Rushden Research Group conducted a survey of business occupancy in and around Rushden High Street in 2009, embracing some 200 businesses.  Over Christmas 2024 we returned to the original survey to see how things have changed.  It must be said that the results were depressing and the intervening 15 years have not been kind to our town.  Clearly the arrival of Rushden Lakes, economic uncertainty and the parallel development of internet shopping have had a deep impact, so we sought to classify businesses by nature and identify specific trends.  The 2024 survey was designed to mirror those streets examined in 2009 to enable like-for-like comparisons to be made. 

Following on from our fascinating look at the evolution of Rushden’s town centre at the end of 2024, we have comeback to have another look a year on to gauge the resilience of the town’s retail centre in the light of continuing challenges.  The review looks at the same geographical area included in the detailed 2009 survey and encompasses 223 retail units as of the date of the latest survey.  Roundly 88% of the 174 businesses identified a year ago are still in operation, implying a 12% annual churn rate. 

Eleven units that were apparently active a year ago now stand empty, including Cancer Research UK, RSPCA, International Supermarket, Yum Jamaica, Inspired Property, MIO Dessert, the short-lived Elevens Bakery, Creative Legals (who were a little too creative for the FCA’s appetite and were invited to cease operations), Halo Recruitment, and 2020 taxi.  Nearly 40 units that were shuttered twelve months ago disappointingly remain so, but as of December 2025 the former Select fashion store was in the process of being carved out into two smaller units and completely refitted. Meanwhile, a few units that were idle a year ago are now trading again, with new tenants including King of Kings and Mens’ Secret (both Barbers), Impact Gym, The Card Factory, Northants Age UK, Kwik Fit, Taurus Tattoos, Kip McGrath Tutoring, Acer Accountants, B&M (occupying the former Wilco site), The General Bar (in the old Post Office building), Café 16:15, Trains and Bricks toy store (an intriguing arrival given Osborne’s continuing excellence), and The Elegance Lounge on Newton Road (but this looks like a move from the High Street). A smattering of units that were trading a year ago have new tenants or have rebranded, including European Plus Food (was European Food), Elite Barbers (was Unite Barbers), La Famiglia Italian Restaurant (was Escape Lounge Takeaway, and now competing head on with long-established Pizzeria Venezia), The Hair Loft (was Jonanthan Brown hair), URV Fashion Collections (previously Swift Cabs), Snapity Snapper Tattoos (was JM Ha Ha UK), and Rhys Barbers (formerly Boo Beauty). So as of the end of 2025, the most numerous categories of traders represented in the town centre area include General (18), Hair (16, of which 7 or so are Eastern European barbers), Fast Food (16), Eateries (15), Food (13) and Beauty (12). 

More widely in the town centre we note the advanced state of residential conversion work on the old Birch Bros Bus Station, and gratifyingly it looks to have been sympathetically done to conserve the classic art deco lines of the facade.  The derelict Feathers pub is still a blight on the High Street whilst most recently, the derelict and overgrown house at 23 High St South (next to the Precinct) has been bulldozed, paving the way for a new infill residential development.  And slightly further afield, we noted at the end of November that the car repair and sales compound on Quorn Road has been demolished and cleared in preparation for a new residential development, and the White Arches Caravans brand is rapidly disappearing as new owners Spinney assert their own corporate styling.  On the other side of Wellingborough Road, reconstruction work was in evidence at Monoworld plastics recycling centre after the huge conflagration of May 23^rd.  Strolling down to the bottom of Wellingborough Road we noted that the old Full Gospel Church building was being gutted as part of a residential conversion.  And a brief foray across the County border into Bedfordshire revealed that both the New Inn in Wymington and the Bedford Arms in Souldrop have closed their doors in the last couple of years, leaving both villages without a pub.  Our spy remembers regular trips to the New Inn back in the 1990s when the resident goat provided endless fascination for the kids and diners electing for the Ham and Eggs might occasionally be sent across the car park to pick their own eggs from the chicken enclosure in the barn.