Those living and working in one of Nottinghamshire’s most successful retail towns say empty shops are “snatched up” quickly – but is there a diversity problem?
The “bustling” town of Beeston, which sits just three miles southwest of Nottingham, is constantly alive, with swathes of shoppers marching its high street, its strong independent retailer scene and thousands of university students making it their new home.
Beeston’s shopping options are abundant, with most lining the sides of High Road, and it is the best performer in Broxtowe for having the least empty retail space. It is also one of the top retail-performing larger towns in Nottinghamshire.
Its vacancy rate, calculated based on the percentage of overall retail floor space that is empty, is four per cent, meaning it has a 96 per cent occupancy rate, far surpassing towns such as Mansfield and Worksop who each have vacancy rates of around 17 per cent.
The town has previously been said to have “its own mini bohemian culture” by Broxtowe Borough Council deputy leader, Greg Marshall (Brox Alliance), referencing the street murals, art, pub scene and independent businesses.
But some living and working in Beeston think the shopping scene can be “stagnant” and one says it has turned “rubbish”.
Dan Matwiejczuk, manager at trading card business, Jake’s Breaks, said Beeston was an “easy and nice” place, but said: “You only need so many charity shops, vape shops and coffee shops, more places like [Jake’s Breaks], more random things to draw people in, that are different.”
The shop is nearby to charity retailers Rainbows, Oxfam and Cancer Research. The British Heart Foundation and the Salvation Army are also on the high street.
He said: “Until you actually say it [out loud], you don’t realise there’s quite a lot of charity shops here because you’ve seen so many of them you put your blinkers on so you just walk by them… if you’re seeing the same thing day in day out and nothing but the same thing is opening again.
“The second you see one door shut, a place boarded up, within a few weeks or a month it’s back open again with something different, be it a charity shop or coffee shop, there’s not that much that’s changed.
“It’s quite stagnant in its ways, if it’s the same kind of thing, but it works and it’s working.”
Dan Pilkington, a online streamer at Jake’s Breaks, said the only empty retail space in the town centre he has noticed is the former Halifax branch, which closed in June 2026. This is due to be turned into a Starbucks.
He said once one shop closes, the unit is then “automatically snatched up”.
He added: “Seeing all the independent [businesses] here, if they said ‘oh, we’ve only just got enough [money]’ – you don’t see that, they [appear] thriving all the time.”
Despite the overload of similar shops, the co-workers praised the “bustling” evening and social culture in the town.
Eighty-three-year-old Betty, who has lived in Beeston for more than 50 years, said the town used to have a “wonderful High Road”.
She said: “We had butchers, banks, a pram shop, now I think it’s rubbish. There’s too many coffee shops, vape shops and barber shops.
“There’s nowhere in High Road where I can buy a dress. I have to get my daughter to take me to Long Eaton.
“[Back then] everyone knew each other, you could walk in a shop and have a good conversation with people… I don’t know what’s dragging it down now. It could be the high [rent] rates of the shops.”
Betty says she would like to see more clothes shops in the town, meaning she would not have to travel outside of Beeston.
Rory Archer has owned Greenhood Coffee on the high street for 11 years and says there is a “saturation” problem in the town with coffee shops, barbers and charity shops.
He said: “Yes [Beeston] is full but everything’s pretty much the same thing… [The Starbucks], that’ll be just across the road, so you’ve got Doughter, which has just opened, you’ve got Café Nero opposite, you’ve got us and then Starbucks [all near each other].
“We’ve got speciality coffee and it’s higher grade, but the average person probably doesn’t know or care – and then that just spreads the business.
“Stats wise, yeah 96 per cent occupied – by what? That could be all Starbucks, in theory.
“We’ve got Cafe Neros, Costa, Greenhood, Cartwheel, Pudding Pantry, Omnia, Yellow Wood, Cafe 94, Coffee & Cream, AM Coffee now. There’s only so many people in Beeston.”
Mr Archer branded Beeston as ‘villagey’, growing up nearby and frequently visiting the town since being a child in 1995.
He has mixed opinions towards how the town has changed, saying it has improved, but feeling as though the introduction of the tram “messed up” viable businesses for a time and the “boom” his business experienced before the pandemic tapered off. He added “it just feels like no one cares”.
The Greenhood owner believes if a business wants to open nearby to a similar shop, they should show their “unique selling point” to the local authority and councils should be allowed to reject repetitive retailers.
He added: “How long will I stay in Beeston? I have loads of friends saying ‘open in London, you’re wasted [here], ‘people will appreciate what you do more’… when I do leave the suburb? Because I go ‘what’s the point?’. I don’t believe in loyalty anymore.”
This August, the government announced it would be giving councils more control over the number of vape and betting shops on high streets, along with pubs, social clubs and venues getting a 20 per cent cut to their business rates, starting next year.
