Under blue skies and bunting, the whole of County Durham seemed to turn out for the young Queen Elizabeth II. They lined the streets in their thousands, waving flags and marvelling at the grand royal procession weaving past their newly built homes.<\/p>\n
It was 27 May 1960 and the recently crowned queen was officially opening the town of Newton Aycliffe on her first provincial tour after the birth of her third child, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, three months earlier. A 16-page commemorative pamphlet<\/a>, priced at two shillings and sixpence, records the local Light Infantry buglers playing to the giddy crowd.<\/p>\n The message was clear: Newton Aycliffe, a town built from scratch from the rubble of the second world war, heralded a new postwar Great Britain, a country that would give its people a modern, prosperous quality of life, free from the squalor of its bomb-scarred cities.<\/p>\n The queen in Newton Aycliffe, County Durham, May 1960. Photograph: Mirrorpix\/Alamy<\/p>\n Six miles north of Darlington, this industrial wasteland was chosen by William Beveridge for his pioneering new town in the late 1940s. Beveridge, the architect of the welfare state, personally oversaw its creation on the site of a former explosives shed used for experiments in the war.<\/p>\n It would, he said, be a town of \u201chopes and dreams\u201d and a \u201cparadise for housewives\u201d, which would be centred on a high street he named Beveridge Way.<\/p>\n Nearly 80 years later, this single shopping precinct helps tell a different story.<\/p>\n Of the 45 shops on Beveridge Way today, 23 are empty \u2013 a vacancy rate nearly four times the national average<\/a>. Those that are left include a Ladbrokes, Greggs, four charity shops, four discount stores and a pawnbroker.<\/p>\n The banks are long gone \u2013 the closest now a 90-minute round trip to Darlington by bus \u2013 and the faded signs record an exodus of household names: Wilko, Select, Peacocks.<\/p>\n \u201cIn the 60s it was a fabulous place to live,\u201d said Ian Gaul, 67, over a pint in Phoenix working men\u2019s club next to Beveridge Way. \u201cThe town centre was absolutely beautiful. You couldn\u2019t wish for a better place to live.\u201d<\/p>\n And now? \u201cYou would be ashamed to bring someone here now. It\u2019s unrecognisable.\u201d<\/p>\n Families moved from across England<\/a> to this new-build utopia in the 60s and 70s, drawn by reliable jobs in manufacturing and chemical factories.<\/p>\n Beveridge Way in the early 1960s. Photograph: The Francis Frith Collection<\/p>\n \u201cI remember everyone talking about the queen\u2019s visit \u2013 it was huge; people talked about it for years after,\u201d said Colin Whitehead, 70, who moved to the town in 1969.<\/p>\n But since the early 2000s, the high street has \u201conly ever gone backwards\u201d, said Whitehead, who worked in a local laminate factory before retiring. Tesco opened an enormous superstore next to the town centre, which one politician claimed \u201csucked \u00a31m a week out of the local economy\u201d. \u201cThere was all sorts before that, then one by one over the years it all vanished. Now it\u2019s disgraceful,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n The story of Newton Aycliffe\u2019s faded town centre is in many ways not an unusual one. But the decline of British high streets \u2013 whether due to underinvestment, changing consumer habits, or high business rates \u2013 has been felt keenly. For many, they are a barometer of local pride: those with busy shopping precincts are more likely to feel their area is prospering; those with rows of steel shutters, vape shops and takeaways feel the opposite.<\/p>\n Less-affluent areas have higher vacancy rates because shoppers have less money to spend. Towns in the vortex of this decline are often those that have traditionally voted Labour, many in the Midlands and north of England, presenting a clear political risk for Keir Starmer<\/a>. Studies show a direct link between feelings about local high streets and support for Reform UK.<\/p>\n County Durham was one of 10 English local authorities and two regional bodies won by Nigel Farage\u2019s party in last year\u2019s local elections \u2013 a victory he celebrated in a working men\u2019s club in Newton Aycliffe the next day. Starmer and Farage know that the path to No 10 runs directly through high streets like Beveridge Way.<\/p>\n Newton Aycliffe has suffered a similar decline to other British high streets as shoppers moved online and the economy hit the buffers.