The spread of betting shops, the bête noir of town centre managers, is on the decline. The number of applications to convert retail units into betting shops dropped by more than 70% in the year to the end of October, compared with the same period last year.
Figures from EGi’s Retail Research show a sharp turnaround for the sector, which just last year was one of the fastest growing on the high street combined with charity and pawnbrokers. In 2013, betting shops doubled its share of deals signed from the peak of the market in 2007.
Overall, the number of shops repurposed slowed by a third this year. More units were converted into restaurants but the size of those units shrank with the amount of space signed for, down by 12%.
Leisure saw the opposite effect, with the amount of space rising to 897,000 sq ft but the number of applications falling.
“The slowdown is symptomatic of the wider economic recovery, vacancy rates nationwide have decreased for the last three consecutive quarters allowing landlords to exhibit greater confidence that they do not need to steer their assets away from retail to achieved occupancy and growth,” said Graham Shone, senior analyst at Estates Gazette Research.
| Applications: year to end October | |
|---|---|
| Betting shops | 36 |
| Restaurants | 103 |
| Leisure | 63 |
| Total | 202 |
| By area: year to end October | |
|---|---|
| Betting shops | 38,837 sq ft |
| Retaurants | 615,378 sq ft |
| Leisure | 897,050 sq ft |
| Total | 1.5m sq ft |
| Average size of available retail units | |
|---|---|
| Aug-14 | 2,775 sq ft |
| Oct-14 | 2,439 sq ft |
Property data brought to you by Estates Gazette property data
