There was a rise in new outlets opened by UK chains last year, dominated by coffee drive-throughs, bubble tea shops and fast food restaurants, mostly located outside city centres.
But they were not enough to outweigh the places where chains shut up shop, new figures show.
High-profile failures at Wilko, LloydsPharmacy and Paperchase mean, in total, there were more closures than openings. The result was a net decrease of 5,000 in stores across the UK.
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