An average of 14 high street shops are closing every day, with only 1.569 new shops opening in the period between January and June 2018, an historic low.

According to Sky News, the research by PwC and the Local Data Company, highlights challenges including business rates, staff pay costs and rising rents. 

The Government announced plans to cut business rates bills for small retail businesses by a third for two years from April 2019 during the Budget. Chancellor Philip Hammond announced plans to impose a two per cent UK digital services tax on ‘established tech giants’ including online retailers such as Amazon.

Lisa Hooker, consumer markets leader at PwC, said: ‘The continued rate of store closures reflects the new reality of that many of us prefer to shop online and increasingly eat, drink and entertain at home.’

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