Cambridge tops UK high streets in Newmark 2025 vitality rankings
Chelsea climbs to second as mid-sized cities and shopping hubs gain ground amid cost pressures and ongoing retail reforms
Cambridge has been named the top UK retail hub for 2025, according to Newmark’s Vitality Rankings. The compact university city’s combination of affluence, a growing student population and a bustling night‑time economy helped it maintain the lead position as Britain’s most thriving shopping destination, the real estate adviser said in its annual assessment.
Chelsea in west London rose from 10th to second place, buoyed by its high‑end and aspirational mix of shops, pubs and bars along King’s Road and Sloane Square. The Saatchi Gallery remains a cultural anchor for the area, which helped sustain foot traffic and spend. Kingston upon Thames came in third, followed by Bath city centre, Bluewater shopping centre in Dartford, Wimbledon Village and Milton Keynes. Knightsbridge in London, Leeds and Westfield Stratford City also made the top 10. Newmark noted that smaller cities such as Bath, Brighton and Edinburgh continued to rise in the rankings thanks to generally affluent customer bases, while larger cities and major shopping centres posted the biggest gains in performance and footfall this year. Despite an uptick in office attendance, hybrid working is helping retailers boost takings, with shoppers in larger cities or shopping centres making bigger shopping trips rather than top‑up purchases.
London’s King’s Cross and Canary Wharf also saw significant improvements in the retailer hub rankings, thanks to dependable transport links and high levels of worker footfall. The report said Canary Wharf rarely struggled to find new retail tenants, noting that workers and passengers help sustain catering and leisure offers that include high‑quality, fashionable brands, which in turn helps create destination experiences in their own right.
At the other end of the spectrum, some locations slipped in the rankings. Cobham in Surrey fell to 21st after finishing second a year earlier, while Oxford city centre dropped from 14th to 20th and Harrogate slid from 17th to 25th. Geographically, more top‑50 hubs this year were located in the Midlands and the north compared with 2024, with Birmingham and Glasgow highlighted for strong performance.
Will Chamberlain, associate director of new business at Newmark, said retailers are prioritising prime high‑footfall locations that deliver strong sales and visibility. Store numbers are being reduced in smaller locations with lower footfall, while retailers are focusing on creating memorable and personalized in‑store experiences to drive spend.
The findings provide a snapshot of a sector navigating a challenging macro backdrop. Retailers and shoppers alike face rising costs and higher taxes, with the budget presented by the chancellor last year adding about £7 billion in upward cost pressures for shops. Retail bosses have warned that businesses are being taxed out as jobs in the sector fall to new lows. Latest Office for National Statistics figures showed 2.78 million people employed in retail in June, down 97,000 from a year earlier, with nearly 400,000 retail jobs lost in the past decade. The British Retail Consortium warned that the worst could be yet to come, while UK Hospitality said pubs, restaurants and other venues are also under strain.
Chamberlain argued that reviving the UK’s high streets requires collaboration among government, local authorities and private stakeholders. He cited Gloucester City Centre as a successful example of public‑private investment and targeted placemaking, where redevelopment of underused retail space into mixed‑use developments has helped rebalance supply and boost vitality. Local authorities play a critical role in shaping these spaces—ensuring they are safe, attractive and conducive to retail and leisure—and, he said, reforming business rates at a national level is essential. A more flexible tax system, he contended, could better support the long‑term vitality of retail centres across the UK.
The Newmark assessment underscores a bifurcated picture for Britain’s high streets: pockets of resilience and growth amid broader cost pressures and policy headwinds. While the top hubs attract investment and visitors, policymakers and retailers caution that much depends on local collaboration, targeted investment and adaptive business models as the retail sector continues to confront structural change and shifting consumer habits.