Citizen News

Shop occupancy in Chorley town centre increases

2:30pm Tuesday 16th March 2010

New figures show the number of empty shops in Chorley town centre has reduced.

The overall vacancy rate in Chorley town centre including shops, pubs/leisure, developments and offices, currently stands at less than seven per cent – down from nearly 11 per cent in January 2009.

Just 2.6 per cent of those premises are empty shops.

Figures from town centre research body, The Local Data Company reveal that shop vacancies in town centres across Britain increased by 25 per cent in the second half of last year resulting in 12.4 per cent of shops lying empty in December 2009.

In Chorley the number of empty shops has fallen in the same period as new businesses have moved into the town.

These include B and M Bargains, Azurri, SV2 Menswear, Glovers bakery, Rivington Cycles, and Anise 2.

Councillor Peter Malpas, Chorley Council’s executive member for business, said: “We have worked hard to attract new business into the town so it is a great reward that the hard work is paying off.

Chorley’s figure compares well with nearby Preston which has the seventh highest shop vacancy rates in the country at more than 18 per cent.

Chorley has also seen a 20 per cent increase in occupancy of its refurbished Covered Market from 73 per cent to 93 per cent with 14 new stalls.

Coun Malpas said: “We have seen a number of new shops open up in the town centre in recent months and the number of stalls on the Covered Market increase.”

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