Coffee shops are slowly overtaking pubs on the high street
Great Britain absolutely loves coffee, and figures from the Local Data Company between 2011-2016 have shown that the number of cafes, fast food outlets and restaurants has increased by 6,000 during that time period.
This doesn’t mean that we now have more coffee shops than pubs, there are still more pubs, but it may be slowly changing.
The figures provided by the Local Data Company were crunched and analysed by the BBC, with cafes and fast food outlets increasing to the tune of around 9% during the 5 year period 2011 to 2016.
Focusing solely on heart of town centres, the research does not take into account the surrounding areas, which does account for yet another large portion of coffee shops and cafes.
The largest growth was experienced in the West Midlands and Yorkshire and the Humber, those regions experiencing the highest leisure industry growth of anywhere in England.
Greater London, somewhat surprisingly, was the only area that recorded a decrease in these locations, a 0.3% downturn showing that our capital city may have too much of a good thing.
Figures for Northern Ireland were not included within the study, and also didn’t include shops. With the data being collected by people actually walking up and down the country’s high streets.
Despite the ever-increasing amount of cafes and coffee shops that are cropping up up and down the country, pubs still make up 16% of all our town centre leisure facilities – so I wouldn’t worry about your ability to nip for a quick after work drink!
The traditional haunt for many Britons is coming under threat from our new favourite hangout — the coffee shop.
Bookmakers (7%), cafes (13%) and takeaways (17%) were all included within the top 10.
On the flip side to this data, there are plenty of businesses that are disappearing from our high streets, near the top of the list were travel agents, which saw a 31% decrease in locations from 2011 to 2016.
But it’s not all rosy for our coffee shops and cafes, incredibly common in the late 90s and early 2000s when technology wasn’t quite as ubiquitous as it is today, the Internet cafe has seen a massive 45% decline in the same time period.
With internet access more accessible than at any other time before, smartphone usage exploding during the past 5 years, it’s likely we’ll see the humble internet cafe disappear in the very near future.
The worst information to come to light from this study is clearly that our Go-karting heritage has dwindled even further. 48% of locations closed in the five years since 2011. What a depressing thought…
If you happen to be a new coffee shops startup or are looking to open a coffee shop, then you’ve found yourself in exactly the right place. As experts in all things coffee we can provide almost everything that you could possibly need to get up and running.
Coffee machines, accessories to the counters you serve from, we have the lot — and even more still.
To discuss your options or to speak to a friendly member of our team about starting your coffee shop dream, then please call 01977 687 580 and let’s get the ball rolling.