This insightful video sheds light on the critical issue plaguing our nation's high streets. The exodus of retailers, banks, and pubs from our towns and cities, driven by soaring landlord costs, business rates, and the escalating prices of energy and staffing, demands urgent attention. It's high time we engage in a meaningful dialogue about the future of these colossal vacant commercial spaces, standing empty for years. Rather than allowing them to remain idle or merely adorning them with picturesque images, there's a pressing need to explore innovative solutions. Repurposing these spaces for residential or leisure use could breathe new life into our communities. Let's collectively envision and advocate for a revitalized and sustainable approach, acknowledging that waiting for a retailer that may never return is not a viable solution.

In January 1978 I looked for a retail premises in York centre and had a choice of ONE site. A couple were retiring after 32 years and were offering it for sale. I took it because I happened to be in the right place on the right day. Times have certainly changed.

Great to see these older sites, and all the available retail space.

I was up there 4 years ago and everywhere was open had a good time for a weeks holiday I hope our lovely country doesn't keep shutting everywhere down 😢thanks for sharing this video my friend

Out of all of these, this is the one that is the most depressing, never in my wildest dreams did I think that York would be in a position like this, especially in a street like The Shambles. We started to notice this the last couple of times we had been to York but was hoping it was just a temp thing, looks like it is not. Good to see Browns still going strong, a place we both enjoy visiting for different reasons. It makes you wonder if there is a hidden agenda to force everyone to shop online, what a depressing future that would be if true. A Very Merry Christmas to you both, cheers Alan

Very nice walkway in the beginning part of the video. How tragic in what's happening in York with the closing of businesses and the number of homeless. Such a wonderful history. Thank you for this and have a wonderful day.

Wow interesting to see and such a shame, big changes going on for all of us as far as stores and businesses closing. I'm guilty myself of shopping only online anymore. Thank you for sharing 😮

It is so sad to see, it makes a beautiful city look so untidy and run down.

Hello “GENeration Xplorers”! Thank you for showing us such a wonderful video! I feel so happy! I look forward to your next work! Have a nice day!

Hi Nick and another thought provoking film. Believe I’ve said before on previous videos that we are now living in the online world. No need to venture out into the wind and rain, drive through crowded roads, pay extortionate parking fees and mingle with ignorant JBP’s. No, most certainly not. Just do everything on line, from ordering food, clothes, drinks etc. welcome to the 21st century Nick, it’s the future old boy. Adapt or die in the past, the choice is yours. On a more positive note you’ve given me food for thought and I’m going to do a film of my city centre, you might be surprised at the outcome. Many thanks for the inspiration. Mike 👍

Omg what is happening in the world. So sad this is happening....thanks for sharing this Jill and Nick

So sad to see many has closed 🔒 I wish you a very happy weekend and Merry Christmas 🎄

Definitely a sad issue all over the uk shops empty etc. Bad times, really. Glad the church survived the lightning 😮 Thanks for showing us around York . Hope you both have a good Christmas & New year ✌️👍👍 🎅

Hi Nick and Jill, gosh isn't it shocking, so many shops have closed down. We went a year ago and we hardly saw any shops closed. We love the Shambles. It is such a shame but i'm afraid a sign of the times especially with so many people shopping online these days. Amazing how the retail shopping centres are thriving. Great video you two. Thank you for sharing, take care and have a Wonderful Christmas x Julie and Tony x

Thanks for showing and sharing with us Nick and Jill, Merry Christmas and happy holidays ❤😊

I am really surprised that this is happening in York of all places, somewhere that I thought would be still thriving. We haven't been here in a few years, York is beautiful and The beautiful Shambles is suffereing ? Shame to see shops closing and sad to hear about Boots going too. York minster is absolutely stunning, shame this is happening so close to it but at leastv the walls can still be walked. Very sad . Have a wonderful blessed and peaceful Christmas ~ Anna 🎄❤️

