Shopping centres are filling empty shops faster than town centres - and one in two shops in shopping centres are now independents.
So say the British Council of Shopping Centres (BCSC) and the Local Data Company (LDC) in new vacancy rate research published today.

The research shows a year-on-year improvement of 0.8% in vacancies in shopping centres across Britain, but with significant regional variations.

Improving at the fastest rate are Welsh shopping centres, with 5.2% fewer empty shops than in 2013. Scottish centres outflank their English counterparts, with an improvement of 2.2% compared to only 0.5% in England.

The south east shows the greatest reduction in empty shops in England, down 3.7%. However, the north east and north west both show annual increases (4.4% and 2.4% respectively), many of which are in towns with an oversupply of retail space.

This latest research also shows a huge variation in the ratio of independent retailers to chain stores in shopping centres. Within the top 30 centres fewer than one in five shops is an independent, but across all 685 centres just under half of shops are leased to indies.

BCSC says that since 2013 landlords have been converting one shopping centre premises a day from retail to leisure use, such as a hotel, cinema or restaurant. It says this demonstrates that shopping centres are evolving to deliver what shoppers expect.

BCSC chief executive Michael Green said: "It's positive to see shopping centres reducing the numbers of empty shops and doing so at a faster rate than the towns in which they sit.

"Contrary to popular opinion, independent retailers now account for one out of every two shops in British shopping centres. We expect this to increase over the next six months as more and more shopping centre owners look to vary what they're offering to their shoppers.

"There is, of course, no doubt that where a shopping centre is struggling - usually because of an oversupply of retail space - it's the large chain stores that leave first: independents, in extreme cases, can be the last people standing."

In a separate report last week the LDC revealed that the overall number of empty shops fell in August to 13.3% from 13.4% in July - the lowest level since June 2010. Leisure vacancy grew slightly to 7.7%, and the combined retail and leisure figure dipped to 11.8%.