Analysis of data collected by the Local Data Company on nearly 5,900 shops found that only 20% of high street shops affected by 27 administrations since 2009 remain empty.
With big names such as Woolworths, TJ Hughes and Focus DIY disappearing from the street scene in recent years, accountancy firm Deloitte found that the high street was recovering better from this period of administration than retail parks and shopping centres.

Retail parks have a vacancy rate of 37% and shopping centres 29%.

Discount shops have taken the most advantage of vacant shops on the high street and make up 20% of the re-lettings.

Convenience stores account for 12%, suggesting a change in consumer shopping habits.

In contrast the analysis also revealed that charity shops, pawnbrokers and bookies had shown limited interest in letting vacant shops. The data showed that just 3% of vacant shops were now let by charity shops and 0.01% by pawnbrokers and bookies.

Head of retail at Deloitte, Ian Geddes, said:"Rather than taking shoppers away, the internet is pushing people back to shops with the growth of 'click and collect'. The evidence suggests that we may be entering into a new era of 'en route' shopping, powered by mobile shopping and the demand for collection points strategically at a point between where the consumer is travelling from and to."

Author of the report and director at Deloitte, Hugo Clark, added: "The results of the research are surprising and seem to challenge a number of myths around the state of the high street. They would suggest that far from being dead, the high street appears to be showing great resilience and a capacity for reinvention. It seems that a structural shift is taking place with the high street emerging as an unexpected winner."

But the high street is still not out of the woods as the Local Data Company believes that there are still around 43,600 vacant shops in the UK, roughly one in seven.