Hi Nick and Jill! I was so shocked to see that there were so many closed shops in York, of all places. I was also shocked to hear that Boots is closing 300 stores nationwide. Out Top Man/ Top Shop in Norwich is still boarded up. On a positive note, coffee shops like Costa, Starbucks, and Pret a Manger seem to be thriving. Another very thought-provoking video. You do these so incredibly well. Best wishes and Merry Christmas! ❤🎄

Good evening my friend nice sharing so beautiful place thank you for sharing full watching from Philippines

We also have to remember that so many of these shops on high streets were owned and operated by middle-class people and large companies who are losing sales to firms like Amazon and these middle-class people are hurting as well but won't talk about it. And as you say austerities part of the problem but while the people at the bottom earn hardly enough to pay their rent mortgage all live on these shops will keep on closing. Throwing money high streets is no good if the people can't afford to shop in the High Street. Great series by the way I really enjoy it having driven nearly half a million miles around the UK over the last 10 years in more cities and towns and villages then I could throw a stick at.

Brilliant. Happiness and Joy to you. Have a blessed time. Greetings ~ Milan

Ugh, I'm so sad to hear that even York is not safe from the downward spiral of high street shops!!

Just as in your country across the pond has been declining for many many years. All caused by the same lot that is destroying civilised cities around the world

It’s such a shame to see, and a worry on where things will be in the next 5-10 years the rate things are closing down. I was in Richmond earlier in the week and it was sad to see shops there closing and being converted to flats - such a shame as places are never the same again. Have a wonderful Christmas, all the very best, David & Rachel ❤️🎄🎉🍻

Hi Nick and Jill a very thoughtful video. Who would have thought York would have had so many closed shops. Its such a beautiful and vibrant city makes you think what chance other towns and cities have. We agree at least if the shops have decorated frontages at least it helps keep the high street looking better. We are seeing a number of shops being converted into domestic premises which helps avoid the run down look . Thank you for sharing and making us aware of the issues. Happy Christmas to you both. Best wishes Dave and Dawn ❤

I live in York and the biggest problem is we are building more and more student accommodation there not spending in our city and local council charging excessive prices not looking after looking traders not good to see

Town or down town, or as you call it, city centre shopping, has been evolving since the arrival of suburban shopping centers. Retail world said, "let's bring the shops closer to the people". Malls were born! The other big change was the large retail stores and chains began extending their range. There was a trend to have ' everything under one roof' and the large department stores started selling everything under the sun. The need for specialised stores dwindled. True the designer stores popped up, those which were really just there to service the thicker wallet. Drugstore items, clothing, toys kitchenware. Any store could get a permit to sell a multitude of ware. I, as a child, had the experience of going to a toy store ( toys only) a book store ( books only) supermarket ( groceries/food only) Just walk round a supermarket Nick and what do you see? Motor oil, kitchenware ( pots and pans) even small goods like coffee machines and mixers. That's why shops are closing. And when a large chain shuts something down in 'down town' huge gaps appear. The what might have been the biggest draw card to venture down the main street has left the building and left the smaller retailers high and dry. It is a world wide trend. In the city I live city council members are looking at renovating many of these buildings to apartments on the upper level(s) and boutique type stores and restaurants and cafes down on ground level. Looking at creating a night life type of space, small theaters and galleries etc. Leaving the shopping in the malls to suburbia. Keeping cars out of the city center. It is sad this is happening - it is also a great opportunity to breath new life into towns and cities creating a new environment for future generations. Happy Holidays you two. 🌟🇳🇱🧑‍🎄🇳🇿🎄🥰

Wow i didn't know this world famous iconic street in York was having some retailing issues these days. This was an eye-opening video. Hopefully conditions will change in the next few years and the business will thrive again. 🙏🙏

It is so sad to see, that so many shops have closed. I agree, the larger shops are properly harder to sell or rent. There are a few closed shops, where I live, luckily most of them reopens again as as different shop. Merry Christmas.

