Minister Defends £8m Spend On Fake Shops

A common site on Northern Irish high streets is the painting of vacant shop units to make them look like thriving retail businesses.

Whilst the artwork certainly tidies up eye sores in town centres, a staggering £8 million has so far been spent on the project with some struggling traders fearing that the fake shop fronts have become semi-permanent and simply papering over the cracks.

Derelict shops are a common sight in town centres across Northern Ireland and it has emerged that the Department for Social Development has invested £8.2m on the ReStore/Revitalisation projects since 2008.

Speaking to the Belfast Telegraph, Social development minister Nelson McCausland said he had positive feedback from the business communities in which this work had taken place.

He said: “The uptake from traders in the towns and cities targeted has been excellent and has ensured as many of the businesses and buildings as possible were improved.

“It has also resulted in significant private sector investment, an increase in tourism and revenue and enhancement of shopper experiences,” said Minister McCausland.

The fake shop fronts made headlines last year when Co Fermanagh’s district council sanctioned the fake retail units as part of a £1m makeover before it hosted the G8 summit.

In the one-street town of Belcoo, the changes were merely cosmetic. At a former butcher’s shop, stickers applied to the windows show a packed meat counter and give the impression that business is booming. Across the street, another empty unit was given a makeover to look like a thriving office supply shop.

Whilst some argue that the artwork merely papers over the cracks of the whole problem of shop vacancy rates – of which NI has the highest in the UK – Minister Mccausland says that much of the £8.2m has supported existing traders to undertake work on their own shop fronts.

* Pictured top is a fake shop front in Ballymena