One Key Reason For This Is Persecution of Motorists.

 Britain's dying high streets: How almost TWENTY per cent of stores are lying empty in towns like Wigan as chains including M&S, B&M and Next shut up shop amid dire warnings they may never recover.

Nearly a fifth of shops in the North East stand empty compared to one in 10 in the South, a new report reveals today. Figures published by the British Retail Consortium (BRC) lay bare the scale of the decline of Britain's high streets in the North compared to the South, with the highest number of vacant stores in the North East (17.5 per cent), Wales (16.5 per cent) and the West Midlands (15.8 per cent). By contrast, the lowest vacancy rates are in London (11.1 per cent), the South East (11.3 per cent) and the East (12.8 per cent). The overall vacancy rate in the first three months of this year in the UK remained at 13.8 per cent - the same as the previous quarter, the BRC said. Mail.

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