Pop-up stores won't save high street

A new report says that pop-up stores will not save the UK's ailing high street. While temporary stores, better known as pop-ups, will find it easier to inhabit unused spaces via new planning laws, in the long term it will not ease the pressure on

the country’s struggling high streets, says one expert.

The Government has announced a relaxation in 'change of use class' that will allow shops and restaurants under 150 square meters to pop up in existing commercial space without planning permission, in order to reduce the number of empty retail units.

2 years for pop-up stores is not enough

The new use permitted will only have a life span of two years. However, Steve Hemming, regional director for planning and development consultancy at national commercial property consultancy Lambert Smith Hampton, said: "The key issue here is that the planning freeze will only be in place for two years, which would not be long enough for most retailers to recuperate their set-up costs.

"This could lead to greater competition for the few empty units that are already fitted out, but for the many that need investment, demand is unlikely to be high.

“The upside of only having two years to work with is that the larger retailers can use this as an opportunity to experiment with new formats. We would expect to see an increase in pop-up shops used as marketing tools to launch new products or venues.

"On a longer term basis, the cuts to planning bureaucracy such as this are going to do little to ease the pressure faced by the high street, particularly when high business rates and general overheads are pushing outgoings to unmanageable proportions."

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