Lowestoft sees quarter of shops empty, according to latest report

A quarter of shops in Lowestoft are now empty, a report has found.

Members of East Suffolk’s strategic planning committee met on Monday to discuss the council’s authority monitoring report for 2022/23.

Its findings revealed Bungay and Lowestoft were the only towns in the district where the retail unit vacancy rate remained above the national average of 13.9 per cent, with the remainder of town centres below it.

Although Bungay’s vacancy rate currently sits at 18 per cent, it represents an ongoing drop since 2021, when it sat above 20 per cent.

Lowestoft, on the other hand, has continued to struggle post-Covid, with 26 per cent of shops now vacant, its worst rate in the past five years — this is equivalent to 96 empty shops out of 366.

The East Suffolk town centre currently supporting the lowest retail vacancy rate is Aldeburgh, with only one vacant unit.

An East Suffolk Council spokesperson said: “Although vacancy rates are an important indicator of local economic performance, they should be considered within the context of the general economic and cultural shift away from communities wanting their centres to be mainly for meeting retail needs, to wanting them to offer a more holistic social, leisure and entertainment experience and opting to meet some or most of their retail needs online instead.”

The report also indicated the cultural shift could mean some town centres need to shrink to provide goods, services and experiences in quality over quantity.

District councillors had already begun taking steps to address these challenges and increase footfall by investing in cultural, leisure, food and drink, heritage and employment spaces.

Such steps include the plans to turn a vacant former post office into a new visual arts space, development of East Suffolk’s customer services centre and works to the shopfronts in Station Square.