Town centre retail in good health

New businesses continue to open in Hertford town centre, with 19 new retail operations launching in the last twelve months.

New shops include a bakery, florist, Chinese restaurant and a Boots branch.

The current retail vacancy rate in the town centre is 11.3%. This is the same as the most recent rate reported for the South East by the Local Data Company. The rate for Great Britain overall was 14% in Q4/23.

Madford Retail Park

Outside of the town centre, a planning application has been submitted for a food store in Madford Retail Park, potentially replacing DIY store Wickes. The size and location of the premises could suggest a retailer such as B&M, Home Bargains or The Food Warehouse might be interested. All three businesses typically trade from larger out of town stores.

Earlier plans to partition the Matalan unit to provide a food store are on hold and will be dropped if the new proposals are approved.

Old Brewery

On the other side of town, an application has been submitted to create four retail units at The Old Brewery in Hartham Lane. The premises have recently been occupied by White Hart Developments, who redeveloped part of former McMullens brewery in to luxury flats.

Town Centre

In the centre of town, the remaining retail units at the new Lea Wharf development are still available, with no information on potential retailers available.

At nearby W.H.Smith, part of the upstairs book department is making way for the arrival of ToysRUs. The concession is one of 39 ToysRUs shops that will open inside the stationer’s stores by the end of August. Toys R Us went in to administration in February 2018, closing all of its 100 shops with the loss of more than 2,000 jobs. Plans for the relaunch were announced in October 2022, prior to an exclusive deal being struck with W.H.Smith to open the concessions in the UK.

Find out more about shopping in Hertford by following this link and take a look at our breakdown of retailers in the town centre and beyond.

This report was updated on Monday 19/8/24 to include ToysRUs. Further updated 22/8/24 to clarify position regarding earlier plans for Madford Retail Park.