MUCH has been said about ‘the death of the high street’ with retail footfall in the UK falling in September, but is Southampton's high street dying?

Last month, the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) revealed that retail sales in the UK grew at their slowest pace since March in the 12 months to September.

New data from the British Retail Consortium (BRC) and Sensormatic IQ has also revealed that in September, retail footfall in the UK fell by 16.8 per cent compared to two years prior.

But how has Southampton fared during this period?

According to GO! Southampton, the Business Improvement District (BID) for Southampton city centre, the reports of the death of the high street are "greatly exaggerated."

A spokesperson said: "Our renewal ballot is in progress so we are talking to lots and lots of our members. Almost uniformly they are saying that business is excellent. They had been expecting a lull in advance of Christmas that has just not happened.

"We have only recently installed our footfall cameras in the city centre so we can’t compare with 2019.

"We have however recorded 382,000 customers in August, 444,000 in September and 505,000 in October to date. Numbers now are obviously boosted by the return of students.

"Spend-wise we saw a greater contribution in August from customers from outside the immediate region, suggesting that we were hosting the 'staycationers’ we’ve been trying to attract. It also probably reflects the return of cruise."

Figures in other parts of the country do not paint such a positive picture.

The number of empty shops on UK high streets has risen to its highest level in six years as city centres, especially those London, suffer from a decrease in visitor numbers.

Data from retail analysis firm Springboard has revealed that nearly 11 per cent of shops remained vacant in July compared with 9.8 per cent in January, with the number of empty premises rising in six out of 10 UK regions.

In light of this, Southampton has managed to retain a low number of empty units.

The spokesperson from GO! Southampton said: "One of the most remarkable features of Southampton’s post-pandemic renaissance has been the very low number of empty units.

"While the national average figure is now I believe in excess of 14 per cent, ours has remained stubbornly low at around five per cent.

"This isn’t to say that units haven’t fallen vacant, but in the right locations they are quickly filled again.

"We are expecting a new opening on the site of the former Topshop, but we don’t yet have details as to who is coming in."

New arrivals in Southampton city centre include designer clothing store Flannels, Hamleys, the new TUI on Above Bar Street, the forthcoming new Poundland on the Retail Park, and the return of HMV in the high street.