Britain’s best high street ‘unworthy’ of title

Retailers operating in Queen Street in Cardiff have claimed that the high street is unworthy of best British high street title awarded to it recently owing to the daily occurrence of rampant shoplifting as well as abusive and violent cases against retail workers.

It was reported last week that Queen Street has bagged the top spot among UK’s best high streets in a consumer survey run by GlobalData for American Express. However, the retailers operating on this street seem to feel otherwise.

Speaking to BBC, an owner of a vape shop said there had been four attempted break-ins at his shop Queen Street Vapes in Cardiff.

“It gets to the point where I have considered selling up and cutting my losses. I struggle sleeping because of it, no CCTV or alarm system prevents them from getting in,” he said.

Geraint owns shops in Swindon, Cwmbran, Abergavenny and in Blackwood in Caerphilly county. He said that he mainly worked and focused on Cardiff store because of the trouble he has to deal with.

Staff at Savers at the same street seemed equally unhappy with the survey claims. They said theft and threats from shoplifters were a daily occurrence.

“Just this morning someone came in and stole £118 worth of baby’s milk. You often get people stealing milk and laundry pods,” a staff told BBC on Sunday (11).

The retail staff said police could not properly enforce the law due to the thefts being of low-value items and the only time the police have been involved was when he was “slapped in the face”.

Further down is Holland and Barrett whose staff gave the similar feedback. The staff wears body cameras but that does not seem to deter repeat offenders.

“The main downside of the job is the violence. It’s a continuous cycle with the same reoffenders, they get violent and the police get involved but it doesn’t deter them, they keep coming back,” a staff said.

South Wales Police said, “It’s real positive that Queen Street was recently named best high street in the UK, however we are sorry to hear the experiences of these city centre workers. Cardiff city centre remains a safe place but with an estimated half a million people passing through Queen Street and St Mary Street each week, unfortunately there will be incidents of crime and anti-social behaviour.”