Businesses in 'run-down' UK town hit back at 'worst high street' claim

Business owners in Newport have hit out at a report rating the town as having the UK's 'worst high street'.

A Centre For Cities report found the Welsh city has the highest proportion of empty shops in the UK, with 19% of high street stores boarded up. It's over twice as high as London and Cambridge, which have the lowest shop vacancy rates in the UK, at 7.4 and 8.5% respectively.

The report also found the town loses nearly 5% of high street spending to nearby Cardiff. But the city's Business Improvement District, Newport Now, has criticised the report's labelling of Newport having more empty shops than anywhere else in the UK.

Manager Kevin Ward told the Express: "There are 76 cities in the UK and well over 1,000 towns. The Centre for Cities report studies the 63 largest towns and cities. It does not measure the other 1,000+ high streets, so we have no idea how Newport compares to them.

"It is also worth noting that of the 63 towns and cities featured in the report, only 37 of them provided data on empty commercial properties to Centre for Cities - and only two of them (Newport and Leicester) provided actuals. The think tank estimated the rest using a regression including a variety of data sources."

Ward also conceded there is still a long way to go to improve the situation - but said improvements have been made since the previous Centre For Cities report in 2021 - which reported 33% of stores were vacant: "The improvement has barely been mentioned and it seems preferable to point out that 19% of shops in Newport city centre are empty rather than that 81% of them are occupied and trading.

"Footfall in Newport city centre has increased every year since 2021 and in every one of those years it has been higher than in 2019 - the last full pre-Covid year. The number of visitors coming to our city centre is bucking both the Welsh and UK trends, and 2025 is continuing the uptick."

Newport Market operator Loft Co is also confident of a turnaround on the high street. A spokesperson for the operator says they're defying the trend with only one unit left available for let.

Director Simon Baston told the Express: "Newport is positioning itself as an independent hub that encompasses retail and hospitality and is becoming a destination hub for families. The local authority and Welsh Government know that the Newport community can adapt and is a community first and foremost...In regard to the closed shops, the council is working hard on a city centre strategy to help support this - green up areas, city centre spaces, better lighting and signage - all which will attract new businesses."

Centre For Cities' suggestions to improve the situation include the Government allocating £5 billion of its recently announced £113 billion investment to remake city centres with more office space, improved public realm and fewer shops, building more homes in inner cities rather than the edge of town, and making city centres more attractive to residents first before focusing on tourists - which Ward says Newport Now are pleased to see this was highlighted in the report.