What exactly will take the place of vape shops on our ‘hollowed-out’ high streets? - Jayne Dowle

Andy Burnham’s ambitious plan to revive our ‘hollowed-out’ high streets will only work if he balances the other side of the coin, supporting small businesses to fill the spaces left behind by all those vape shops.

Hot on the heels of the new powers the Prime Minister is granting to local councils and communities over what establishments can open in their localities, his government also announces a crackdown on zero hours contracts. Does he not see how contradictory this appears?

The move, whilst welcome for the millions of ‘gig economy’ workers who face constant uncertainty over how many hours they work and how much they earn, will cost businesses up to £2.9bn a year, and that’s by the government’s own analysis.

Zero hours contracts, whilst sadly abused by unscrupulous employers, are a mainstay of retail and hospitality. In this economic climate, asking responsible small business owners, already under severe financial pressure, to underwrite a certain number of hours per week will push even more over the edge.

All of this begs the question - what has Labour ever done for independent businesses? Speak to many of those small business owners and they will say ‘nothing’.

The recent rise in the minimum wage benefits workers, but puts the onus on employers, as does the increase in National Insurance contributions paid by employers, from 13.8 per cent to 15 per cent, which started in April 2025.

Cuts to business rates, announced by Burnham shortly after he took office, benefit only pubs, clubs and live music venues, not cafés, coffee shops and restaurants, which should be the backbone of any thriving high street. The ongoing cost of living crisis - energy bills especially - add to the financial burden independent businesses carry.

In the last month alone, I’ve been saddened to learn of the demise of three local businesses I’m familiar with; a beauty salon and a coffee shop on busy main roads and a town centre gift shop. All these ventures, owned by women, also created jobs for others. All have closed because of increased financial pressures, running costs and lack of footfall as disposable incomes shrink.

I’m sure that in Andy Burnham’s ideal world, these businesses would be just what he imagines should fill the spaces left by the vape shops, adult gaming centres and rogue businesses he is rooting out.

Yet if such businesses are already buckling under pressure, how does he presume that others will be in strong enough positions to take their place? This disconnect between hope and reality is not peculiar to Burnham, but seems endemic in Labour’s approach to commerce. Yes, the Conservatives didn’t seem to care as high streets fell apart, but Labour must formulate a more robust solution.

Under the previous rules, vape shops and adult gaming centres can open without planning permission under the same rules that apply to coffee shops and clothing retailers.

And open they certainly have. Analysis by the Centre for Social Justice finds that since 2016, Britain has lost nearly 1,800 pubs and bars, while the number of vape/tobacco shops increased to almost 2,200. Similar concerns have been raised about the clustering of gambling premises in local communities, particularly in more deprived areas.

As for “dodgy” corner shops, questionable barbers and scruffy mini-marts, all of which have been found to be fronts for organised crime and money laundering, how they arrive in such numbers seems shrouded in mystery. Presumably, as long as they pay their business rates, local councils turn a blind eye.

The problem is, as the government rightly acknowledges, the loss of useful shops, services and community spaces has left many people feeling like the places they grew up in are changing beyond recognition. A declining high street is a depressing place, not one to linger in and enjoy, but to rush through without stopping. Town after town, city after city, even village after village, when the landscape is one long stretch of unappealing retail outlets, garish signs and shabby shopfronts, it makes the whole country feel like a dump.

Backing Burnham’s plans, Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government Angela Rayner talks tough: “People know when their high street isn’t working for them. Whether it’s the vape shop or betting shops that’s opened with no say from locals, the shopfront that’s seen better days, or the sense that nobody’s in control… That’s why we’re giving local leaders the power to say no to what doesn’t belong on their high street, and the tools to fix it themselves.”

This however, does not solve the bigger problem - what to put in their place?