The boss of John Lewis has called for a royal commission review into the UK’s ailing high streets, arguing that mass stores closures, crime and antisocial behaviour are blighting Britain’s town centres.
Dame Sharon White, the chair of John Lewis Partnership, which owns the John Lewis and Waitrose chains, said 6,000 shops in Britain had closed over the last five years and a rethink was needed to make town centres “once more welcoming places where people want to live, work and spend time”.
