Wandsworth town centre has second worst shop vacancy rate in London, report claims

A report from the Local Data Company ranked Wandsworth town as the second worst place in the capital in terms of shop vacancy rates - with 21.3 per cent lying empty.

Nationwide, the town entered the chart at number 11 for a six month period ending in June this year. Top was Altrincham, with a figure of 30 per cent, while in London the only area worse than Wandsworth was Brixton with 21.7 per cent of shops unused.

But the findings for Wandsworth, revealed in a report called A Gathering Storm - designed to show the continuing impact of the recession upon town centres - were branded “completely misleading”.

Chairman of the Wandsworth’s chamber of commerce, Chris Wyatt, said the borough’s retail sector was “holding up well” despite experiencing “difficult times”.

He added the vacancy rate situation had been “artificially inflated” by modernisation proposals at Southside Shopping Centre.

A business spokesman for Wandsworth Council said: “The figure is completely misleading as it includes a large number of shops in Southside, which have been deliberately vacated as part of the centre’s ongoing redevelopment. The vacancy rate for available premises is more much lower.

“Wandsworth town has actually performed very well during the downturn. Several town centre sites are being redeveloped and a host of big high street retailers have moved into completed parts of the shopping centre.

“All of the borough’s main shopping areas have weathered the financial storm extremely well compared to other parts of the capital and have continued to attracted a steady stream of new investment.”

He added Wandsworth town centre had been boosted in recent weeks by the arrival of shops such as TK Maxx, Republic and New Look - and would further benefit from the impending arrival of Topshop.

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