<\/p>\n Like many high streets, Beveridge Way has declined as more shopping is done online. Photograph: Christopher Thomond\/The Guardian<\/p>\n But one peculiar aspect is that its town centre is wholly owned by a London-based multibillionaire who is wealthier than Richard Branson.<\/p>\n Benzion Freshwater, 77, may be the biggest property tycoon most Britons have never heard of.<\/p>\n The London-based multibillionaire heads one of the UK\u2019s richest families, worth \u00a32.6bn, according to the latest Sunday Times rich list. His empire includes prime property in New York, Florida and London, including the capital\u2019s Grade II-listed Africa House.<\/p>\n Since 1990, his company, Daejan Holdings, has also owned the entirety of Newton Aycliffe town centre.<\/p>\n What attracted this global property empire to a remote corner of County Durham? And why have they stayed on despite decades of decline and growing local anger? The Freshwater family have scarcely ever been pictured in public, let alone spoken to the media.<\/p>\n The attraction to Newton Aycliffe was, at first, pretty obvious. In the 90s, British high streets were enjoying a golden era, filled with big beasts such as Woolworths and BHS. Tim Berners-Lee had yet to publish the first webpage and Amazon, now the world\u2019s fifth most valuable company, was a niche bookseller for the few homes with dial-up internet.<\/p>\n Tony Blair visits the computer learning centre in Newton Aycliffe in 1999. Photograph: PA Images\/Alamy<\/p>\n Back then, County Durham was on the world stage as Tony Blair, the town\u2019s MP, became prime minister and hosted leaders including the then US president, George W Bush, in nearby Sedgefield.<\/p>\n But by 2009, Blair, Woolworths and other big names were gone. Daejan Holdings stayed on, however, swallowing losses as the high street emptied.<\/p>\n Company accounts show it made a \u00a34m loss in the town over the past two years. Yet this is just a dot in its transatlantic empire: its \u00a33.2m worth of property on Beveridge Way accounts for just 0.12% of its global holdings. \u201cIt\u2019s just a line on a spreadsheet,\u201d said one local government expert.<\/p>\n Anger about the state of Newton Aycliffe town centre has dominated local politics for more than two decades, but those in charge have little power to intervene.<\/p>\n A group of Labour<\/a> MPs is calling for local authorities to be allowed to compel absentee landlords to make empty shop units available temporarily to charities, community groups and small businesses. The Local Government Association (LGA), which represents councils in England, has also called for stronger powers.<\/p>\n Yet at a time when local leaders are taking an axe to already threadbare budgets, it is difficult to see many pumping resources into empty buildings. In Newton Aycliffe, it pits one of Britain\u2019s richest families against a council with debts of more than \u00a3434m.<\/p>\n Daejan Holdings once claimed to be London\u2019s biggest private commercial landlord but the firm is shrouded in secrecy.<\/p>\n In 2020, Freshwater and his 75-year-old brother, Solomon Freshwater, took the firm private after they were rebuked by the government for being the only FTSE 350 company without a woman on the board.<\/p>\n The company declined to answer questions for this article. A spokesperson said: \u201cAs a general rule, we do not give interviews on topics of this nature.\u201d<\/p>\n However, several people who have dealt with the firm expressed unhappiness and frustration at their monopoly in the town.<\/p>\n Shopkeepers complain that little has been done to attract new businesses as the high street has emptied. They say vacant units are left to rot instead of being offered at discounted rates, or let on a short-term basis to good causes. Others point to electrical faults going unfixed and leaky, decaying buildings.<\/p>\n Closed shops on Beveridge Way, which is owned by Daejan Holdings, based in London. Photograph: Christopher Thomond\/The Guardian<\/p>\n Few local politicians were willing to go on the record to criticise the company. One said privately the situation was \u201ctotally unacceptable\u201d and that the town was being failed by an \u201cabsentee landlord and absentee council\u201d.<\/p>\n That characterisation is rejected by Durham county council, whose officials said they hold near-quarterly meetings with the firm, which is based more than 250 miles away on London\u2019s Shaftesbury Avenue.