Dundee city centre: Has the Low Emission Zone impacted vacancy rates?

The Courier’s data journalism team has been monitoring vacancy rates of Dundee retail spaces across 11 key high street areas, as well as the Overgate and Wellgate shopping centres.

We track the ebb and flow of shops in Dundee city centre, updating our data whenever changes occur. Once a quarter, we hit the streets to verify the numbers on the ground.

Our fifth census is now complete—so, what’s the story behind the numbers?

• Since we began tracking the data in June 2023, the overall vacancy rate across the areas we track has increased by 4.3 percentage points. The current overall vacancy rate sits at 19.3%
• The shopping centres tell a different tale with vacancy levels at the Overgate falling by 1.5 percentage points, and the Wellgate vacancy falling by an impressive 15.4 percentage points. The current overall vacancy rate sits at 22.7%.
• We also analysed data on how the vacancy rates compared to pre-LEZ (Low Emission Zone) levels. Whilst the data doesn’t show a conclusive picture it does show that the one street we track that is not included in the zone (Perth Road) was the only street to see a decrease in empty units since the enforcement of the scheme began.

The picture today

Our high street tracker monitors units across 11 key high street areas – Castle Street, Commercial Street, Crichton Street, Exchange Street, High Street (including the City Square area), Murraygate, Nethergate, Perth Road, Reform Street, Whitehall Street and Reform Street.

Whereas our shopping centre tracker looks at units in both the Overgate and the Wellgate.

Commercial Street is currently our most vacant high street at 35.9%. This is the highest level since February of this year.

Union Street remains the most occupied street of the 11 we track at 3.8%.

Low occupancy zone?

Enforcement for the Low Emission Zone began in Dundee on May 30.

Nine of the streets we track are included in the zone.

Nethergate is partially included.

And the Perth Road is not within the Low Emission Zone.

We looked at data from just prior to the enforcement date and compared it to the present day.

Across all of the streets we track the vacancy rate has increased by 1.6 percentage points in that time, continuing a trend that had already been climbing steadily before May.

Of the streets fully enclosed within the LEZ, five showed no change in vacancy rates, while three experienced increases. The partially included Nethergate also saw a rise in empty units.

The only street to have shown an improvement in vacancy levels in that time is the Perth Road, which is fully excluded from the zone.

Eateries are unbeaten

Food and drink establishments remain the largest proportion of our high streets at 37.2%. This is up from 35.3% at the time of our last census.

Shopping comes in a close second at 29.4%.

What about shopping centres?

Occupancy levels at both of the main shopping centres in Dundee have increased since we began monitoring the data.

At the start of the project in June 2023, the Overgate sat with a vacancy rate of 12%. This has now decreased to 10.5%.

The Wellgate has seen really promising growth. Starting out with more than half of their units lying empty (55.8%), this has fallen 15.4 percentage points to 40.4%.

What’s changed?

We’ve seen the following significant closures since our last reporting:

• The large Marks and Spencer unit on Murraygate closed its doors on July 6.
• Vandal & Co on Exchange Street closed in September citing “many challenges” including the pandemic, the cost-of-living crisis and soaring energy prices.
• Vintage clothing store SookSouk closed for a second and final time on the 14th of September.

There were multiple positive moves as well. Popular Perth Road Indian restaurant Dil Se reopened under new management in mid September after a closure of more than a year.

Two New York style pizza restaurants recently opened on Perth Road. NYPD Pizza took up the unit vacated by Bangkok Thai and Slice n Eazy now occupies the former Little Green Larder unit.

The large unit previously occupied by Mediterranean restaurant Antalia underwent an extensive refurbishment and re-opened as Dundee’s first Pret a Manger.

Coming soon

We don’t make changes to our data based on planning applications or building works – we only update the information once a fully functioning business is operating in the unit. However we do keep an eye on upcoming changes.

Spanish fashion retailer Mango have confirmed plans to move into the former Frankies and Benny’s unit in the Overgate in 2025.

Plans are also underway for a transformation of the former Mecca Bingo into an entertainment venue, due to open in the next month.

What does the council say?

Dundee City Council leader Councillor Mark Flynn said: “The recent emergence of exciting proposals for Dundee City Centre gives me increased optimism for the future.

“Announcement of the LiveHouse venue along with Dundee & Angus College’s launch of plans to build a campus at the Wellgate Centre have the potential to bring significant investment into the city centre.

“We look forward to seeing how these develop going forward.

“Different, creative thinking about how we use buildings and spaces is at the heart of our 30-year masterplan to reinvent central Dundee.

“The council is working alongside a range of partners to secure improvements for the city centre to make it a vibrant location for locals and visitors alike.”

Methodology

The project conducted an initial in-person census at the start in May and June of 2023. We then conducted further censuses in October 2023, February 2024, June 2024, and this most recent census in the last month.

As well as these on foot censuses we also update the data whenever our reporters file stories on changes to units. The data is always accurate based on the best available information we have.

We need your help!

The Courier data team collects all the data manually in our high street and shopping centre trackers. The data is continuously updated whenever we notice any changes but it’s possible we may miss something.

We appreciate all the support we’ve received for our trackers so far. We would really appreciate it if you would like to help us keep it up to date.

If you notice any openings or closures, please inform us using the form below. You can also provide more accurate information on unit closing dates or the previous business occupying a unit through the same form.