Even the charity shops can’t survive in Labour’s high-tax Britain

Matthew LynnSat, June 6, 2026 at 8:00 AM UTC

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The British Heart Foundation announced that it is closing 150 stores - Roger Mechan/iStock

The smart kitchen shop might well have closed down, and so might the fashion boutique, the bookshop, the bakery and very soon even the bookies might have to pull down the shutters for the last time.

We are already very used to the way the typical British high street has been hollowed out during the last decade.

Still, there was one thing we could surely always rely on. The charity shop. Exempt from crushing business rates, and often with volunteer staff, they would, as the great Curtis Mayfield put it in a song, "keep on keeping on".

Yet with this week's news that the British Heart Foundation is closing 150 stores, it seems even that is no longer true. It was never exactly the highlight of a day out at the shops.

With its collection of sofas that were a bit rubbish even when they were brand new sometime around 1983, its battered paperbacks and its cheap and cheerful birthday cards, the British Heart Foundation's shops were never anywhere close to the high-end of the retail market.

Even so, with their bright red logos and cheerful staff, they were a great way of decluttering your house or furnishing a student apartment for your kids, and occasionally, you might find a real gem.

Meanwhile, they raised plenty of money for medical causes and, perhaps most importantly, they kept the high street alive for a decade when many more glamorous outlets were closing down. There is nothing not to like about any of that.

Indeed, charity shops have become a mainstay of British retailing. According to the Charity Retail Association, there are now more than 11,000 of them across the country, compared with an estimated 2,000 newsagents, 1,300 shoe shops and 5,000 hardware stores.

Only the coffee shops, with an estimated 24,000 outlets, outnumber them in any serious way.

A significant chunk of the British economy seemed to consist of people popping out for a coffee while volunteering at the charity shop. They had plenty going for them.

They qualified for an 80pc reduction in business rates, and councils had the authority to bump that up to 100pc if they wanted to, while donated goods were exempt from VAT when sold on. A lower tax bill meant they had a significant advantage over their mainstream competitors.

The trouble is, even that appears not to be enough anymore. Citing what Dr Charmaine Griffiths, its chief executive, described as an "exceptionally challenging trading environment", the British Heart Foundation said on Friday that it planned to close a quarter of its outlets.

Dr Charmaine Griffiths said the British Heart Foundation is 'facing an exceptionally challenging trading environment' - Imageplotter/Alamy

It is not alone. Last year, Cancer Research UK, another familiar name on most high streets, said it would close 90 shops this year, and another 100 by April of next year.

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It pointed to "rising costs, inflationary pressures and changing consumer habits", saying this meant it had no choice but to cut back on its operations.

That may well be just the start. One by one, the charity shops are starting to close.

We should be clear about who is to blame for that: Rachel Reeves and the rest of the Cabinet appear to have no idea how tough they are making it for any form of commercial operation to survive.

The charity shops may not face the substantial increase in business rates imposed on pubs, cafés and other shops.

But they still have to pay higher National Insurance (NI) charges on the wages of paid staff, a soaring living wage, electricity bills inflated by green levies and VAT on new goods.

Even more seriously, they are victims of the steady closure of other businesses. As the local café closes because it can't pay the rates bills, the bookshop because it can't pay the NI, the bookies because it can't pay the new betting levy or the bakery because it can't pay the electricity surcharges, the high street gets deader and deader.

With the charity shops gone, there will soon be nothing left. The vape shop that actually does a decent trade in smuggled cigarettes might survive, and so might the Turkish barber. But apart from that, there will be a row of boarded-up shop fronts.

Even the estate agents won't bother with the "To Let" signs for much longer: it won't be worth the money.

What was once the thriving heart of a local community will have become a commercial graveyard with nothing but tombstones for dead businesses.

It is surely time for the Government to get serious about rescuing the high street from oblivion. It doesn't have to be that hard.

It should reverse the NI increase, freeze the living wage and cut business rates, and if backbenchers won't contemplate controlling welfare spending to pay for that, it should increase income tax instead. It is a fairer way to raise money than by hammering retailers.

Next, it should immediately suspend all the planning rules that make it so hard to turn old shops into apartments or workspaces. Buildings that are not occupied get run down very quickly. It is better if they are used for something than left idle.

With the partial closure of chains such as the British Heart Foundation, we are surely past the point of "reports" or action plans. Tinkering won't be enough.

We need a radical programme to rescue the traditional high street – because even if the charity shops can't make enough money to survive anymore, we are approaching the point of no return.

Original Article on Source

Source: “AOL Money”