Yorkshire towns among best survivors in Britain of Covid-19 pandemic February 14, 2022Huddersfield was third in Britain for fewest sales lostWakefield was 7th in the country for its relatively low loss of salesBarnsley came in 8th place nationally for fewest sales lostQueues formed at a clothing shop in Huddersfield as the Covid-19 restrictions were easedTwo Yorkshire towns and one of its smaller cities come in the national top ten of town and city centre survivors of the Covid-19 pandemic in which businesses across the country lost more than one third of their potential takings, causing thousands to close and 2,400 town and city centre commercial units to become empty.

Huddersfield was up among those with the fewest potential sales lost. This was estimated as the equivalent of 12 weeks of lost sales in the Cities Outlook 2022 report just published by leading think-tank on cities Centre for Cities. It compared 52 largest cities and towns across Britain.

Huddersfield was the most successful in Yorkshire in terms of fewest lost sales. Wakefield and Barnsley were also in the national top ten at 7th and 8th respectively with an estimated equivalent of 13 and 14 weeks of lost sales. At the top of the list was Burnley, in Lancashire, with only 8 weeks of lost sales estimated and second was Warrington.

The report appears to show that large towns and smaller cities have fared much better than the largest cities. Leeds fell to the opposite end of the scale as 10th for most potential sales lost, an estimated equivalent of 39 weeks of lost sales. London was highest at 47 weeks with Birmingham, Edinburgh, Cardiff, Glasgow and Manchester not far behind.

While Huddersfield fared well during the pandemic, it does fall into another top ten, in tenth place, for most shops and office spaces vacant at 23.3%. Other Yorkshire places in that top ten were Bradford in fourth place at 27.6% vacant, although that being much the situation before the pandemic, and also Hull in ninth place at 23.8%. At the opposite end of that scale and doing well for having least spaces vacant are York at 11.4% and Barnsley at 13.5%.

Commenting on the report, Andrew Carter, Chief Executive of Centre for Cities, said: “While the pandemic has been a tough time for all high streets it has levelled down our more prosperous cities and towns. Despite this, the strength of their wider local economies means they are well placed to recover quickly from the past two years.

“The bigger concern is for economically weaker places – primarily in the North and Midlands – where Covid-19 has actually paused their long-term decline. To help them avoid a wave of high street closures this year the Government must set out how it plans to increase peoples’ skills and pay to give them the income needed to sustain a thriving high street."

Full details of the Cities Outlook 2022 report can be found at the  Centre for Cities website.

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