Last year saw the number of retail and leisure premises vacancies drop from 12.6% to 12.2%, but there remains a widening gap in the fortunes of towns in the north and the south.
That's according to a new report on shop and leisure vacancy rates from The Local Data Company, which analysed over 2,100 town centres, shopping centres and retail parks in 2013.

The survey reveals that although the overall number of empty premises is falling the north-south divide evident in previous years is now more accentuated, with the north west and north east both showing increases in their vacancy rates on 2012. Combined, it is 17% - nearly 5% above the national average of 12.2%.

The north west is the worst region for shop and leisure vacancy, where the figure has increased to 17.3%, while the north east is now up to 16.8%. The figure for the east of England has also worsened slightly, at 11.5%.

Elsewhere, vacancy rates have improved in the West Midlands, 15.9%; Yorkshire & The Humber, 14.9%; the East Midlands, 14.0%; the south east, 11.7%; the south west, 11.0%; and London, easily the best at just 8.1%.

Of the top 10 worst-hit town centres, which all have vacancies over 25%, seven are in the north west or north east. They are West End, Morecambe, with 32.9%, followed by Newport in Monmouthshire, Bolton, Hartlepool, Bootle, Church Street in Runcorn, Walsall, West Bromwich, Stockton-on-Tees and Eccles.

And while not in the top 10, Swansea has shown the greatest increase in its shop vacancy rate over four years, shooting up from 8.3% in 2010 to 23.1% last year.

By contrast, six of the top 10 best-performing town centres - all with 2.0% or fewer vacant premises - are in Greater London. The others are Eastgate in Lincoln, Molesey Lock, Shirley Street in Solihull and Deeden, East of England.

All GB countries showed an improvement in vacancy rates in 2013, but, Wales is the worst performer, with a 15.7% figure, compared to 12.1% and 12.2% in England and Scotland respectively.

The report says high streets in small towns are in the healthiest state, with an improving figure of 9.0%, while those in medium-size towns have shown an increase in their vacancy average to 11.9%. Large town high streets continue to have the highest overall vacancy rate at 13.4%.

Shopping centres have the highest number of empty premises, at 15.4%, while retail parks have only 8.9% - the figure now almost on a par with that of small town high streets.

The survey also shows the increasing impact and dominance of large shopping centres and retail parks on the towns that neighbour them, with vacancies in the towns more than double those of the mega-malls. For example, Birmingham's Bullring vacancy rate was 2.7% last year, while the Birmingham 'high streets' average was 19.8%.