West End shops’ business rates set to soar 80pc
WEST END retailers are set to be the big losers from the next business rates revaluation, with research undertaken by property consultancy and rating specialist Gerald Eve showing they face increases in their bills of over 80 per cent.
The firm said that shops situated on Bond Street, Oxford Street and Regent Street will pay a total of £293m per year as a result of the revaluation, a rise of £131m on the previous 12 months.
Gerald Eve used its expertise, market intelligence and specialist knowledge across the full range of sectors to undertake a “shadow revaluation” of all 1.8m non-domestic properties in England.
Jerry Schurder, head of business rates at Gerald Eve, said: “The results… not only highlight the huge disparities between locations that have performed relatively well since the recession and those that have struggled to reverse the decline, but also underline what a mistake it was to postpone the revaluation by two years. The extreme volatility in rates’ bills that will hit businesses in 2017 underlines the need for revaluations to be undertaken far more frequently so that bills respond quickly to market changes.”