Restaurants, coffee shops and bars are replacing other retail premises on the high streets of the 500 biggest towns in Britain, according to a new report from PricewaterhouseCoopers quoted in The Telegraph.
The report, which says the high street is changing from a shopping destination to one for “leisure and services”, said there were more three-star hotels and coffee shops on the high street than at the stage of the year, while the number of cheque-cashing shops and bookmakers also grew.
These filled the gap left by the likes of women’s clothes stores (down 3% since January), video stores (down 48%) and photographic outlets (down 24%).
There was a net shop reduction of 209 between January and June - 3,157 new shops opened over the period.
Mark Hudson, PwC retail partner, is quoted in The Telegraph saying: “Gradually the high street will become a place where people go to eat and consume services.”
