Experts have shared bleak figures for 2025, with high streets across the UK thought to be hit even harder with job losses as several stores are set to close due to lack of funding
The ratings for the best and worst high streets across the UK have been shared – and there hasn’t been much change compared to previous years.
Officially, Shields Road in Newcastle was voted the worst and Cambridge City Centre took the crown as the best. The stats take several factors into consideration, including job loses, shop closures and the amount of budget retailers. Shields Road ranked bottom of 1,000 retail locations in research by Harper Dennis Hobbs (HDH).
The area had almost one in five shops closed down and more than double the average – while winner Cambridge had only 5.7%. Adding to this, more than half of the shops in Byker Shields were budget outlets, compared to just 4.2% in Cambridge. While this research was completed almost five years ago, recent news shows this ranking has not budged.
Experts have been warning off a bleak future for high streets across the country, with closures at an all-time high. The Centre for Retail Research (CRR) carried out some research into shop and business closures on UK high streets, leaving them as little more than ghost towns.
In their recent budget, Labour introduced new policies that are said could hit businesses hard. They said as many as 202,000 jobs could be lost next year due to higher business rates and employment costs, introduced by Rachel Reeves in November.
Shields Road has known this, as one local, James Arrowsmith, 74, noted. When asked by Chronicle Live, he noted his beloved town has evolved into a state, with nothing going for it.
He said: “The area is out of control and I don’t think it can be improved. There’s nothing here anymore. There used to be four or five picture houses on this road and I used to come here for a drink but now I don’t bother.”
In an article published by The Sun, Shields Road was branded as the “UK’s ‘worst high street'” where “junkies brawl in broad daylight, pickpockets rob grans and locals are scared to visit”. It also referred to an area of Shields Road nicknamed “Suicide Square”, located outside the local swimming baths, “where drug addicts and alcoholics waste away the hours”.
Last year, the government made an effort to ditch the undesirable title given to the town by dishing out a grant of £25,000. It was thought it could clear up public spaces and allow more events.
However a year on it proved unsuccessful, with the town seemingly unable to shake their bad reputation. Now with news of more job losses, it appears things could get worse.
Cambridge, on the other hand, has long had the title of the best high street. James Ebel, chief executive of HDH, said: “The city benefits from its heritage as a centre for academia, as well as its location – less than an hour from London – which draws day-trippers as well as affluent residents.”
However job losses and high street closures are thought to affect even the most affluent of places, as currently all across the UK, 38 stores close per day, which is a huge 6,945 high street shops by September 2024.
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