Ghost town Bath
Sky-high rates forcing shops to shut ...even in an affluent city with five million visitors a year
FOR centuries Bath has been a byword for genteel elegance that has attracted millions of visitors.
But should any tourists from long ago return today, they would be in for an unpleasant surprise.
The once-thriving Georgian streets are suffering from the modern curse of sky-high business rates, forcing shops to close down and turning Bath into a ghost town, according to campaigners.
One of them, Luke John Emmett, has been taking photos of empty store fronts to highlight the Somerset city’s plight and says there are now 42 vacant lots in the centre alone.
The collapse is an embarrassment for Bath, a Unesco World Heritage Site that attracts nearly five million visitors a year with its spa baths dating back to Roman times. Mr Emmett, 32, said: ‘It’s shocking that so many empty properties sit around Bath. It’s not good enough – it really brings the look of the city down and is just such a shame. We can’t have all these empty voids there.’
That such a problem is hurting one of the most affluent cities in the country is a grim indicator of the hammering less well-off areas are suffering.
Thousands of retail jobs have been lost and 60,000 stores have closed across the country in the five years to 2017 as customers shun the high street for online rivals such as Amazon, which make billions but pay little tax.
The Daily Mail is campaigning for reform of business rates, a fair tax on online shopping titans and cuts to parking charges to help town and city centres thrive.
Although business rates are not set by councils, local authorities have the power to offer relief for shops.
But many councils have been accused of pocketing as much cash as possible through rates while doing nothing to support their high streets. Analysis by Altus Group consultants reveals there have been only £21million of business rate reductions in this financial year, or 0.07 per cent of the predicted total £31billlion rates bill.
Mr Emmett, a member of the campaign group Bath Deserves Better, said he counted eight empty stores on a single street.
He urged Bath and North East Somerset Council to ‘go back to the Government and fight for a better deal’ for the city.
Mr Emmett added: ‘The council doesn’t have to accept [the decline of the high street].’
Bath shopkeeper Chantal Pilon, owner of Chanii B Shoes, said: ‘Bath is in a bad state when you look at the empty shops on the high street.
‘It’s embarrassing when people come from all over the world to visit the city.
‘Sometimes I wonder, what am I paying for? I don’t have rubbish collected like the restaurants, I need more space than I have, but my business rates are still so high.’
Paul Myers, a Bath and North East Somerset councillor and cabinet member for economic and community regeneration, said: ‘I recognise that the retail vacancy rate has grown in central Bath, which is a concern we are addressing.
‘We understand people’s livelihoods and jobs are at risk… and we take this very seriously.’
The council offers independent retailers free business advice.
‘Fight for a better deal’