New report shows huge impact of Covid on Bristol City Centre
Shops in the area have lost out on 38 weeks worth of sales
New figures show the huge impact the Covid pandemic has had on Bristol City Centre.
A think tank called the Centre for Cities has published an economic assessment of the UK's largest urban areas and found the centre of Bristol has been the worst hit place in the South West.
Thirty eight weeks worth of shop sales were lost between March 2020 and the omicron variant hitting.
Elsewhere in our region businesses in Exeter and Swindon city centre were badly hit, losing 35 and 28 weeks worth respectively.
Gloucester city centre lost the fewest weeks of sales in the region, at 16.
Andrew Carter, Chief Executive of Centre for Cities, said: “While the pandemic has been a tough time for all high streets it has levelled down more prosperous cities and towns in the South West.
"Despite this, the strength of their wider local economies means they are well placed to recover quickly from the past two years.
"The bigger concern is for economically weaker places – primarily in the North and Midlands – where Covid-19 has actually paused their long-term decline.
"To help them avoid a wave of high street closures this year the Government must set out how it plans to increase peoples’ skills and pay to give them the income needed to sustain a thriving high street.
"Many of these places are in the so-called Red Wall so there is a political imperative for the Government to act fast, as well as an economic one.”
Nationally, Covid-19 has cost businesses in city and large town centres more than a third (35%) of their potential takings since March 2020, with central London, Birmingham, Edinburgh and Cardiff worst affected.
Across the 52 city and town centres studied, 2426 commercial units have become vacant during the pandemic, against 1374 between 2018 and 2020.
While, according to the data, government support during the pandemic appears to have sheltered weaker places, the Centre for Cities warns it could have merely "stored up pain for the future", saying less prosperous areas could face a wave of new business closures this year,
"To avoid permanently levelling down prosperous places, policy makers should run campaigns to encourage leisure visitors back when safe to do so and provide part-time season tickets to encourage workers back to the office," a press release from the Centre reads.
"For struggling places, policy makers drafting the Levelling Up White Paper should focus on dealing with struggling places’ fundamental economic problems to address high street decline," it continues.
"This means investing in skills and ways to strengthen the wider local economy to increase money in shoppers’ pockets, rather than on ‘cosmetic’ quick fixes such as hanging baskets and painting shop fronts."