<\/p>\n The council said the vacancy rate last year for the town centre was 26% \u2013 still nearly double the national average \u2013 however, this relates to an area much wider than Beveridge Way, including two large supermarkets, a library and leisure centre and a 1980s shopping mall, Thames House.<\/p>\n Graham Wood, the council\u2019s economic development manager, said Daejan had always engaged with the local authority regularly and that this year it will publish a new strategic plan for the town.<\/p>\n \u201cMuch like other town centres across the country, Newton Aycliffe is facing challenges due to the changing shopping habits of residents and the continued pressure from online retail,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cHowever, there is a lot of hard work going on behind the scenes by us and our partner Daejan, which has managed the centre for more than 20 years, to respond to these challenges.\u201d<\/p>\n Along Beveridge Way, there is no visible sign of super-wealthy overlords. A sparse community noticeboard seeks recruits for local sports clubs, along with a handwritten note asking for a wheelchair and mobility scooter in \u201cany condition\u201d.<\/p>\n A town centre manager, employed by Daejan via a consultancy firm, works from a small unbranded office overlooking the quiet high street.<\/p>\n Shoppers on Beveridge Way talk in conspiratorial tones about who owns their once-famous shopping centre. \u201cIt\u2019s owned by London and they\u2019re charging London rents \u2013 it\u2019s shocking,\u201d said Daniel Robertson, 52, a teaching assistant. A drinker in the Phoenix reckoned \u201cthere\u2019s places on Oxford Street [in London] paying less rent than here!\u201d<\/p>\n When he learned that the Freshwater brothers paid themselves nearly \u00a32.5m each<\/a> last year \u2013 67 times the annual salary of the average Newton Aycliffe resident \u2013 Whitehead shook his head. \u201cIt\u2019s the haves and the have-nots,\u201d he said, gesturing to his fellow drinkers.<\/p>\n The only store doing a brisk trade on Beveridge Way when the Guardian visited last month was Youngs newsagent. Posters in its window advertise exotically flavoured vapes while its sub-post office serves a reliable stream of retirees.<\/p>\n Diane Young in her newsagent, one of the few businesses doing well on the high street. Photograph: Christopher Thomond\/The Guardian<\/p>\n Diane Young, the co-owner, is trying to sell up, potentially leaving the town centre without its key amenity: \u201cThe reason we\u2019re selling up isn\u2019t because the town centre is dead \u2013 it\u2019s because we\u2019re retiring,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n The closure of Woolworths in 2009 was the start of the decline, she said. \u201cWe used to have a weekly market \u2013 the town centre was heaving on Tuesdays, market day. You couldn\u2019t move for people. It\u2019s massively gone downhill.\u201d<\/p>\n Two separate buyers pulled out earlier this year and Young is adamant they will not stay on when their \u00a337,000-a-year tenancy expires in 2028. Leaving the town centre without a newsagent and post office would be \u201cheartbreaking,\u201d she said. \u201cIf we go there would be nothing to come into the town for.\u201d<\/p>\n At Thames grocers, customers are ordering \u00a320 hampers of Christmas Day vegetables. Janice Mills, 74, blames the London-based owners of the town centre for its demise. \u201cBecause they don\u2019t live here, they don\u2019t see it,\u201d she said. \u201cNone of them live like we live.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2018None of them live like we live\u2019 \u2026 Janice Mills. Photograph: Christopher Thomond\/The Guardian<\/p>\n Local people rhapsodise at length at the variety of shops that once filled Beveridge Way. \u201cNow you can\u2019t even get a decent pair of shoes here,\u201d said Mills, who still works as a housekeeper in a local hotel. \u201cTo get anything decent you have to go to a retail park and if you don\u2019t have a car you\u2019re done for. I just hate this town centre \u2013 it\u2019s absolutely useless.\u201d<\/p>\n Sandra Seal, 78, minding the till at Thames for her son, its owner Matthew Seal, said she could not even get Daejan\u2019s town centre manager to change their faulty lights. And don\u2019t get her started on the town\u2019s Christmas decorations: \u201cI told her [the town centre manager] they should be ashamed of them,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n A 77ft clock tower, originally constructed in the late 1950s, is also a source of discontent. On Remembrance Day in November, its hourly strike was turned off because it could not be relied on to chime on time for the minute\u2019s silence.