We lost our Halifax years ago in the area of the city where I live , it was very useful

Brilliant yet a shame. Sad that the outlet place is packed, yet the shops are closing in the high street. Great job as usual 👍❤️

Such a shame what is happening to our high streets. Merry Christmas to you both, much love ❤

Shocking isn't it. Best wishes to you both and to your channel in 2024.

Thanks for sharing friend good content stay connected friend 👍👍

OMG absolutely love York so sad to see the same thing is happening in our local town of Shrewsbury with one shopping centre on the high street completely closed. 😢

I think not only this place suffered after the Pandemic. We are still lucky as of now having moving on for the better again. Happy Holidays 🎄. Greetings from Germany 🇩🇪.

I thought I was having a bout of de ja vu! It's sad to see so many shops closed up. The colorful paintings on the windows are nice though. Hopefully things will turn around in the next few years. I wish you two a pleasant Christmas.

I haven’t been to York since 2019, and shops were starting to close then, but I thought it could survive with the tourists. I live only 30 miles away in Hull which the city centre is dead, compared to the heyday of what I remember of the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. Internet and out of town shopping, and lately austerity, has taken away the soul of the high street.

Online shopping has an effect I think for some shops closing. Sad to see how things change and I’m sure some shops people love have gone. Here my favourite bank that I banked at since I was a kid closed down last year….now I have to go downtown and there’s never anywhere to park. Difficult for the times. Thanks for bringing more awareness Nick & Jill. 👍😊🇨🇦

I walked around Wigan today and it made me sad, its been devastated. It all looked dirty and grubby to, such a shame.

Thanks for another really interesting video in this series, Nick. They must take a toll, particularly when you are visiting places you have lived / worked that are so close to home. I spend a lot of time in York and it is definitely sad to see so many boarded up shops. It really does demonstrate that no amount of footfall or affluence in an area can save a struggling high street. It's a beautiful city and one with some truly inspirational spaces - the fantastic Spark York open community space being one example. I would hope it is a place where a more radical imagining of the high street may be possible, but only time will tell. Wishing you both a wonderful New Year and I hope you had a lovely Christmas. Emily x Just a note too in reply to another comment regarding the cost of the Minster, I believe the ticket is valid for a year. I nearly fell over when I took my cousin around and paid (through gritted teeth) the eye-watering price for a look around for two of us. However, I understand those tickets can be used for 12 months. This makes it much better value if you live local (although it is already free to residents and students in York) and expect to make repeat visits with visitors, but definitely hugely overpriced for a one-off visit!

What happened to this place looks quite unfortunate with the closures. Thanks for sharing all this! Very informative 😁 great tour as usual :) Hope you and Jill have a happy holiday and New Year 😁

Merry Christmas 🎄 It’s so sad .. beautiful city but the situation is so shocking

Hi Nick and Jill! Very nice content! An eye opener to proper authorities. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Very interesting! Greetings from Palma de Mallorca!

So sad to see and I'm so pleased we didn't notice this on our recent visit. On a previous visit a few years ago I was shocked at the amount of rough sleepers, beggars and drunks there were. I felt quite uncomfortable. But this didn't seem to be an issue on this visit, so hopefully people in need are being supported better in the York area. Maybe because of the nice old storefronts and some of the window art I just didn't realise. Have a great Christmas Guys 💜💜🎄🎄

Hi York is now geared for tourist which is fine but it’s a shame so much is closed Have you done a tour of Hull another great city with many closed shop units

Great video yet again nick it was always my late father's dream to own a Shop that we could live upstairs together cheers Stephen 🤠✌️,🍀

Merry Christmas 🎅🌲👏👍

PE own amount of commercial properties in some countries. These were purchased with high debts that have to be serviced. And in-turn leveraged for other investments. The key is the book value of these properties. Hence the rental rates remain despite vacancies (lower rent will reduce booked value which will in-turn impact leveraging).

