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Small Business Strategy Inquiry 2025 - ACT and Bira call for members to share their voice

20 Jun 2025

The House of Commons Business and Trade Committee has asked the ACT, and its parent company Bira, to help them reach out to small business retailers across the country, for their quick input on... Read more…

Beyond the discount: Restoring integrity to the cycle supply chain

18 Jun 2025

The Association of Cycle Traders believes the time has come for greater accountability throughout our supply chain, writes ACT Director Jonathan Harrison in an article published for BikeBiz.
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Bira welcomes Wales' business rates proposals but calls for key improvements

11 Jun 2025

Bira has welcomed the Welsh Government's consultation on business rate reforms for retail shops, whilst calling for significant improvements to ensure the proposals truly support high street... Read more…

New awards launch to champion Britain's independent high street heroes

9 Jun 2025

Retailers on Britain's high streets are being encouraged to put themselves forward for the first-ever Love Your High Street Awards, designed to celebrate the small businesses that bring... Read more…

"Tectonic shift" in employment law threatens independent retailer viability, warns Bira podcast

6 Jun 2025

Independent retailers are facing a "generational" transformation of employment law that could fundamentally change how small businesses operate, according to the final episode of Bira's first... Read more…

Retailers hope warm weather and bank holidays will boost high street sales

16 May 2025

ACT parent company Bira has said that members are hopeful the warm weather, Easter weekend and upcoming bank holidays will provide a much-needed boost to high street sales.
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Economic growth surges to 0.7%, but "April reality check" looms for high street retailers

15 May 2025

UK economy delivers strongest quarterly performance in a year despite forecasts of business downturn.
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Communities come together for Local Bike Shop Day 2025 celebrations

13 May 2025

Local Bike Shop Day 2025 brought a wave of... Read more…

ACT parent company Bira welcomes Bank of England's latest interest rate cut

8 May 2025

ACT parent company Bira has welcomed the Bank of England's decision to reduce interest rates from 4.5% to 4.25%, calling it a "much-needed boost" for the retail sector, including for cycling... Read more…

ACT parent company Bira responds to Beales' "Rachel Reeves Closing Down Sale" as iconic store makes final protest

8 May 2025

ACT parent company Bira has responded to the news that the 144-year-old Beales department store is staging a "Rachel Reeves Closing Down Sale" in its final weeks of trading, with giant yellow... Read more…

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New research shows local high streets & shopping centres more resilient than major shopping hubs in cost-of-living crisis

Posted on in Business News

bakeryNew data from commercial property specialist Colliers shows that in the face of the UK’s cost of living crisis, minor retail destinations such as local high streets and shopping centres will be more resilient than major shopping hubs in larger cities.

The company’s LocateVenues analysis looks at retail destinations across the country, excluding central London and divides them into five categories; minor city; super-regional; mid-regional; sub-regional; and major city.

Looking at the results on a region-by-region basis, the South-west came out on top as the most resilient followed by the East of England and the South-east in third place.

Examples of ‘minor cities’ include Bath, Chester and Reading which have a smaller catchment population and have a drive time of 45 minutes around the centre of their retail offering.

The research used four metrics to understand which destinations would come out on top and looked at; the percentage of chain stores which are often better financed then independent brands, the percentage of retailers viewed as a necessity, average household disposable income and the unemployment rate.

Paddy Gamble in the Colliers retail strategy & analytics team, comments: “As the cost-of-living crisis continues to bite, retail is inevitably being impacted by lower disposable incomes, alongside the sector’s existing issues ranging from too much space, rising energy costs and staffing issues.

“These minor cities benefit from fairly affluent catchment areas, often being commutable, and with strong transport links. The local population will be fairly insulated from the rising costs of living, and in turn this insulates their local retail provision to some extent.

“As with our previous research, the least resilient retail destinations are the major cities such as Birmingham and Manchester which are often over supplied with retail and are ‘once a month’ visits rather than little and often.”

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