UK lost 37 shops a day in 2024, data suggests
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Almost 13,500 retail stores closed, a rise of 28% on previous year, according to Centre for Retail Research. The UK lost about 37 shops a day during 2024 in yet another brutal year for the high street, data suggests. Almost 13,500 retail stores closed for good in the last 12 months, a rise of 28% on 2023 – although the losses were below the levels seen each year between 2019 and 2022, according to provisional figures compiled by the Centre for Retail Research.
The group’s research director, Prof Joshua Bamfield, said: “The results for 2024 show that although the outcomes for store closures overall were not as poor as in either 2020 or 2022, they are still disconcerting, with worse set to come in 2025.”.
He said the research group expected store closures to rise by the same factor again during 2025, to about 17,350, with approximately 14,660 coming from independent retailers. Pressure on retailers, particularly independents, has been a long-running theme for the high street, although new challenges are emerging alongside the more persistent threats.
The commercial real estate firm Altus Group argued that the planned cut in the business rates discount from 75% to 40% in April, which was announced at the 2024 autumn budget, would make trading even tougher for retailers. It estimates that the average shop’s rates bill will rise from £3,589 to £8,613 for 2025-26.