York was on our list to visit this year - Christmas market! Thanks to illness in Wills work we never made it. This is so sad to see. The Shambles is beautiful. Energy prices, inflation and business rates have so much to answer for. Browns has gone from Chester! We now have to travel 20 miles if we need to actually use a bank, this country has gone downhill so much - and the an almost 5% rise in rail fares coming! Shocking! Interesting video. Cheers (PS - bring back Jilly!!) Happy Christmas 🍻

I'm looking forward to visiting York next summer. I've never seen inside the Minster and I CANNOT WAIT!

Shocking isn't it Nick...like you i would never have dreamt that York was having such a hard time, that said, York still seems to be doing much better than most places.

York is a big surprise! You would think with the massive footfall it gets it would do well. It does seem to have a huge city centre with thousands of shop units. What did the ratio of open and closed units look like? Some of those businesses like Clinton Cards, it is understandable that people are shopping elsewhere, they have charged a fortune for their stock for years. You can often find similar cards at other retailers for half the price. In today's financial crisis with many people having limited funds there isn't much room for greedy retailers either. Another great video Nick. Have a great Christmas with Jill 🎄

the name york comes from the nordic word yore, meaning tomorrow. this new pasture settled back in 1400bc was known as tomorrows land. yoreshire. and the capital was proclaimed yore, of yoreshire. eventually recorded as yorc in the year 200ad, and york from the norman control of the lands in 1085

Hello Nick & Jill, I was actually on time for the premiere, but I forgot you won’t doing one today. Watching Now… Have a fantastic Christmas🎄

Good information on the area. Boarded up and vape shops definitely lets you know what part of town. Happy New Year guys. Stay blessed in the next year. 🫵🙏

Blimey Nick I'm surprised 😲 last time we visited York it was great and really busy

Hi guys anoyher great hard hiting video .very well put togethet and its such ashame to see what a state our country is in .both of you have a gteat christmasx

This looks really desolated, it's sad to see all these closed shops.

You know your high street has died, when it’s full of charity and vape shops 👍👍👍

It's sad to see 😢 I'm actually probably the only person that has never bought online, or used amazon. Hopefully the future will see these places open back up at some point.

It’s so sad to see this .. I think it’s not only at your place - it affected Europe too specially where we live in TUSCANY - many cute artisanal and boutique shops closed changed with giant supermarket or dept store - small business is dying - this is heartbreaking to see it happening there too ..

Got to be the high rates and online shopping 🛍

going cheerful to end the year, eh? 🤭good to see it was fairly bustling in some places, but it's sad to see so many closed places. it looks like a pretty neat place. my mil was a fan when she visited. what's primark? you spoke so confidently about its existence. is it like british walmart? i wonder if they could turn some of those larger spaces into food court/halls. we have some of these here in chicago and they're pretty great. allows for people who can't afford a larger space to still have a brick and mortar. cheers to you both 🛴❤

Have visited York several times a year for the past 20 years and really enjoyed every visit, however the past 2 years it's really declined to the point where I feel it's not worth going. Feels like York is the same as the rest of the country, chipped, cracked and nearly broken atb Steve

Lets hope the older effluent population will spend their cash. We do have a similar situation in Australia with many closed shops. People are still eating out, just the retail is struggling. Lets hope things improve in the coming years. Sad to see. Merry Christmas Nicholas and Jill. 🌲🎅🏻♥

It’s so sad to see this situation, seems everywhere is same. Hopefully it will get better, but who knows. Still Merry Christmas to you guys 🎄🎅🌲🎉🎉

Hi mate cracking video enjoy it ..... Will u come too Sheffield please thanks

It's the same here. Here you can blame the landlords in putting up the rents too high

Seems like the closures are concentrated in certain parts of the city?

