Dover Street retailers set to be nation's biggest losers on business rates
Fashion powerhouses Victoria Beckham and Christian Louboutin are among retailers on Dover Street named as the nation’s biggest business rates losers.
Retailers on the Mayfair street currently pay average rates of £76,394 every year, but this could rocket more than fivefold to £393,305 in 2017.
Property agent Colliers International also forecasts that London’s other losers will include Brixton, set for a 128% increase, and Fulham Broadway — up 187%.
Business rates are a tax based on property values and are typically revalued every five years.
But the government controversially postponed this year’s revaluation to 2017.
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John Webber, head of rating at Colliers International, said the shake-up “will produce the largest changes to business rates for High Street retailers in a generation”.
Of 431 shopping destinations the agent looked at, 76 — most in London and the South-East — will see rates rise.
Webber warned: “Retailers could be sleepwalking into rates changes threatening stores’ sustainability.
“We urge them to wake up and act to protect their shops and the jobs that rely on them.”