director of the CRR, said: ‘Whilst the results for 2024 show store closures overall were not as poor as in either 2020 or 2022, they are still disconcerting, with worse to come in 2025.’
Of the projected figure of closures for this year, some 14,660, are expected to be small outlets.
Andrew Goodacre, head of the British Independent Retailers Association, said: ‘This is a tragic scenario that we warned the Government could come to pass if they did not change course.’
Andrew Griffith, shadow business secretary, claimed: ‘The triple whammy of trash-talking confidence, the NI hike and increased business rates shows Labour just don’t understand business and wealth creators.’
Business leaders have called for the Chancellor to rethink ‘urgently’ her policies to prevent Britain’s high streets from becoming ghost towns
Business leaders have called for the Chancellor to rethink ‘urgently’ her policies to prevent Britain’s high streets from becoming ghost towns – shoppers pictured in Windsor, Berkshire
Before the Budget, bosses called on the Chancellor to extend Covid-era relief schemes that cut their business rates bills by 75 per cent.
But instead, rates relief for hospitality and retail businesses was chopped to 40 per cent.
Commercial property firm Altus Group estimated this would mean the average shop’s business rates bill would rise from £3,589 to £8,613 for the 2025/2026 tax year.
