Retail Floorspace
2007

Introduction

Market Place, Poulton-le-Fylde, Wyre District

The report provides a summary of retail hereditament floorspace and rateable value statistics for Lancashire authorities as at 1st April 2007. The information comes from the administrative databases used by the Valuation Office Agency (VOA) and has been processed by the Department for Communities and Local Government. The figures have been obtained from the Neighbourhood Statistics section of the Office for National Statistics website.

All the Lancashire results have been added to the Data Download Centre, which includes figures down to the Middle Layer Super Output Areas. These small area retail statistics contain a number of missing data sets; therefore they have not been mapped or analysed in detail but simply added to the downloads. District results can also be found in the Business Activity Area Profiles.

The Research Monitors Archive contains earlier editions of this Retail Floorspace article and the other floorspace statistics articles.

The full dataset provides information on five different types of commercial and industrial premises (known as hereditaments) in England and Wales. These are broadly known as 'bulk classes' and cover retail, offices, factories, warehouses and other bulk premises. This particular research monitor considers the retail statistics.

The Business Activity section of the Lancashire Profile contains three complementary research monitors that use the Floorspace data set. These highlight the Office Floorspace data, the overall figures for Commercial and Industrial Floorspace and trends in the data from 1974 onwards.

The data are used by local authority planners, policy makers and others requiring information on commercial and industrial stock. The data feed into the Communities and Local governmnet project to identify areas of town centre activity and are also used in the Office for National Statistics Consumer Price Index.

Revaluations and Data Consistency over Time

Miller Arcade, Preston

The Valuation Office Agency revalues commercial and industrial property every five years to set rateable values in line with an assessment of the current commercial and industrial rental market. The statistics for 1st April 2007 are based on the 2005 Value Office Agency revaluation. The changes occurring for this revaluation had a significant and unavoidable impact on the continuity of the statistics with those for 2000 to 2004. For this reason, users are advised to exercise caution if comparing statistics for 2005 to 2007 with those for 2000 to 2004, and with figures for earlier years. This particular research monitor only considers the 2007 results but the figures for earlier years can be obtained from the various sources already mentioned.

The Data

The basic unit of data are individually rated properties known as hereditaments. These generally correspond to an extent of contiguous or adjacent space appropriate for a single occupant. A large office or mixed use commercial building will, if shared between several tenants and owners, consist of several separate hereditaments. Conversely a single large hereditament may be comprised of many distinct buildings, for example a large factory complex on a single site.

The hereditament represents the unit to which the VOA assigns a rateable value. Vacant floorspace is included in the data, since the rateable value is not affected by the fact that a hereditament is occupied or not.

The retail bulk class covers all premises that provide 'off-street' goods and services to the public. It includes supermarkets, corner shops, local post offices, restaurants, cafes, laundrettes and takeaways. Two significant omissions in this group are public houses, which are classed as non-bulk, and garden centres which are usually classified as 'other bulk premises'.

The floorspace for retail premises is measured in terms of net internal area. This includes most space useful to the business of an occupant, and excludes common areas, stairwells and foyers. The walls, lift shafts and columns of a property are also excluded.

Summary of Results

Overall, retail use in Lancashire NUTS-2 area, which includes the 12 districts authorities and the two unitary authorities of Blackburn with Darwen and Blackpool, comprised some 17, 668 separate hereditaments covering a floorspace area of over 3 million sq. metres (Table 1). This represents 43.1% of all commercial and industrial hereditaments in the broader Lancashire area, greater than the average for England and Wales of 38.5%.

At the district level, Blackpool has by far the largest number of retail hereditaments (2,651) reflecting its importance as a tourist destination. The authorities of Lancaster, Preston and Blackburn with Darwen had 1,726, 1,808 and 1,839 retail hereditaments respectively , whilst Ribble Valley had the smallest number with 543.

Church Walk, Ormskirk, West Lancashire District

The rateable value per square metre figures reveal that Preston had the highest average figure of £112 per square metre, with the neighbouring district of South Ribble in second place with £108. The rate for Preston is high in comparison to the other Lancashire authorities, but is still well below the England and Wales average of £129 per sq. metre.

Fylde and Ribble Valley Districts often appear to be the most affluent areas of the county as measured by a range of economic indicators, but as far as retail floorspace is concerned the two authorities record relatively low rates per square metre of £76 and £65 per sqm respectively. The lowest rate recorded in Lancashire was in Pendle district (£57 per sqm).

The Lowest and Highest Average Retail Rents in England and Wales

An analysis of the average rates per square metre figures for 375 authorities covering England and Wales (excludes one authority with no result) reveals that Pendle is in joint third lowest place with the Welsh authority of Powys. The lowest two positions were occupied by Forest of Dean in Gloucestershire and Derwentside in County Durham. The Lancashire districts of Rossendale, Ribble Valley, Hyndburn and Fylde were also listed in amongst the lowest fifty.

The highest rate by far was recorded in the City of London (£439 per sq. metre) with Kensington and Chelsea in second place with £398. In the North West, the authority of Trafford, which includes the Trafford Centre, was in 7th highest position with £235 per sq. metre.

Selected Old Independent Lancashire Retailers

Stringers Department Store, Lytham, Fylde District

Source www.stringers-lytham.co.uk

We have an article on well over 100 independent Lancashire businesses well over 100 independent Lancashire businesses that have been trading for 100 years or more. The list includes a number of retailers of which probably the most well-known is Booths Supermarkets.

Other examples includes Stokers Furnishers (established 1899) that still has premises in Derby Street Ormskirk. Another furniture store Edmondsons (commenced trading in 1898) is well known in the Blackburn with premises on Darwen street, close to the central shopping area.

Stringers is a department store that has been present in central Lytham for many years and like all other long-established Lancashire retailers has a loyal customer base.

One of the oldest independent Lancashire retailers is Mears H (Furnishers) Ltd situated on the Longridge road in the Ribbleton area of north Preston. A company advertisement claimed 1802 as its date of establishment.

George Anderson Stationers Ltd in Burnley has a website that lists it year of establishment as 1721. This is the oldest Lancashire retailer that has so far come to the attention of the county council.