Press Releases

The winners of the 2018 Great British High Street Awards (GBHS) have been announced. The awards, run by the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government and sponsored by Visa, recognise and celebrate the local achievements of the nation’s high streets.

The independent judging panel selected the shortlisted finalists for the Champion and Rising Star awards. These 38 shortlisted finalists were visited by GBHS judges to assess who would be crowned the winners of the 2018 Awards and the public given the chance to vote for their favourite high street.

ACS has welcomed the Environmental Audit Committee’s report into hand car washes, which recommends the government takes further action to tackle illegal hand car wash operators.

The report recommended: “To make enforcement easier, the Government should trial a licensing scheme for hand car washes that brings together all of the major compliance requirements, including on environmental pollution, into a single, more easily enforceable, legal requirement.”

The Association of Convenience Stores (ACS) is calling on the government to introduce new protections for shop workers.

ACS is supporting David Hanson MP’s amendment to the Offensive Weapons Bill that would introduce additional protections for shopworkers who are abused or suffer violent attacks when refusing sales of corrosive substances. The new measures should reflect the protections  assaults against NHS workers ‘aggravated’ and therefore receive more scrutiny and punishment from the justice system.

ACS is calling on retailers to share their experiences of retail crime over the last 12 months as part of the annual ACS Crime Survey 2019.

The survey looks at the impact that crime is having on retailers’ businesses, including the number of incidents they have experienced and how much crime has cost their business in the last 12 months. The survey also considers the causes of these crimes and the measures retailers have in place to prevent crime in their stores.

ACS (the Association of Convenience Stores) has responded to the publication of the Public Accounts Committee’s report on the sustainability of policing, calling for the government to ensure police response to crime against convenience retailers and their staff is consistent.

ACS has welcomed indications that the Chancellor will take significant steps to reduce the burden of business rates for small shops.

A number of news outlets are reporting this weekend that Monday’s Budget will include the announcement of significant extensions to small business rate relief to include stores with a rateable value of up to £51,000.

ACS has responded to the publication of the Home Affairs Committee’s report into policing, urging the Government to take action to ensure that police forces are adequately resourced to deal with crime. ACS figures show that over three quarters of retailers are concerned about the response from police when crimes are committed against their business.

ACS (the Association of Convenience Stores) has responded to the publication of the Office for National Statistics annual Crime Survey for England and Wales, highlighting the significant issues retailers and their staff face when dealing with shop theft.

According to the ONS survey, the number of police recorded shop theft incidents for the year ending June 2018 has reached 382,706, a 1% increase on the previous year. The survey also reports a significant increase in the number of violent offences recorded, increasing by 19% over the last year to 1.4million.

Representatives from the retail sector have told the Cross Party Group on Small Shops in Wales of the serious human and financial cost of crimes committed against retailers and the people working in stores.

The meeting of the CPG on Small Shops heard from representatives from the Association of Convenience Stores, the Welsh Retail Consortium, the Shopworkers Union USDAW and Gwent Police on the impact of shop theft, violence and abuse on the retail sector, as well as ways that the police and justice system can do more to tackle and prevent retail crime.

The 2018 Forecourt Report has revealed the essential role that the UK's 8,418 forecourts play in the lives of consumers, the improvements that forecourts are making in their businesses, and the challenges they face in the future.

The report details the investment that forecourt stores are making in improving their offering to customers through new technologies, more efficient refrigeration and a wider food offer, with over £11,000 invested per store on average.

Other key findings from the report include: