A significant number of major retailers have hit the wall this year, but what about the smaller shops on the British high street?
Figures suggest that independently-owned shops make up around two-thirds of the total of the UK's high street, making their future an important one. But the rate at which they are changing hands suggests to us that a new approach is needed if the Government wants to encourage sustainable growth in the retail sector.
A recent report from the Financial Times highlighted the rate at which shops are going out of business. One premises on Northcote Road in London's affluent Clapham has housed a convenience store, a hairdresser and a toy store in the past three years alone. The shop is now lying vacant.
The Bolingbroke Bookshop on the same road has also recently been forced to close its doors. Michael Gibbs, proprietor of the shop, explained that it isn't just changes in the market that have forced his hand. Mr Gibbs noted that he could probably have held off against online competition from the likes of Amazon, but the drastic increases in business rates have proven to be too much.
Wandsworth Council has increased the shop's business rates from £9,600 to £15,000 over the course of just three years and this story is similar across the country.
It's true that the downfall of existing tenants has opened up new spaces for those looking to buy a retail business. But given that generations of retail shops are being forced out of business over and over again, we really think it's time the Government took a closer look at what it's doing to help entrepreneurs instead of piling on the financial pressure. 
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