Legendary seaside town crowned ‘UK’s emptiest high street’ as shops keep closing

The iconic seaside resort used to have a thriving economy, filled with shops, bars and cafes, but now the tides have turned – but now the town’s residents are fighting back

One of Britain’s most beloved seaside towns now contains the “UK’s emptiest high street”. It comes as up to 65 different businesses have shut up shop in recent years, leaving the town depleted.

Ramsgate in Kent sits right on the coastline, and boasts a host of amazing natural features including its famous beach and its iconic harbour. But if you venture inland, a different story starts to emerge as you walk down the cobbled streets of the town.

Currently, around 65 different spaces in the town centre are sitting vacant – equivalent to around 24% of the town’s available real estate. The rate at which retail premises are vacant thus makes Ramsgate the unfortunate owner of the title of having the UK’s emptiest high street.

Exact figures vary, but most estimates put Ramsgate’s vacancy rate for retail premises well above the national average of 14%, according to the Express. To make matters worse, of the 65 empty offices plaguing the town centre, over half of these are unable to be rented out due to absent landlords.

The grim statistics paint an even bleaker picture in real life, as footfall in the town continues to dwindle, plunging the town into an economic crisis. Meanwhile, anti-social behaviour in the town is on the up, while some of the town’s most loved establishment have had to permanently close their doors.

However, residents are now starting to fight back in order to reclaim the town from the grips of economic uncertainty. Many people have pinned the blame on high costs of rent, as well as stubborn landlords, with others feeling the council is not supporting local business.

Christopher Pearman, who lives in the town, fumed: “It’s affecting people who are trying to make a living in the high street, and they’re getting rid of them before they even fill the other shops. [The council] could fill the shops tomorrow by doing things like little crafts or letting six people share a space; But they don’t seem to want to.”

Now, local residents are driving change in order to save the town, banding together to create Ramsgate Space – a local community interest company. Their goal is to transform Ramsgate from a bleak haven of anti-social behaviour into a seaside town that capitalises on its charm.

The town is also using newly-passed laws from the government to push through with its regeneration scheme, using High Street Rental Auctions to pressure absent landlords to lease their units or sell them. Louise Brooks, who runs Ramsgate Square, said that even just the threat of using the scheme has pushed some of the landlords into taking action in other towns, so they are hoping to do the same there.

A host of other locally-run, independent businesses are now starting to spring up across the town, in the hopes that this new start for the high street can breathe new life into what goes on here. However, the cost of renting in the town remains high, which is something that residents have acknowledged and needs to be addressed.

The town’s regeneration plans are also set to get a major boost after the town council received a £20million grant from the government thanks to the Plan for Neighbourhoods programme. This funding, to be invested over the next ten years, marks a major opportunity to revitalise the town’s high street even further.

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