From fashion giants to beloved charity shops, a fresh wave of closures is sweeping across Britain’s high streets.
Britain’s high street is in the grip of another brutal round of closures, with household names across fashion, sport, grocery and charity retail all confirming they are pulling the shutters down on branches up and down the country and worldwide.
The prolonged cost of living crisis has squeezed consumer spending, while businesses themselves are struggling under the weight of rising rents, energy bills and business rates. The result is a retail landscape that continues to shrink fast — here’s a roundup of the latest casualties.
British Heart Foundation
One of Britain’s most recognisable charity shop chains, the British Heart Foundation has been a fixture on UK high streets since it opened its first shop in 1986. Today it operates hundreds of stores nationwide, relying on donated goods and volunteer staff to fund life-saving research. But even this much-loved institution has not been immune to the pressures battering British retail.
The charity has confirmed it will close 150 of its stores across the country. Of those, 87 shops have been confirmed for closure and will have their last day of trading in March 2027. The remaining stores are under review and could follow by March 2028, according to charity bosses.
- Armley
- Aberdare
- Alfreton
- Ashton-Under-Lyne
- Abingdon
- Ashbourne
- Alfreton (Home Store)
- Bedworth
- Burnley
- Blyth
- Beckenham
- Balham
- Barnet
- Bath
- Brighton (Home Store)
- Bangor
- Blackpool
- Cannock
- Clacton
- Coalville
- Christchurch
- Cleveleys
- Consett
- Chorley
- Camden
- Crawley (Home Store)
- Chesterfield
- Chatham (Home Store)
- Dunstable
- Durham
- Dumfries
- Dewsbury
- Dalkeith
- Dumfries (Home Store)
- Eastbourne
- Elgin
- Eccles
- Finchley
- Falmouth
- Fulham
- Fakenham
- Formby
- Grays
- High Wycombe
- Hawick
- Harlow
- Hammersmith
- Huyton
- Hornchurch
- Helston
- Holsworthy
- Hartlepool (Home Store)
- Harpurhey (Home Store)
- Hull (Home Store)
- Hereford
- Harrow (Home Store)
- Ilkeston
- Keighley
- Kendal
- Long Eaton
- Long Eaton (Home Store)
- Llanelli (Home Store)
- Minehead
- Newbury
- Newton Aycliffe
- New Milton
- Nuneaton (Home Store)
- Newport
- Ormskirk
- Plymouth
- Poole (Home Store)
- Perry Barr (Home Store)
- Rhyl
- Rayleigh
- Shrewsbury
- Spalding
- South Shields
- Stockton-on-Tees
- Sunderland
- Swansea
- Salford (Home Store)
- Sutton Coldfield
- Salisbury
- Uckfield
- West Bromwich
- Workshop (Home Store)
- Wrexham (Home Store)
Decathlon
The French sporting goods giant first arrived in the UK in 1999 and has since become a go-to destination for everything from cycling gear to camping equipment, winning a loyal following thanks to its competitive pricing and wide range of own-brand products.
However, the brand has now shut its Queens Square store in Crawley after more than a decade of trading. The branch held a closing-down sale over recent days to shift its remaining stock before closing for good. A notice on the store read: “Thank you for being a loyal customer! You can still find us online at decathlon.co.uk or come see us at our Croydon and Brighton stores.”
Charles Clinkard
One of Britain’s oldest and most respected independent shoe retailers, Charles Clinkard was founded in Middlesbrough in 1924 by Charles Clinkard himself and remains a family-owned business to this day. The company has long been praised for its wide range of quality footwear and its attentive staff.
Despite that heritage, the brand has shut its doors on Banbury Road in Summertown, Oxford, with the reasons behind the closure yet to be confirmed. Shoppers in Oxfordshire can still visit branches at the Woolgate Shopping Centre in Witney and on Burford high street. The family-owned business has previously pointed to shifting shopping habits and wider high street pressures as factors affecting its performance.
Morrisons
Once a single market stall run by William Morrison in Bradford in 1899, Morrisons has grown into one of Britain’s four largest supermarket chains. Its acquisition of the McColl’s convenience store estate in 2022 was intended to expand its presence on local high streets under the Morrisons Daily banner.
But plans to shut 100 Morrisons Daily stores were unveiled back in May, and the process is now well under way. One store in Woodley, Berkshire, had only been open for less than two years before closing. A second closure followed – the Stokesley High Street branch in North Yorkshire shut on July 18 as part of the ongoing reduction drive. That store had traded as a McColl’s for decades before being absorbed into the Morrisons estate in 2022.
Despite the wave of closures, the supermarket has announced ambitious plans to open 300 new stores elsewhere across the country.
H&M
Swedish fashion retailer H&M – full name Hennes and Mauritz – opened its first store in Stockholm in 1947 and has since grown into one of the world’s largest clothing chains, operating across more than 70 countries. Its brands now include COS, ARKET, Weekday and & Other Stories, catering to a broad range of shoppers across the market.
But the group is now in a significant period of global overhaul. The company has confirmed it will continue closing stores worldwide after shutting 130 branches in a single year, with its total store count dropping from 4,166 to 4,036. According to its latest six-month report for 2026, further closures are on the horizon.
Of the stores already shut, 97 were located across Asia, Oceania and Africa. In Western Europe, 20 stores have closed, with a further 17 shutting across the Nordic countries and four in Eastern Europe.
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