Harrogate ranked as one of Britain's leading shopping destinations in new survey

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It may not feel that way to hard-pressed businesses struggling through another lockdown but the town is ranked as the nation’s 23rd best performing, in a list of 1,000 retail centres compiled by strategic retail property consultancy, Harper Dennis Hobbs (HDH).

The HDH Vitality Ranking determines the health of high streets and shopping centres, with a range of yardsticks including the change in residents’ movement, vacancy rates, and suitability to local consumers' demands.

The new survey shows the top 25 retail destinations dominated by commuter towns for London in the southeast of England, including Henley and Wimbledon village and several commuter towns in the rest of the country, dominate the top 50, including Yarm, Altrincham and Leamington Spa.

The only Yorkshire entry in the top ten is Ilkley, which sits well above Harrogate in tenth place.

The top three in the survey all hail from the south east - Beaconsfield, Henley-on-Thames and Tenterden, to be precise.

Harrogate's strong showing at 23rd top may surprise Harrogate opinion itself, at a time when its shops are temporarily closed during the current lockdown and in the context of the rise of online shopping, the decline of chains and the straitjacket of the Covid pandemic.

As long ago as October 2019, a headline on the BBC's national news website read: "Harrogate: What happened when the shops left town" after big names such as Topman, Miss Selfridge, Cath Kidston, Prezzo and Jamie's Italian closed down in Harrogate.

The BBC report said that Harrogate, along with Reading, Birmingham and Nottingham, was among the four locations most affected by retail chains and national eating out brands pulling out of town, with 10 closures each.

Last August saw local business pressure group Independent Harrogate criticise Harrogate Borough Council's Town Masterplan, saying the town centre no longer “performed strongly as a shopping destination” and - as a result of COVID-19, online shopping, previous locally generated problems, climate change and challenges faced by national brands - Harrogate no longer had “the strength and quality of its independent retail offer and its ongoing ability to attract premium comparison retailers”.

As recently as last month, there was a new blow for Harrogate's retail sector when it was confirmed that Harrogate's Debenhams store on Parliament Street had closed permanently.

But HDH survey argues that, in the case of Harrogate, it is still - despite everything - a case of the glass being half full rather than half empty.

It reports that the major city-centre destinations that dominated the 2019 rankings have now been replaced by more local shopping centres in prosperous areas that provide convenience and essential product categories.

London shopping districts, including Westfield London, Knightsbridge, Chelsea, and the West End, saw big falls as the capital noted significant footfall reductions.

It continues that the underlying tends in society will tend to favour towns such as Harrogate.

Dan Hildyard, head of UK retail at HDH, said: “More restricted consumer shopping habits have had an enormous impact on the relative success of high streets this year, with a shift to home working encouraging residents to reconnect with their local community.

"Affluence is a factor here, and some consumers are protected from job losses seen in other industries.

“While city centre destinations have suffered from travel restrictions and the absence of office workers, the fundamental strengths of these non-city locations remain, and we expect them to bounce back over the course of this year in line with restrictions being eased."

For more information about Harper Dennis Hobbs, visit hdh.co.uk

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