Upper Norwood is one of the most desolate district shopping centres in the country according to a recent survey.

Figures from the Local Data Company(LDC) claim more than one in five of the area’s shops were vacant properties at the end of 2009, compared to an average of 14.5 per cent nationally.

The retail data research organisation believes some high streets will never return to their pre-recession days.

LDC director Matthew Hokinson said: “The sad reality is that the number of vacant shops are increasing, with certain areas of the country severely impacted and unlikely to recover.

“These high streets will never revert back to what they once were and so the composition of our town centres needs to change to reflect modern shopping needs.”