Hammerson has published research with retail consultancy Conlumino indicating the total number of UK shops will fall 10% by 2020.

Floor space, however, will decline only 5%. David Atkins, Hammerson’s chief executive, said other shops could make up the shortfall by becoming larger. He said talks of the death of high streets had been “overdone” and that they just needed time to evolve. The report Hammerson commissioned identified the need for retailers to adapt to attract the “silver” shoppers that would dominate shopping centres of the future. Atkins said Hammerson’s response would be to improve car parking and add more restaurants and leisure facilities as a result of the ageing population.