Honest sort of question. I was just reading that Rough Trade East article and there was a comment there about how Covent Garden had empty shops for the first time in years.

And didn't Dickens and Jones or someone like that have to leave Regents Street recently?

I remember reading houseprices have doubled compared to wages over the last 10 years or so, so it would stand to reason that shops which are renting out premises must have their ground rents going up much faster than they can allowably increase the cost of their products.

So in a sense the increase in house prices being disproportionate to wage rises could easily squeeze a lot of retail businesses, no? Will this result in luxury housing where once there were shops or does it risk tipping the market down?

Sorry. Serious post. I'll go back to talking about Mint shower gels...