The UK’s strongest and weakest high streets revealed

Forget Oxford Street, or Regent Street or Notting Hill. New research reveals Liverpool is the UK city with the biggest love for the high street.

Data from Small Business Prices shows Liverpool ranked highest for high street spending, with Coventry coming in last. London didn't fare much better.

High street footfall is highest in Plymouth per capita, which came second overall for high street appreciation. The data shows all areas of the UK have experienced a net decline in the number of high street shops in the first half of 2022, but this decrease was lowest in the North which saw a net loss of -71.

Small Business Prices analysed the 30 most populous cities in the UK according to a range of metrics, including the level of high street spending, high street footfall and the number of retail addresses.

In Liverpool more of its residents shop the high street than any other location in the UK. It received a spending score of 134 (compared to a pre-lockdown baseline of 100) which was higher than any other city on the list, as well as beating most other cities when it comes to the number of vacant high street services (just 12 percent).

Meanwhile, Coventry was revealed as the UK city with the least appreciation for the high street, followed by Reading and Birmingham. All three cities scored poorly for high street spending, compounded by some of the lowest high street footfall in the country.

Plymouth has a thriving high street

Plymouth came in second place overall for a thriving high street, and also topped the list when it comes to high street footfall. This coastal city logged the highest footfall on both weekdays and weekends, with a score of 176 and 186 for each respectively (compared to a pre-lockdown baseline of 100).

This was followed by Southend-on-Sea, which recorded the second highest footfall across the week, and Swansea with the third highest. The North has experienced a net decline of -71 in the number of high street shops so far in 2022, which is less than anywhere else in the UK. This was followed by Wales with -100, and the East Midlands with -136.

On the other end of the spectrum, London experienced the biggest decrease in the number of high street shops with a net loss of -389.

Stoke-on-Trent has the most retail outlets

Stoke-on-Trent in the West Midlands officially has the largest number of retail outlets on its high street at 53, beating London by a fairly wide margin despite being a much smaller city. London scored the second highest number of retail addresses (45), despite performing poorly in the overall ranking. The capital’s large number of shops is most likely down to it being the UK’s biggest city, and is unfortunately let down by a very low level of high street spending and footfall in proportion to its population size.

In August retail sales volumes fell by 1.6 percent across the entire UK, continuing a downward trend since summer 2021 following the lifting of restrictions on hospitality. In recent months, rising prices and cost of living are also affecting sales volumes. Sales of clothing remains 5.7 percent below their February 2020 levels.