Five thousand shops have shut due to the coronavirus lockdowns, research has found. Almost one in five stores closed in the hardest hit shopping centres and in parts of the country including the North East and Wales. The national vacancy rate is now 14 per cent – one in seven – the British Retail Consortium warned. Chief executive Helen Dickinson said: 'The forced closure of shops during the first quarter of 2021 has exacerbated already difficult conditions for the retail industry. In the North East, vacancy rates rose to 19.3% for the quarter, with rates of 17.3 per cent in the North West.

Source: Daily Mail April 30, 2021 00:00 UTC