THE vacancy rate in Altrincham town centre has dipped below 10 per cent for the first time in a decade.

Altrincham Unlimited has revealed that the proportion of empty units now stands at 9.5 per cent - down from 14.4 per cent in March 2016.

Katie Bland, BID Manager for Altrincham Unlimited, said the drop in vacancy rate is a real milestone for the regeneration of the town centre.

She added: “It’s particularly pleasing to see a number of successful businesses from elsewhere in the north west choosing Altrincham for their next venture; for example Porta, who have expanded their authentic tapas bar offer into Altrincham from Chester; The Cellar, a new bar from the team behind The Drawing Room in West Didsbury and The Contemporary Art Gallery, who are based in Chester and have chosen Altrincham for their second venue.

“Altrincham is thriving; this is the result of focused effort and hard work by numerous stakeholders over the past six years to improve the town. We’ll be working hard this year to maintain the upward trend in footfall and to continue to encourage investment in Altrincham.”

And the record footfall witnessed at Christmas has continued into 2017, with visitor numbers up 8.2 per cent on the previous year.

Altrincham has bucked the national trend, with high streets seeing average fall of 0.3 per cent in the first quarter of 2017.

Martin Duff, chair of Altrincham Unlimited and owner of Randalls Jewellery said: “Following a high profile seasonal campaign, visitor numbers over Christmas were exceptional in Altrincham, but the big question was would this trend continue into 2017?

“We are delighted to see that it has, and that Altrincham continues to outperform the UK in general by some margin.”