13th October 2026
The warning signs are appearing across Britain's high streets. Pubs are closing, major retailers are searching for new owners, and even successful shops are finding that the cost of occupying prominent premises can become difficult to justify.
Are these separate business stories, or are they symptoms of a deeper problem with the way our town centres work?
New figures from the British Beer and Pub Association show that 64 pubs closed in Scotland between January and September 2026. Across Britain, the total reached 295, putting the country on course to lose around 360 pubs this year if the industry's projections prove correct. The association estimates that the closures could cost around 5,000 jobs. Source: British Beer and Pub Association.
The pub trade blames a combination of taxation, business rates, employment costs and other rising expenses. These are arguments made by the industry, and individual pubs will have their own circumstances. But the scale of the closures raises a wider question about the viability of businesses that depend on customers spending money in physical premises.
Poundland: a warning from the discount end of the market
Poundland might seem an unlikely casualty of difficult trading conditions. Its appeal has always been straightforward: offer everyday goods at prices that ordinary households can afford.
Yet the retailer has been put up for sale again, little more than a year after changing ownership. Its financial difficulties have already resulted in a substantial programme of store closures.
In August, reports on its accounts showed a pre-tax loss of £85.2 million for the year to September 2025, almost twice the previous year's figure. Sales also fell. In October, Sky News reported that Martin Property Group was discussing a potential takeover designed to keep the company operating as a going concern.
This is serious, but it is important not to confuse a proposed sale with an announcement that administration is imminent. A new owner could provide the investment and restructuring needed to stabilise the business.
Nevertheless, Poundland illustrates a wider difficulty. When a retailer whose main selling point is low prices struggles to make money, it raises questions about the costs of operating its stores, the prices it can charge, competition and the spending power of its customers. Poundland has 12000 employees.
For households under financial pressure, the loss of a discount shop can matter just as much as the closure of a more fashionable retailer.
HMV: when even a successful shop cannot justify the rent
The story of HMV's flagship Oxford Street store offers a different perspective.
The company has announced plans to leave its prominent London premises in March 2027 after the landlord proposed doubling the rent. The prospect of substantial renovation costs also contributed to the decision.
Yet HMV says its trading performance remains strong. It is looking for another location in London's West End and intends to maintain a significant presence in the capital.
That distinction matters. The planned departure does not necessarily indicate a failing retailer. Instead, it demonstrates that a business can attract customers and still conclude that a particular property no longer makes commercial sense.
Landlords have their own costs, financial obligations and investment decisions. But if the rent demanded for a shop rises faster than the income it can generate, the tenant may have little choice but to leave.
The result can be a vacant building, fewer reasons for people to visit the street and another challenge for neighbouring businesses.
Source: The Standard's report on HMV's Oxford Street plans.
The high street is more than a collection of shops
These examples involve very different businesses, but they point towards a common problem.
A pub needs enough customers to cover its staff, stock, energy, rent, rates and other expenses. A discount retailer must sell sufficient goods at competitive prices to cover the cost of its stores and distribution network. A music retailer needs customers willing to buy physical products in an age when much music is available online.
Each faces a different balance of costs and income. There is no single explanation for every closure.
However, when shops and pubs disappear, the effects can extend beyond the business itself.
A town centre depends on having enough attractions to persuade people to visit. Someone going into town to shop might also buy lunch, visit the bank, use another service or meet a friend. Someone visiting a pub may support a taxi firm, a local supplier or another nearby business.
When one establishment closes, its customers do not necessarily disappear. They may move elsewhere in the town. But when enough businesses close, the combined effect can reduce the reasons to visit altogether.
This creates a potential downward spiral. Fewer shops mean fewer visitors; fewer visitors mean less trade for the remaining businesses; and weaker trade makes further closures more likely.
That is not inevitable. Town centres can adapt, and new businesses can replace those that disappear. But adaptation requires more than waiting for the next shop to open.
What does this mean for Wick, Thurso and Caithness?
For communities in Caithness, the issue is not simply whether the largest national retailers will survive. It is whether Wick and Thurso can retain a sufficiently varied mix of shops, services, hospitality businesses and community facilities to remain useful places for local people.
A city may lose one pub and retain dozens of alternatives. In a smaller community, a single closure can remove an important meeting place or leave residents with fewer practical choices.
There is also a difference between a building being occupied by any business and a town having a healthy commercial centre. A succession of short-lived tenants may keep a property in use without creating the stable trading environment that neighbouring businesses need.
Local councils cannot control every national tax, wage or property-market decision. But they can examine how business rates, parking, public spaces, vacant properties, planning decisions and town-centre investment affect the overall environment for trading.
They can also ask whether public money is helping create places that attract people throughout the day, rather than concentrating exclusively on occasional events or physical improvements.
For Wick in particular, the question is how to encourage people to spend time in the town centre and support its remaining businesses. For Thurso, the challenge is to preserve a varied commercial centre serving both residents and visitors. Neither town can solve every problem locally, but neither should assume that decline is inevitable.
Is this a crisis of business costs or a change in how we live?
There is another side to the argument.
Consumers have changed their habits. Online shopping has reduced the need to visit some shops. Streaming has transformed the music business. Some people drink less alcohol, while others have reduced discretionary spending because household bills have risen.
Businesses must adapt to those changes. Not every closure can be blamed on government policy or landlords, and not every former shop can or should be preserved indefinitely.
But adaptation takes place within an economic environment. If rent, energy, staffing and taxation costs rise faster than sales, even a well-managed business can struggle. If customers have less disposable income, they may cut back on precisely the purchases that sustain local shops, cafés and pubs.
The challenge is to understand how those factors interact rather than searching for one culprit.
What should be done?
A sensible response would begin with evidence. How many premises are closing in Scotland and the Highlands? How many are being replaced? Which types of businesses are disappearing, and which are growing? Are empty properties concentrated in particular streets? How much of the problem comes from weak demand, and how much from the cost of operating a business?
That information would help councils, business organisations and governments distinguish between premises that need new uses, businesses that need temporary support and places where a more fundamental economic change is required.
It would also help prevent public money being spent on schemes that look impressive but fail to bring sustained footfall or viable businesses.
The closure of a pub, the sale of a discount retailer and the departure of a major music shop do not prove that Britain's high streets are doomed. Nor does a retailer's financial difficulty mean that every other business is facing the same fate.
But together, these stories raise an important question: are we creating an economic environment in which businesses can still afford to serve their communities?
A pub is more than a place to buy a drink. A discount shop is more than a source of cheap household goods. A record shop can be a destination in its own right.
When such businesses disappear, we can lose not just jobs and buildings in use, but some of the everyday reasons people come into town.
The challenge for Caithness and communities across Scotland is to make sure that our town centres remain places where people have reasons to go, businesses have a realistic chance of surviving, and the next generation can find something worth investing in.
The real warning is not that every high street will look as it did 30 years ago. It is that, without a workable plan for the future, we may discover that the businesses which once brought our towns to life are much harder to replace than we imagined.