With retailers taking their businesses online and changes in consumer behaviour, high street shops are undoubtedly under threat.
Although Marlow is often praised for its thriving mix of independent and big-brand retailers, a stroll up the high street reveals a fair few empty shopfronts.
To satiate your curiosity, we at the BFP have pulled together photos of all the empty shops currently on the high street and done a little digging to find out what the future may have in store for them.
The former Crown Hotel
This Grade-II listed building and former market house, right at the top of Marlow high street, won't be vacant for much longer as a much-anticipated Everyman cinema is currently under construction.
M & Co.
Although it's not quite an empty shopfront yet, plans are already underway to transform Marlow's M&Co building, next door to the Old Crown Hotel, into a Wetherspoons pub. Watch this space!
7 High Street
A recent empty shopfront, number 7 in the high street was a Natwest banking branch until earlier this year. The shift to online banking has meant the dissolution of many stores across the UK, with several branches leaving Marlow recently.
10 High Street
Another empty storefront owing to a bank taking its business online, number 10 on Marlow's high street is the former Barclays building. The branch closed back in March 2022 and has been a vacant space on the high street for around a year.
17 High Street
The Lloyds bank in Marlow, formerly number 17 in the high street, also shut its doors last year, around the same time as Barclays announced its impending closure.
With Marlow's HSBC branch, number 46 on the high street, also closing this year, the town's banking options will dwindle to only the Nationwide at number 34.
Although it may look like a relatively bleak picture, especially where in-person banking is concerned, Mayor Richard Scott was optimistic about the future of Marlow's high street.
He said: "Fortunately, Marlow has not been as badly affected as some other towns in terms of high street and retail business.
"There are currently a number of empty shops but they tend to turn over relatively quickly."
He added that of the three emnpty bank premises, one is currently being let and the other two are being marketed.
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