Cheltenham has been singled out as one of the region's retail success stories by real estate advisor Colliers International.

The Midsummer Retail Report from global real estate advisor Colliers International is a review of the UK shopping scene and was launched for the South West at Cinema de Lux in Bristol.

Hal Clarke, senior surveyor, retail agency (south), said: "Polarisation between the 'best and the rest' retail locations is becoming increasingly apparent throughout the UK and this is no different for the South West.

"The dominant centres in the region, such as Bristol, Bath, Cheltenham, Exeter and Plymouth, continue to benefit from good levels of demand and relatively low levels of vacancy.

"An example is Cheltenham, where rents remain unchanged from 2017 and the town will welcome a new 115,000 sq ft John Lewis department store in October of this year."

Plymouth was also in the spotlight as a significant retail success story, because of the low overall vacancy rate of 8.3 per cent compared to a national average of 13.3 per cent.

The Dorset towns of Poole and Christchurch were also highlighted for the way in which they were responding to the retail markets in their locations.

Mr Clarke added that The South West witnessed significant average prime rent growth in 2017 at 2.5 per cent representing the highest outside of London and the South East, although when secondary rents were included there had been a -1.4 per cent fall in rents after three years of consecutive rental growth in the region.