Insert coin: the virtual reality arcades regenerating northern high streets

Amid boarded up shops in Wearside, The Gaming Hideaway is thriving - and shows how tired retail districts can be reimagined

On Bishop Auckland's increasingly desolate high street, shops have steadily closed over the years as a retail park has lured local people away. Dozens of shopfronts lie empty, and the businesses that cling on are mostly discount retailers, the odd vape shop and a few charity shops. Even Poundland has gone. But a few doors down from where Boots used to be, next to the HSBC branch that closed last August, you can now find yourself at the starting grid of a Formula One race, then hurled down a towering rollercoaster.

On average, 47 shops shut down every day last year across the UK - up nearly 50% on 2021 - as retailers faced ever-increasing competition from online stores along with rising costs and damage from the pandemic. The future for these streets is not retail but entertainment, and The Gaming Hideaway in Bishop Auckland, a virtual reality arcade, is a prime example.