High street lowdown

More than half of independent shopkeepers are hopeful about the high street, despite a current crisis.

Fewer than one in five said they were worried, a poll to launch the government-run Great British High Street Awards 2018 found.

Four out of five shoppers said they would miss the high street if it were no longer there. But only a quarter described their local centre as improving. Asked what would get them to visit their high street more often, half said extra shops, 36% better parking or transport facilities, and 27.8% extended opening hours.