At one time../ long ago:.. this was a great place to be

Closed shops with nice pictures on the outside 🤦‍♂️ literally painting over the cracks. Amazing how this can happen in one of the most touristy and popular cities in the country. And as you say, the shops have been closed for a couple of years almost, proving that either the rents are too high or people are just going to Retail Parks like the one you mentioned at the end of the video (the American model)

Stay connected brother 🌸🌸🌸

I believe part of the problem is the changing of the customer bases desires, Nick. This is happening over here in the US too. People are going more to the new type malls you show at the end of the video or just online shopping. Instead of going out to eat, ordering delivery. I don't think there's much you can do about that. That being said there are some innovative ideas (The Tiff districts we have here that I've talked about before) and entertainment venues that could bring folks back in. Just by expanding the housing in this area would also bring folks in and keep them there somewhat. Taxes and other innovative ideas by government bodies could help support this. Otherwise, it will continue to decline. One of the definitions of insanity is to keep doing the things your doing and expect different results!

I can't believe Boots is closing stores!!!

I think with your title, the simple answer, no. Nowhere is safe now, continuing to plough sadly into decline. 5000 banks closing is crazy itself, next year i fear most of them will be it's all a push to go online and use technology. Crazy to see this in a thriving city like York, but truly nowhere is safe. Always enjoy your thought provoking videos Nick and Jill, you're both ace. Thank you for sharing and showing us the true realties of the high street x Merry Christmas my gorgeous friends x

Sheffield City Centre

I'm one of those middle ages people who enjoys visiting York! haha

Filey will be a great place to do one of these videos 🤙

Hi Nick, first of all I was like did I miss a premiere. Then it was phew you just published it. Looks like no where is safe. I blame a lot of it on the councils with their legalised theft. I wouldn't be surprised if those shops down the Shambles have to pay more hence some are shut. Online shopping has killed a lot off too. I know I shop online cos I hate shopping. Where there is shops there is people 😂or maybe not anymore. Quite the list of shops gone. Merry Christmas 👍Paul

Wow those storefronts look just like ours! I guess the real estate and homelessness is everywhere now. We have fingers crossed in November things will turn around before this nation falls apart!

I think the hay day of the High Street had its peak in the 90s 🥴

Time to turn them into homes.

Britain is changing at a very fast rate.....I personally don't recognise my country......I can only imagine or take a really good guess that they'll be snatched up and turned into mostly HMO. There are 113 currently in our hometown and another one is in a process on Dean Road so that'll be 114. Sad proper sad that our high street is disappearing.

its just maths. if housing is 8x the price it should be, there is no money left for shops. its that simple.

Try Mansfield, Glossop, Goole

Well great video !👍🏽👍🏽 But maybe its Government....young generation...and Amazon....😂😢😢

YOU HIT THE NAIL ON THE HEAD .... GREEDY LANDLORDS AND GREEDY COUNCIL RATES ... RIP YORK

Is Stockport town centre becoming ghost centre

Big thumbs up for your wonderful content my dear friend 🤩 please stay in touch ✅🔔🤩

Hi guys

Hello เป็นข้อมูลที่น่าสนใจมากเพื่อน Follow the next episode 🔔

come to knutsford, we have a thriving town centre with the lowest vacancy rate in cheshire

I hope you went to Betty’s for a cream tea.

20 years ago i would visit places like this, but since they ramped up the property prices, i dont want to go visit a boomers paradise. so i dont.

Short sighted and greedy City of York Council allowed a new shopping park to be built outside York which contributed greatly to the death of the city centre. The rates for businesses in town remain high and the useless Tories continue to allow the cost of living crisis to go on unchecked.

Like 38 Watching now had a family emergency ok now .

i don't like the use of the fish-eye lens though. Show it exactly how it is. No need to dramatize it with fake photographic stuff. The situation is plenty dire.

Brexit at its finest! 😭😭

Stay. Shop. Socialise. (sorry about the lack of homes).