To say the last two years have been tough for Newcastle's high street would be a massive understatement.
Like many cities across the country, Newcastle city centre businesses have borne the economic brunt of the pandemic which has led to closures and a decline in footfall.
The fallout has meant that the already struggling British high street has lost some of its most iconic stores.
Go here for the latest news live from Newcastle city centre
Newcastle has already said goodbye to Debenhams, Topshop and Dorothy Perkins in Eldon Square, and earlier this month, the shopping centre's Monsoon store also closed its doors.
Now, new research from Centre for Cities has found that Newcastle city centre has seen the second biggest increase in empty stores in the country during the pandemic, with one in five stores in in the city centre now sitting empty.
According to the charity's Cities Outlook 2022, an annual economic assessment of the UK’s largest urban areas, Covid-19 has cost businesses in Newcastle city centre 39 weeks’ worth of potential takings since March 2020.
It says that Newcastle’s lost sales are the biggest of any city centre in the North East and the eleventh biggest in the country - ahead of Sunderland and Middlesbrough which have also been badly hit.
The findings come as no surprise to the North East England Chamber of Commerce which predicts that retail and leisure may also face difficult times ahead due to rising inflation.
Rachel Anderson, assistant director of policy at North East England Chamber of Commerce said: “The pandemic has certainly accelerated and amplified what we were seeing as a trend in high streets across the country so the figures on vacant units and footfall are no surprise.
“Retail and leisure may also face difficult times ahead as rising inflation and energy prices squeeze household incomes and discretionary spend is reduced.
"We would urge the Government to look at longer-term support measures, urgent reform of the business rates system and encouragement for long term planning for our town and city centres which involves a mixture of uses.
"The leisure sector will bounce back but retail will be more difficult and it is ultimately up to all of us to use our town and city centres and support our retail sector where we can.”
Nationally, Covid-19 has cost businesses in city and large town centres more than a third (35%) of their potential takings since March 2020, the Centre for Cities report said. Central London, Birmingham, Edinburgh and Cardiff are the worst affected.
Across the 52 city and town centres studied, 2,426 commercial units have become vacant during the pandemic, against 1,374 between 2018 and 2020.
Leaf Clothing on Newcastle's Pilgrim Street says that additional parking in the city centre would help struggling businesses by encouraging more shoppers.
Owner Brian Smith, who has been trading for 42 years, said many of his customers travel from as far as Teesside and York.
"I think one of the biggest problems in the city centre at the moment is parking," he said.
"People need their vehicles to come into the city shop.
"People are saying that they are finding it a nightmare to get into the city at the moment and park.
"If the council don't do something about it - you can see the amount of stores that are closing down now - I can see the problem getting bigger and bigger."
He continued: "We are still here and still strong but that's simply because I have been here for 42 years. If I had been a new business it would have been really tough.
"I feel sorry for people who have set up businesses and they have gone through this pandemic.
"It's not been easy."
Centre for Cities said that Newcastle policymakers should run campaigns to encourage leisure visitors back to the city centre, when safe to do so, and provide part-time season tickets to encourage workers back to the office.
Andrew Carter, chief executive of Centre for Cities, said: "To help [the north and midlands] avoid a wave of high street closures this year the Government must set out how it plans to increase peoples’ skills and pay to give them the income needed to sustain a thriving high street."
A spokesperson for Newcastle City Council said: “There are 10,000 parking spaces already in the city centre. We recognise that people like using their cars but we are working with bus and other transport operators to encourage more sustainable forms of public transport which reduces pollution and congestion.
“Good public transport links is one of the drivers to a vibrant and sustainable city centre, and this remains our priority. We have adopted many new initiatives during the pandemic to support city centre businesses through very challenging times and we have further plans to aid the recovery of the city centre in the coming months and years.”
NE1 and Eldon Square have also been contacted for comment.