<\/p>\n \u201cThere is potential in this town,\u201d said Nadine Nesbitt, the co-owner of the baby clothes shop Petite Boutique. \u201cBut you hear people saying all the time there\u2019s nothing here and there actually isn\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n Nesbitt, 44, opened her store on Beveridge Way a decade ago and its customers travel from miles around. Her \u00a3720 monthly rent to the Freshwater family has not increased for years, she said, but added other retailers had left because of \u201carguments over rent\u201d. \u201cThey\u2019re making it awkward for people to stay,\u201d she said. \u201cEvery time we get a new town centre manager we put it forward to them and they just get arsey with us.\u201d<\/p>\n She added: \u201cIt\u2019s like they\u2019re hanging on to what\u2019s left and that\u2019s it \u2013 they\u2019re not bothered if shops go.\u201d<\/p>\n Across Britain, Labour MPs are growing increasingly worried about the state of their local high streets.<\/p>\n In a fiery Commons debate<\/a> in November, the Labour minister Miatta Fahnbulleh accused the Conservatives of \u201cdecimating\u201d town centres over \u201c14 years of decline\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cOur town and city centres are part of our identity and our sense of belonging,\u201d she said. \u201cWhen they do not meet expectations \u2013 when shops are shut and footfall is down \u2013 that can dent pride in place, hold back the economy and leave our communities divided. Put simply, they are part of the nation\u2019s barometer of whether we \u2013 all of us in this house \u2013 are doing a good job.\u201d<\/p>\n Sandra Seal says the owner\u2019s town centre manager won\u2019t even fix faulty lights in her son\u2019s shop. Photograph: Christopher Thomond\/The Guardian<\/p>\n Multiple studies show it is one of the main issues driving voters towards Reform.<\/p>\n The thinktank Power To Change<\/a> identified the 100 places in Britain with the most derelict high streets and found that, in the general election, Reform soared to second place in 24% of them compared with 14% across the rest of England.<\/p>\n Researchers at the University of Warwick in 2024 found a \u201crobust relationship\u201d<\/a> between high-street decline and support for Reform\u2019s precursor, Ukip. A town\u2019s visible economic decay \u201csignificantly influences populist sentiment\u201d, they concluded after analysing vacancy rates in 197 towns in 93 local authorities across England and Wales.<\/p>\n It is no accident that Farage and Richard Tice, the Reform MP for Boston and Skegness, talk endlessly about the rise of Turkish barbers and vape shops. In a TikTok video watched 3m times last year, Farage mocks the \u201cabsolute racket\u201d of cash-only barbers that have \u201ca Lamborghini out the back\u201d but no customers.<\/p>\n Dan Jarvis, the security minister, has talked of \u201cdodgy shops as fronts for serious organised crime, money laundering and illegal working\u201d and police are turning their gaze to the high street. Late last year, the National Crime Agency launched a month-long series of raids<\/a> on 2,734 high-street shops, seizing more than \u00a310.7m in suspected criminal proceeds. Premises that once housed names such as Debenhams or Topshop were now being used \u201cas cover for a wide range of criminality\u201d, a senior officer said.<\/p>\n One explanation for the transformation of the British high street is simple: they are becoming places to buy what cannot be ordered online \u2013 a haircut, for example, or a coffee. Nearly one in three retail sales<\/a> in the UK are now online, compared with about 5% in 2008. As traditional retailers have vanished, others have stepped in.<\/p>\n Since the Covid pandemic, barbers and vape shops have been two of the fastest-growing sectors of the economy. There were 10,000 more hairdressers and beauty salons last year than in 2007, according to official statistics<\/a>, while the number of vape shops across England has risen 1,200%<\/a> in the past decade.<\/p>\n Shopkeepers on Beveridge Way say little has been done to attract new businesses to the high street. Photograph: Christopher Thomond\/The Guardian<\/p>\n The result, then, is a high street that looks markedly different from one at the turn of the millennium. And many people don\u2019t like it.<\/p>\n