The New Face of Britain's High Streets
As the Government sets out its vision for revitalising Britain's high streets, The Sunbed Association argues that the contribution of service-based businesses, including professional tanning salons, deserves greater recognition.
The Government has just published its new strategy for revitalising Britain's high streets. At its heart is a simple but important message. The high streets of the future cannot look like those of the past.
Hope on the High Street, published at the end of October, sets out plans to tackle empty premises, support independent businesses, attract investment, and give local communities more control over their town centres.
But perhaps its most important message is about accepting the changing nature of the high street itself as town centres shift from retail to a more service-based model. As the strategy puts it, high streets must offer "experiences, services and goods that people cannot access online."
That is a recognition that Britons’ retail habits have undergone a profound shift in recent decades. According to the Government's own figures, online retail now accounts for more than a quarter of retail spending, compared with just 4% in 2008. That is a major structural change. It is not something that can be reversed by nostalgia for the department stores and familiar retail chains that once dominated our town centres.
The Government recognises this. Its new strategy identifies 57% of larger high streets as 'everyday high streets', serving local communities through a mix of retail, hospitality, leisure and personal care.
This is the new face of Britain's high streets. And, according to Gary Lipman, Chairman of The Sunbed Association, the new strategy should act as a wake-up call for national and local policymakers when it comes to supporting service-led businesses like tanning salons.
"Too much of the debate about our high streets focuses on the businesses we've lost rather than the businesses that are helping to keep them alive," Lipman says. "Of course, we all want thriving shops and successful retailers. But we also need to accept that consumer habits have changed. Professional tanning salons are part of that changing economy. They bring people into town centres, provide local employment and contribute to the commercial life of their communities."
The scale of that contribution may surprise some policymakers. Initial economic impact modelling undertaken for The Sunbed Association suggests there are around 4,200 dedicated tanning premises across the UK. Together, they support an estimated 8,400 direct jobs and generate annual turnover of approximately £476 million.
And behind those figures are thousands of individual businesses. Many are female-founded and independently owned. They employ local people. They occupy commercial premises. They pay rent, business rates, purchase supplies, and contribute to the local economy. Crucially, they also provide reasons for regular return visits to the high street.
A customer visiting a tanning salon might stop for a coffee, collect a prescription, or pick up groceries on the way home. That additional spending is difficult to quantify, but the wider principle is well understood. The more reasons people have to visit a high street, the more opportunities there are for neighbouring businesses to benefit.
Indeed, the Government's strategy describes precisely this relationship. Successful high streets depend on a virtuous cycle of footfall, spending, occupied premises and investment. When businesses attract customers, other businesses have a better chance of thriving.
For independent tanning salon owners, this is not an abstract economic theory. It is the reality of running a business in a local community.
"We're not just a business that happens to be on the high street. We're part of it," says Lorraine Livesey, a salon owner from Rochdale. "Our customers come in regularly. They know the other businesses nearby and often combine their visit with shopping or other errands. A busy high street is good for everyone."
That is why the Government's renewed focus on independent businesses is welcome. The new strategy recognises the importance of affordable premises, support for small enterprises, and action to tackle the rising costs of doing business.
But there is also a wider lesson for government. If we want to build successful high streets, we must recognise the businesses that are already helping them adapt, not just those that fit a traditional picture of what a high street should look like.
"We welcome the Government's ambition to revitalise our town centres," says Gary Lipman. "But we cannot build the high streets of tomorrow by ignoring the businesses that are already investing in them today. Our industry supports thousands of jobs and hundreds of millions of pounds in economic activity. These are real businesses, employing real people, often in communities where every occupied shopfront and every customer visit matters.”
The Government acknowledges that there is no single solution to the challenges facing Britain's high streets. Different towns need different approaches. But one thing is certain. No amount of public investment is going to recreate the shopping habits of a generation ago.
The businesses that will shape the future of our town centres are not the ones that shaped their past. They are the businesses that respond to how people live today, including the 6 million Britons who regularly visit their local professional tanning salon.
"We're not asking for special treatment” Lipman says. “We're just asking for recognition that professional tanning salons are part of the modern high street economy. They deserve to be included in any conversation about its future."
