An Investigation of the Impact and Resilience of British High Streets Following the COVID-19 Lockdown Restrictions

• Published in: Applied spatial analysis and policy Vol. 16; no. 2; pp. 537 - 559
• Main Authors: Hill, Abigail, Cheshire, James
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dordrecht Springer Netherlands 01.06.2023; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Consumers; Coronaviruses; COVID-19; Human Geography; Landscape/Regional and Urban Planning; Pandemics; Public policy; Regional/Spatial Science; Resilience; Roads & highways; Shelter in place; Social Sciences; Typology; Spatial analysis; Retail resilience; High streets; Consumer data
• ISSN: 1874-463X; 1874-4621
• DOI: 10.1007/s12061-022-09494-8

British high streets have faced significant economic and cultural challenges as a consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic. This is predominantly due to government enforced restrictions which required all ‘non-essential’ retail to close, resulting in a significant change in the way consumers interacted with high streets. While all premises related to the retail or hospitality sector were forced to close, leading to rising vacancy rates, some high streets were more resilient to the economic shock than others. In this paper we detect some of the unforeseen consequences of the pandemic on British high streets and create a measure of resilience. The impact of the lockdown restrictions have resulted in some high streets, notably Spring Street in Paddington, London, experiencing disproportionate decline. Others including Northolt Road in Harrow, London were able maintain their occupancy. This study provides a typology of high street resilience incorporating the impact of the COVID-19 lockdown restrictions and links the impact of government policy to the economic performance of high streets. The outcomes from this research address both local and national policy contexts as the resilience typology has the potential to assist in funding allocation for recovery and regeneration projects.