37% of Berriew Street empty

It has become one of the talking points of the year so far.

Welshpool’s Town Clerk, Robert Robinson, proclaimed to the nation on ITV’s Wales This Week that the town was doing better than most during current hardships.

But his boasts of easy parking, a proactive council looking to fill empty premises and bunting sparked a huge debate that divided opinion.

Critics say the programme concentrated on one main street only and gave the impression that only three shops were empty. It avoided the town’s black spots and the abandoned developments by Tesco.

Doubters claim that the one-way system, failure to attract a large hotel chain and introduction of Tesco has torn the soul out of the town centre, but planners have stood firm.

So MyWelshpool decided to find out for ourselves whether it really was faring better than most.

Of course, only an in-depth analysis of collective income comparisons would be the solid indication of whether we are holding our own, but we decided to look at the number of shops/businesses standing empty in the town centre compared to the national average. This is regarded as a benchmark of a town’s state of health.

The town council told us that there are 165 shop or business frontages, and we counted 17 currently standing empty. But, on further investigation, several premises including the (previously) Co-op, Border Mobility and Bluefin have been let to new tenants for use. We are aso aware of two that are set to close so, by the time summer eventually arrives, we calculate that 12 town centre shop/business premises are expected to be empty.

The national average is believed to be as high as 18% in Wales, with places like Newport reporting a shop vacancy rate of 28%. But our sums show that Welshpool does in fact boast one of the lowest in the country at 7.3%, with Cwmbran the lowest at 6%.

However, while the overall picture is rosier than you may have thought, we also found out that Berriew Street (pictured) currently has a shop vacancy rate of 37%. Puzzle Square and the old ‘Back Road’ added together is showing at 16.5%.

It has to be pointed out that this is by no means an in-depth analysis of the state of the town, and it does not show how the town centre businesses are actually doing trade-wise. And there is, of course, the argument that there are too many charity shops, hairdressers, estate agents and food outlets.

But, as the town council says, surely it is better for them to be used than standing empty? The debate will rumble on but in the meantime, Welshpool businesses will be hoping that the town unites behind them to pull through.