High streets may never recover to pre-pandemic levels, minister warns
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The number of shoppers on the high street may never again hit pre-Covid levels, as a combination of working from home and shopping online could permanently change consumer habits.
Speaking to MPs on the Communities Select Committee, Luke Hall, minister for regional growth and local government, suggested a full recovery for the high street could be impossible.
He said the pandemic had been the “largest, most synchronised shot to the economy and our social lives and the high street in living memory”.
“There has been a significant drop in footfall since the start of the pandemic and unfortunately a rise in vacancy rates… the reality is we don’t yet know if footfall will recovery to pre-pandemic levels,” he said.
“There’s a number of factors which will affect and determine it, like the confidence to just go back and start shopping again on the high street and changing working habits.”
The news will come as a disappointment to struggling high street retailers, pubs, restaurants and cafes, with hospitality especially struggling to make a profit.
Nevertheless, footfall on high streets has been gradually increasing since the UK began reopening.
Kyle Monk, director of insight at the British Retail Consortium, said: “Retail is transforming thanks to changing consumer behaviour and new technologies; a change which has accelerated due to Covid.
“High streets will always have an important place in the retail landscape, though continued investment is essential to maintain the customer experience.”
He added: “However, the broken business rates system continues to hold back high street investment and threaten the viability of many stores.”