The shop vacancy rate in Brighton and Hove fell faster than anywhere else in Britain during July, according to the Local Data Company.
Retailers opened 35 shops in the area in marked contrast to Eastbourne, just along the Sussex coast, where 54 shops closed, taking the total in the town to more than 220.
Local Data Company director Matthew Hopkinson said that it was another month of no significant change in national vacancy rates.
But he said: “The devil is in the detail, with retail parks continuing to show improving occupancy levels and shopping centres showing a marginal increase in vacancy.
“Brighton and Hove saw the biggest drop in vacant units in July at minus 35.
“A number of towns are improving their occupancy rates but high levels of openings and closures mean that this is not always for the long term as the number of openings and closures in July was in excess of 1,200 which is above the rolling average.
“While the top line is stable there is considerable variance in performance by town, shopping centre and retail park with high streets stable, retail parks improving and shopping centres showing a marginal rise in vacant units.”
The national vacancy rate remained at 13 per cent in July while the overall retail and leisure vacancy rate increased by 0.1 percentage points to 11.7 per cent from 11.6 per cent in June.
The leisure vacancy was 8.13 per cent, up 0.03 percentage points.
The Local Data Company visits more than 2,700 towns and cities, retail parks and shopping centres each month.
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