10 June 2008, 13:12 PM
  • The shocking figures, which were gleaned from HM Revenue & Customs' VAT records for all businesses operating in the UK, show that in April 1997 there were 6,916 registered greengrocers but this had declined to 3,948 by April this year, a fall that equates to five closing every single week for the last 11 years.

The closure of greengrocers comes on top of a 2,700 butchers and fishmongers shutting up shop since 2001.

In the Daily Telegraph, Rose Prince, food writer and campaigner for local shops, said, “Not only is it a tragedy that British high streets have lost so many greengrocers in recent years, it has led to a marked decline in competition.

“Without vibrant greengrocers, supermarkets can get away with charging far more for their fresh fruit and vegetables.”

These figures come hot on the heels of the Competition Commission’s ruling earlier this year that supermarkets posed no threat to independent retailers. It also follows a report in April when the Forum of Private Business (FPB) warned that the phenomenon of “urban food deserts” could spread to the UK unless the decline in small grocery shops is halted. The pattern, already identified in Canada, occurs where city-dwellers on low incomes have poor access to healthy, affordable foods as a result of the dominance of large ‘out of town’ supermarkets. The Canadian study found that smaller food shops were being forced out of older neighbourhoods in London, Ontario, because large supermarkets being built in the suburbs had soaked up most of the trade.

It classed “food deserts” as residential areas from which accessing quality, reasonably-priced food stores by foot and public transport was deemed to be most difficult.

Although there is some light at the end of the tunnel as farmers’ markets which have flourished over the past decade. There are an estimated 550 now a weekly fixture in some towns.