Black Friday boost fails to materialise for Britain’s high streets December 9, 2025 UK retail sales failed to meet shops’ expectations this Black Friday as pre-budget jitters dampened spending. Retail sales increased by 1.4 per cent year on year in November, against a decline of 3.3 per cent in November 2024 and below the 12-month average growth of 2.5 per cent, according to the British Retail Consortium (BRC). [...]
Pubs outraged as Selfridges and Harrods see business rates slashed December 8, 2025 Rachel Reeves is facing a backlash for a cut to business rates for the likes of Selfridges and Harrods while many pubs and restaurants see a huge hike. Analysis has found that a new shake-up of business rates will cause the tax bill of luxury stores to fall, while smaller venues face double-digit increases. Harrods’ [...]
River Island sets sights on profit after losing almost £125m December 8, 2025 River Island lost almost £125m in the year before being saved from the brink of administration, it has been revealed. The high street retailer’s restructuring plan, which was approved in August, involved 33 stores being closed with the loss of hundreds of jobs. The proposal also included rents being reduced – some to zero – [...]
Getting rid of business rates won’t fix Britain’s high streets December 5, 2025 The decline of the UK’s high streets has been well-documented over the past decades, with the finger variously pointed at structural and policy changes. At the 2025 Labour Party conference, the Prime Minister said that the UK’s high streets are “struggling against the tide of decline”, promising to replace the business rates system and level [...]
Argos treated like an ‘unloved child’ by Sainsbury’s December 4, 2025 Argos “is not performing to the best of its ability” and the strategy of its owner, FTSE 100 giant Sainsbury’s, has left it like an “unloved child”, according to an analyst. The future of Argos was thrust into the headlines after Sainsbury’s confirmed in September that it was in discussions to sell the retailer to Chinese e-commerce giant [...]
Weight-loss drugs ‘fundamentally changing’ the way Brits eat December 3, 2025 The rise of weight-loss drugs is starting to affect supermarket sales, with experts warning that the sector is unprepared for the change this Christmas. More than one in ten Brits is set to host someone on GLP-1 medication this year, prompting less alcohol and fewer sweets on the menu. “There is a worry that Christmas [...]
Candy Kittens: ‘We want to be the Unilever of challenger brands’ December 2, 2025 When Ed Williams and Jamie Laing first set up Candy Kittens in 2012, they dreamt of being bought by Unilever. Now – 13 years later – they’ve bought healthy snack brand Graze from the consumer giant for a fraction of what Unilever paid for it in 2019. “Everybody’s supermarkets are dominated by big players,” co-founder [...]
What is mushroomcore and why is it taking over the high street? December 2, 2025 After counting five different items in a Brighton homeware shop emblazoned with mushrooms, the case was clear: the humble fungus has risen from the mascot of underground hippy culture to a grandma-friendly motif, hewn into everything from tea towels to tiles. It’s not just cutesy seaside emporiums: “Mushroomcore” is a sartorial expression. Bella Hadid, Fiorucci [...]
Food inflation slows as Black Friday sales dominate shops December 2, 2025 Food inflation in the UK slowed in November after months of significant increases as Black Friday discounts filtered into Britain’s shops. Food inflation decreased to three per cent year on year in November, against growth of 3.7 per cent in October and below the three-month average of 3.7 per cent, according to the British Retail [...]
The ugly shoe that defined 2025: The New Balance snoafer December 1, 2025 What does it say about society today that the shoe that most succinctly and perfectly typifies it also happens to be its ugliest? I am talking, of course, about the New Balance snoafer. Officially called the 1906L, it boasts the silhouette of a penny loafer and the comfort of a sneaker, though it doesn’t fully [...]