WITH Christmas rapidly approaching, many Brits will be doing last minute Christmas shopping picking up any gifts they may have forgotten. With this in mind, Property Inspect have analysed property portals Right Move, Zoopla and Savills to look at the best and worst cities for Christmas shopping.
Aberdeen has been named the fifth city with the most empty shops in the UK, and the only Scottish city in the top 10, with an average of 11.19 shops. It has held this unfortunate position since 2021. This shows a change of 13 since 2021.
More than half of the cities in the study have seen a rise in empty shops since we conducted the study last year, which is staggering when we consider how many shops the UK has to offer country wide. Christmas is a peak selling time for retailers, and the UK is no exception. Statista data shows: “Sales during Christmas in the UK reached a peak at 84.17 billion British pounds in 2021” so retail thrives across the Christmas period.
This data shows the average UK high street has 6.5 empty shops as we enter the Christmas period.
10 cities with the most empty shops in the UK
| City | Population | Zoopla properties (per 100,000) | Rightmove properties (per 100,000) | Savill’s properties (per 100,000) | Average | Rank | Ranking Change (since 2021) |
| Hull | 260,645.00 | 33.38 | 9.59 | 4.99 | 15.99 | 50 | 0 |
| Stoke on Trent | 270726 | 27.70 | 6.28 | 5.54 | 13.17 | 49 | 0 |
| Walsall | 262,593.00 | 9.52 | 20.56 | 7.62 | 12.57 | 48 | -13 |
| Plymouth | 262100 | 12.97 | 18.31 | 3.05 | 11.45 | 47 | 0 |
| Aberdeen | 196670 | 6.10 | 20.85 | 6.61 | 11.19 | 46 | -13 |
| Northampton | 192,382.00 | 10.92 | 20.27 | 1.56 | 10.92 | 45 | -13 |
| Nottingham | 329,200.00 | 13.67 | 17.01 | 0.91 | 10.53 | 44 | -18 |
| Barnsley | 227,213.00 | 10.56 | 15.84 | 3.08 | 9.83 | 43 | 5 |
| Bolton | 265,449.00 | 10.17 | 18.08 | 0.75 | 9.67 | 42 | 1 |
| Cardiff | 364248 | 6.04 | 18.12 | 3.29 | 9.15 | 41 | -21 |
Warrick Swift from Property Inspect said: “We know the cost of living crisis is having a detrimental effect on all of us – and the retail industry is no different. Many units are being put onto sites like Zoopla and RightMove as retailers are struggling to afford to light and heat their shops, which is leaving many cities like ghost towns.
Supporting businesses and visiting the high streets is now more important than ever, and this data just highlights the shear strain our high street shops are under in our current climate.
Visiting local businesses in person and reducing online shopping orders can help support small and local businesses and hopefully allow more cities to have a resurgence of high street shops.”
