‘Working our fingers to the bone’: Can the UK save its struggling high streets?

London, United Kingdom – Taking the reins of a family business can be a source of immense pride, but it also comes with enormous pressures.When Surpreet Suri’s father started a photography business in Birmingham 40 years ago, his hard work paid off and he expanded to four locations around the city.Today, the family has just one shop, in a prime location in the city’s Kings Heath High Street. But Suri is now considering relocating.The reason: It’s too expensive to continue the business there.When Suri moved the business to its current site, it gave it greater visibility – but also much higher running costs.“We are at a point now where we are seriously considering how do we get out of this space purely to reduce costs,” he tells Al Jazeera.Despite having a loyal customer base, Suri says the financial rewards are increasingly difficult to find.“We’re sort of working our fingers to the bone, and that’s the side that people don’t see.”Living ‘month to month’Suri’s experience reflects a broader struggle on Britain’s high streets as the government presents its budget on Wednesday, with attention focused on whether further relief from business rates could help smaller businesses.Business r...