The high street in a little city branded 'worst' for boarded-up shops

Newport has the most boarded-up shops in the UK, according to a retail report, with nearly one in five sites out of action. The Welsh town came top among 62 cities and towns for vacancy rates, with some 19% of shops closed, according to a report from the Centre for Cities, leaving the high street in a desolate state.

The report also revealed it had the most amount of retail space for any catchment area, but that nearly 5% of high street expenditure escapes Newport and is spent in Cardiff. The situation has reportedly improved recently. The research acknowledged: "The local authority reports though that this has improved over the last year in particular. After having remained constant for around a decade, the vacancy rate has fallen by around 20%, with much of the change the result of start-ups taking up space."

It added: "Footfall is up too. In the first quarter of this year, it was 10% higher than in the first quarter of 2019."

The report also showed there were more units per head in the city than anywhere else according to Newport City Council, which told The Express it means the "occupancy rates are actually on a par with centres described as high-performing".

A spokesperson added: "Newport was only one of two places where the figures provided were 'actual' and not modelled; and not all towns and cities were surveyed for the report so Newport is the highest of 63, not the whole of the UK."

Bradford, Yorkshire, had the second highest number of shop vacancies, with 18% of stores lying empty, and the seaside town of Blackpool had the UK's third emptiest high street, with 17.6% of shops shut.

The research said it revealed a "striking divide" in the state of the UK's high streets, with vacancy rates in the worst offenders, Newport and Bradford, more than double those in the lowest areas, London and Cambridge.

Andrew Carter, Chief Executive of Centre for Cities, said: "Shuttered-up shops influence people's opinions about how successful their areas are. Our research shows the high street isn't failing everywhere. Where it is, the cause is not just cosmetic; it is economic. Policies relating to shopfronts, rents or parking miss the bigger picture.

"City centres that struggle are over-supplied with shops and under-supplied with people. If local residents don't have money to spend or a reason to be in the centre, high streets suffer - no matter what interventions are made."

"It is possible to revive the fortunes of struggling high streets. But it will require local and national governments to start by fixing the economy, and not just focusing on the high street itself."

He called on local and national governments to start fixing the economy instead of focusing on the high street itself.