Pop-up shops push Wrenhaven high-street vacancy rate to a six-year low

The share of empty shops on Wrenhaven's main shopping streets has fallen to its lowest level in six years, helped by a scheme that matches vacant units with small traders on short, low-cost leases. A survey by the Wrenhaven Chamber of Commerce found 11 per cent of ground-floor units in the city centre were empty last month, down from 17 per cent two years ago.

The Open Doors scheme, run jointly by the chamber and the city council, persuades landlords to let empty units for three to twelve months at a reduced rent, while the council covers business rates for the first quarter. Traders get a ready-fitted shop with lighting, shelving and a card terminal, and can leave at a month's notice if trade does not pick up.

Of the 37 businesses that have opened through the scheme so far, 13 have since signed leases of three years or longer. They include a children's bookshop, a bicycle repair workshop, two clothing-alteration studios and a shop selling furniture restored by a local charity. Only five have closed.

Without the trial period I would never have taken the risk. Now I know the footfall is there, and so does my landlord.

That was the view of Saoirse Mulvaney, who opened a ceramics and homeware shop on Market Row last spring and has just agreed a five-year lease. Landlords have also been won round. Graham Pettifer, whose family owns several units on Castle Street, said a short let was "better than paying insurance and security on an empty shop for another winter".

Gaps remain

The chamber cautions that the picture is uneven. Larger units, especially former department-store spaces, remain hard to fill, and vacancy on the northern end of Castle Street is still above 20 per cent. Chamber president Moira Sandhu said the next step was to look at splitting some of the largest buildings into smaller shops with flats above, which would need planning approval.