The number of people venturing out onto British high streets fell 1.7 per cent in the 12 months to July, representing the biggest drop in activity from any part of the retail industry during the period.

According to figures by the British Retail Consortium (BRC) overall footfall fell 0.6 per cent last month, a slightly smaller decline than the 0.7 per cent annual drop in June.

Shopping centres located outside town centres experienced a smaller fall of 0.5 per cent, which was a better result than the 1.2 per cent slide the previous month.

But in more iffy news for the bricks and mortar retail sector, the number of vacant shop premises was just over 10 per cent of the total during July, although this represented a decline in empty shops from April’s rate of 10.6 per cent.

BRC director general Helen Dickinson said: "The reduction in the shop vacancy rate for the third successive quarter is heartening, with the vacancy rate at its lowest level since our records began in July 2011.

“However it is still the case that every tenth shop remains unoccupied. This reinforces the need for a fundamental overhaul of commercial property taxes, which would increase retailers' confidence about investing in new or existing retail premises and thus help rejuvenate our high streets."