A small but well known town’s high street is struggling. Recent reports have suggested that the High Street in Ramsgate, Kent, is going through a crisis. Fresh data claims that a staggering 65 shop units in Ramsgate High Street — almost one in five — are empty. That’s significantly higher than the national average. According to local MP Polly Billington and a local regeneration group, the town’s retail vacancy rate stands at approximately 24% — the highest across the UK and significantly above the national average of 14%.
The figures differ depending on sources, with Thanet District Council claiming the town’s vacancy rate sits at 12.5% — though it acknowledges this remains “still higher than it would like”. What’s surprising is that more than half of the shops are not even advertised as ‘for sale’ or to rent, it is claimed. 60% of these vacant units aren’t available for rental, reportedly staying locked and abandoned due to ownership by absent landlords and major investment portfolios, according to community regeneration group and CIC Ramsgate Space.
Established by Ramsgate locals Louise Brooks and Georgina Street, Ramsgate Space is a community interest company dedicated to addressing the town’s soaring shop vacancy crisis. Louise is essentially tracking empty shops and finding businesses to fill them.
Speaking to Channel 4 News, Louise said: “Empty shops matter because they touch on so many different components of the local life. They impact on how people feel about the place.
“You see empty shops and it massively impacts on how people feel. You go into a town centre and you’re just surrounded by boarded up shops — you don’t feel good about the place that you live in.”
Ramsgate Space is currently occupying premises at 17 Albert Court on a temporary lease, with the council-owned building having been provided on a “meanwhile use” arrangement by Thanet District Council to back the project.
Since assuming control, Louise has observed a dramatic transformation in this compact area alone. The neighbouring square has undergone renovation, with CCTV systems installed to tackle antisocial behaviour. This enhancement has been further supported by Ramsgate Space’s establishment and the introduction of Staple Stores, a coffee shop that relocated to York Street this year, taking over from the previous Corby’s Tea Rooms, which shut down in 2023.
Louise Brooks told the Express: “Before the coffee shop moved in, there was drug dealing, drug taking, violence, it was really bad here. Since we opened our doors, the antisocial behaviour has dropped off.”
Discussing how Ramsgate Space is transforming the bleak situation on the high street, Louise revealed: “When we set ourselves up we had a vacancy rate of around 18%, but that’s dropping now. We had three banks close in one year. Then Wilko, Argos, New Look, and WHSmith. All gone. That level of multinational retreat at once was devastating.
“We were really dependent on large multinationals, and they all disappeared at the same time. We didn’t want to sit around saying ‘everything’s rubbish.’ We had to change the narrative. There’s not a lack of demand. It’s that 60% of the empty shops weren’t even available. They were locked up by absentee landlords or big investment portfolios.”
Explaining Ramsgate Space’s role in the High Street crisis, Louise shared: “We’ve started providing business support to businesses who want to come in and take a space. Though they’re taking those spaces on realistically. They understand the challenge that they’re taking on.”
Alex Gillings of Salt House Barbers, and Lara Clifton of Screaming Alley Cabaret, are two such business owners who are ready for the challenge.
Alex moved to Ramsgate 4 years ago and built up her barber shop business in the back room of a pub. Now, she’s ready for a place of her own. She’s joined by Laura, who’s preparing to open a cabaret club in the same unit.
Alex told Channel 4 News: “We both needed a space and in this economic climate — you need to think outside the box. We both have the same ethos I think, so working together felt like a natural thing.
“It feels like we’re at the start of something. That’s what it feels like — we’re at the start of something really good.”
Lara added: “It’s not only sharing the rent, the bills, and everything like that which we’re now sharing — we’ve basically shared the whole journey of looking at places and negotiating with landlords who were trying to charge us what we thought was too much. Yeah, we’ve got big plans now that didn’t seem as possible before we had a space on the High Street.”
Delving further into the High Street crisis, Ramsgate Space found there were 65 shops in their area that were vacant. Not just that, nearly two-thirds of them weren’t being actively marketed with an agent. So they weren’t just standing empty — there was no significant effort being made to find a business that would take them on.
Michelle Elliot, founder of Differences Not Disabilities, currently runs a stall in the market selling equipment to support children with special needs. She hopes to be one of the businesses that can get a space on the High Street, but at the moment, she just can’t afford it.
Michelle told Channel 4 News: “We looked at one [vacant shop] just up the way there, it is a big unit but it is accessible and that’s what we need. We need people to be able to get in with wheelchairs and stuff like that. So it’s a lovely big space there that recently emptied out, but it’s still sitting there empty. The cost is too high for us. We can’t do it.”
Property groups on the other hand are arguing that big landlords have no interest in leaving shops empty, pointing the finger instead at government taxes.
Morgan Garfield, Chair of the Retail Board at British Property Federation, told Channel 4 News: “Business rates are taxed on property — they’re taxed on space, they’re taxed on employment. If the government were to genuinely transform business rates, we’d be in a situation where shops would let and news businesses would open.”
Major transformations are approaching for Ramsgate, as the town council has secured substantial £20 million in Government funding through the Plan for Neighbourhoods programme. This investment, spanning the next decade, represents a crucial chance to breathe new life into the town’s high street.