With the number of high street closures on the increase in recent months we have looked at how much retailers would have to pay in rates and rent if they were to open businesses in some of town’s empty units.
The retail unts we below have all been put up for rent by private landlords and are not being offered by Swindon Borough Council.
An empty retail unit in the centre of Swindon Town Centre costs £169,000 a year to rent with a further £102,000 in business rates despite many other shops remaining empty with lower rents for a number of years.
The former Nationwide Building Society is on the market for £169,752 per year or £14,146 per month.
Rent – £169,752
Business rates – £102,000
Total yearly cost: £271,752
Also in The Parade, Card Factory store at 47 The Parade, is listed on the market, despite being occupied, with online property website Zoopla with an asking price of just under £15,000 per month.
Rent – £179,316
Business rates – £65,500
Total yearly cost: £244, 816
Toni & Guy which was replaced by a Vape store and is also still occupied is currently on the market alongside the recently vacated Thornton’s.
Toni & Guy
Rent – £106,056
Business rates – £31,750
Total yearly cost: £137, 806
Thorntons
Rent – £37,500
Business rates – £33,300
Total yearly cost: £70, 800
Other properties around the town centre all appear to be on offer at between £4-5 per square foot per month yet one shop, which has remained closed for the last four years, is the old W. W. Hunter Building on Regent Street which offers over 5,600sq ft of floor space and is currently on the market for 89p per sq ft monthly or £60,000 per year.
W W Hunter Building
Rent – £60,000
Business rates – £59,500
Total yearly cost: £119,500
With rents and rates as high as they currently are, is it any wonder Swindon is seeing more and more stores vacate the centre of town?
I would love to open up a business in swindon centre as i grew up there but landlords arent helping people like me who is on a very very tight budget so the shops with stay empty unless things change which i dont think they will in the near future.And it brings the shopping centre down a tad with all the empty unkept shops about.
unaffordable empty shops forever. May be Mark, we can gang up 10 people and share space in one shop. That is the only way we can afford. G. Griffin
unaffordable empty shops forever. May be Mark, we can gang up 10 people and share space in one shop. That is the only way we can afford. G. Griffin