Brighton shopping: How the high street has changed since the pandemic

Figures from Ordnance Survey show the high street has had a steep decline in the number of banks since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020.

But there has been an increase in beauty shops as well as tattoo parlours and cafés.

According to the statistics, banks across Brighton’s ten high streets have declined by around 16.7 per cent since 2020. This is almost double the decline across the South  East and Great Britain.

Similarly, the number of fish and chip shops in the city has declined by the around six per cent, compared with a two per cent increase across the region.

Brighton has seen the largest increase in supermarket chains, tattoo parlours, fast food restaurants and cafes.

Tattoo parlours across the UK have risen, and in Brighton the number on the high street has risen by around two per cent.

Nine new restaurants have been opened in Brighton in the last two years, an 11 per cent increase.

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Seventeen new cafés opened, a 23 per cent rise.

The news comes as Ordnance Survey seeks to assess the effect of the coronavirus pandemic on high streets across the UK.

North Street in Brighton

Many banks have been closed across the country as people moved towards online banking while branches were forced to shut due to lockdown restrictions.

Nightclubs and department stores have also declined nationally due to the crippling effect on the economy.

Meanwhile, businesses that cannot operate online have benefited from the increased space on Britain’s high streets freed up by the loss of other stores.

The study by the ONS worked by comparing the shops that were open in high streets in March 2020, around the beginning of the pandemic, to those in March 2022.