Business is booming in Brighton, with the latest vacancy rate survey finding that the city centre’s vacancy rate is now almost 6% lower than the national average.
Brighton city centre’s percentage of empty stores (as of June 2017) stands at 6.31%, which is considerably lower than the UK average at 12%. While this has risen by 1% over the last year, this is still less than half of the countrywide average and a great positive for the city.
The vacancy rate average becomes even lower in the Business Improvement District (also known as Brilliant Brighton) as this falls to just 5.37%. Again, this has seen a small fluctuation of just 0.3% over the last year – but is still an impressive figure.
Gavin Stewart, CEO of Brilliant Brighton said: “As the national average reaches its lowest rate since 2012, at 12%, it’s great to see Brighton’s city centre thriving – at just half of this figure. We’re currently heading into peak summer season, which sees daytrippers, holidaymakers and students visit the city centre and is one of the busiest times for our businesses. It will be interesting to see if this rate reduces – yet again – over the summer.”
The survey also looks at the percentages of independent businesses compared to national chains. The Brighton city centre rate remains at 69% national, which is slightly higher than the country’s average at 65%. However, within the Brilliant Brighton area, this falls to 66% – just 1% higher than the UK average.
