What the future holds for our town centres
Kettering town property for let, rent
Our town centres are facing a tough future, according to an extensive report which paints a bleak picture for shopping in the north of the county.
Business leaders, traders, policitians and shoppers have all had their say on what is in store for our high streets, following the report from the Local Data Company.
The report revealed that in 2011, 25 per cent of Corby’s town centre units were vacant, and more than 17 per cent of Kettering’s high street stood empty, with the national rate stabilising last year at 14.3 per cent.
But it warned that many centres are ‘locked in a spiral of decline’, and predicts that vacancy rates will rise in 2012 in the face of out-of-town shopping developments and internet spending.
The regions with above average empty unit rates are in the North and the Midlands, with the East Midlands’ average vacancy at 12 per cent.
The high streets in Rushden, Wellingborough, Corby, and Kettering have seen the loss of major retailers in the past year, such as TJ Hughes, and there are currently questions over whether Bon Marche will keep its stores open in the north of the county.
Duncan Walker, investment director of Helical Bar, which owns Corby town centre, said: “High street shopping is not dead.
“I think it differs from place to place, but I think in the future Corby will still see the town having a strong, retail-based high street.
“High streets up and down the country are facing tough times, but I think they will bounce back.
“I think the report is misleading, as it counts empty retail units that are vacant on purpose for future developments.
“We think the figure could be closer to around 10 per cent, not including those units empty on purpose.
“We bought Corby town centre last year because it was a good, strong centre that has come on really well in the past few years.”
The report did not have vacancy figures for Rushden or Wellingborough, while neighbouring Northampton’s town centre is more than 15 per cent empty.
But Wellingborough Improvement District has recently collated figures which suggest Wellingborough currently has an 8.6 per cent vacancy rate.
The report also shows that high street spending is down from 49.4 per cent in 2000 to 42.5 per cent last year, with this rate further expected to dwindle.
It also revealed that the internet’s share of the market has doubled in the past 11 years.
The report said that the high street has ‘structural issues’, such as having too many shops for a dwindling market share.
Joanna Chapman, Wellingborough Business Improvement District manager, said: “I think the high street will still be here in 10 years’ time.
“But high streets will have to adapt with the times and become community centres and cultural hubs.
“This includes not only shops, but people eating, drinking and socialising, whether in restaurants or meeting up in town centres for community get-togethers.
“It would be great to see community groups, artists, crafters and such like all meeting up in the town centre.
“We’ve got a strong community base in the town centre with a lot of independent traders so we’ve got a strong starting point.”
The report also mentioned the measures outlined in December by retail guru Mary Portas to save high streets, which included cutting business rates – a view shared by traders.
Simon Turner, of Kettering Chamber of Trade, said: “Freezing business rates instead of putting them up will go a long way to helping the situation.
“They are set to go up in April, but that isn’t a good move.”
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Thursday 24 May 2012
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Comments
There are 10 comments to this article
Page 1 of 1
Comedian
Friday, February 10, 2012 at 12:49 PM"The two buildings comedian mentions are the only non concrete block buildings in the town!"@il capitano you need to get out more as you clearly don't know the town.Have a look at the new schools such The Kingswood school,oakley vale primary,Corby Bussiness Acad,the new special needs school on Beanfield.How about the Bussiness center?the CTC or the new Tresham site?....the new train station?...have a look at the new cinema design which is oval and mostly wood and glass.What about the new housing in Kingswood and on the Arran way.....very little in the way of "concrete block" there I think you will find.As for any irrational attitudes towards neighbouring towns well that comes from decades of sht thrown at us.It's just because Kettering,wellingborough etc are now very much in Corbies shadow that the trolls no longer want to play "we are better than you" with us....many are sore losers who have now switched their attacks to the politics of the town instead of its facilities or ethnic make up.
Beanfield Beast
Thursday, February 9, 2012 at 07:51 PMQuite a lot of the vacant units in Corby Town Centre have been stripped of their gas & elec I thought, so the owner doesn't have to pay tax on them. If that's the case, to count them as vacant is a bit daft because they're not usable. Anyway, retail is changing and town centres will have to evolve to remain competitive. Corby will soon have a cinema and restaurants, which is bound to have wider regeneration benefits, particularly in the George St area. Kettering seems to be trying the same, minus the cinema element & i'm not sure it'll succeed as much. I really hope we don't turn into America though, full of faceless out-of-town retail parks and dead centres.
il Capitano
Thursday, February 9, 2012 at 05:53 PMCorby people are very touchy. No doubt it's improved but it's still a dump. The two buildings comedian mentions are the only non concrete block buildings in the town! I was in Corby prior to Christmas - there are still no decent shops for men and it's still dull, grey and grim. Stop working overtime trying to convince the world that Corby is the place to be just because you have a weird dislike to neighbouring towns. No town centre in Northants is worth a second glance... Major overhaul needed.
Comedian
Thursday, February 9, 2012 at 05:34 PMThe Corby figure is absurd,you cannot count the shop units that have been vacated because they are in the next phase of the regeneration.Corby has lost pretty much the same units as Kettering et al, for example peacocks,TJ Hughs etc.But it has also retained shops that have closed elewhere ie Jane Norman. Im surprised this "report" didn't slag Corby off for having a "derelict technical college" in the town center lol.The cinema is coming and with it eateries and bars( the ones that have opened up already are thriving).With those developments will come people,and some of those people will come back to shop.The wife and I took the kids to see BBCs Chris and Pui at the cube,and someone stopped my wife and asked her "where is the Corby cube from here?"( we were outside the pool lol) and when my wife pointed to it the woman replied in astonishment "This is Corby!? but it's so....nice"Corby town center is getting better and better kettering town center is ....er.....well you get the picture.
Subcomandante
Thursday, February 9, 2012 at 03:42 PM@Tommy - that's one way of looking at it I suppose. I think it's more to do with Corby people sticking up for themselves, compared to our meek neighbours.
Tommy Howard
Thursday, February 9, 2012 at 02:48 PMSubcomondante, People (certainly the ones that post on here) from Corby treat everyonething with contempt. They dont appear to be able to shake that chip off their shoulder, even now, after all these years.
mellboy
Thursday, February 9, 2012 at 02:27 PMHow much did this data company charge ?????
Subcomandante
Thursday, February 9, 2012 at 02:27 PMThe 'Local Data Company', LOL, ok go ahead ET and publish this report. For a start the figure of 25% is incorrect, ask CBC and Helical Bar. Tin-pot journalism, and you wonder why people in Corby treat your paper with contempt?
Tommy Howard
Thursday, February 9, 2012 at 01:58 PMSo, in truth about 25% of it is empty and the piece is factually correct.
Rikmeister
Thursday, February 9, 2012 at 12:55 PMYou should name this local data company. Anyone in Corby knows that one in four units in Corby were NOT empty last year. They are probably counting Westgate as 10-15 units in the same big building. Same in around Deene house. The only other place is Market Place walk which is slowly being emptied for the next phase of developement. I cannot recall many usable empty units at all other than them. So as for this report. Misleading and WRONG.!
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