Scarborough and Malton have highest shop vacancy rates

North Yorkshire Council bosses have said they are working to address the high rates of vacant shop premises in Scarborough and Malton.

​The town centre vacancy rate in Scarborough is almost two and a half times that of Whitby and York, recently published data reveals.

​Scarborough has the highest town centre vacancy rate in the county at 18.6 per cent, followed by Malton at 17.1 per cent, and Ripon at 12.8 per cent, while Whitby has a vacancy rate of just 7.6 per cent.

​The national high street vacancy rate across the UK stood at 13.8 per cent at the end of the fourth quarter of 2024, Savills reported.

​Cllr Mark Crane, executive member for open to business, said: “It’s something we can do more on and we’d like to work with communities and businesses to bring some of those shops back into use.”

​A council performance report for the third quarter states that “vacancy rates are still below the national average” and that the data for Scarborough is “skewed due to the Brunswick Centre redevelopment, and this obviously impacts the initial optics of the data return”.

​The report states that “by removing the Brunswick Centre from the calculations, [the rate for] Scarborough, whilst still high, would fall from 18.6 per cent to 15.8 per cent vacant”.

​The shop vacancy rate for York city centre was 7.5 per cent as of last November – the lowest level recorded since July 2023 – according to the York Business Improvement District.

​Cllr Crane said: “We are working to look at vacancy rates in Scarborough and, surprisingly, in Scarborough and Malton, they are in line with national averages, though that average is still higher than we’d like it to be

​“We’re hoping the Brunswick will be redeveloped and that will be a significant boost to the high street once it’s completed.”

​The former Brunswick Centre, renamed Square One, is being redeveloped into an Odeon multiplex cinema by the Scarborough Group.

​Cllr Crane said the council was also looking at whether it could “get hold of some property and make that available to people who want to start up a business, it’s something we’re looking at, and would like to do.”

​“But we own no shops in the town and we don’t set the rates or the rents,” he added.

​“Members should understand that going forward, high streets will not be what we have known growing up. We have seen massive increases in the likes of Amazon, and town centres are increasingly becoming places of cafés and places for people to meet.”

​At a public meeting of the United Scarborough residents’ group on Monday (February 16) concerns were raised about the high number of empty town centre businesses.

​Several residents said that while large chains were moving out of town centres, business rates were often “far too expensive for independent local businesses”, and also noted the “excessive number of e-cigarette and gambling shops”.

​Embracing a café culture was supported by many of those in attendance, with one resident noting that “we have a better variety of cafés than York”.

​The NYC performance report said: “All towns had a lower vacancy rate than the Great Britain average, except Scarborough and Malton – this was the case for the previous KPI return.

​“Vacancy in most town centres has either increased marginally or remained the same in recent months.

​“The high street alone in Scarborough, without the Brunswick, has seen a fall in vacancy rates, from 18.9 per cent in 2024 to 15.8 per cent in 2025.

​“This shows progress in the right direction, and we know where the issues are and are proactively addressing them.”

​