Keeping a 40-Year Family Business Alive in Birmingham's Kings Heath Is Hard: Questions Over Saving Britain's High Streets

Small business owners in Britain may get some tax relief in Wednesday's budget, but they say it will not be enough. The experience of a family photography business on Kings Heath High Street in Birmingham shows a picture of that pressure.

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 on Kings Heath High Street. But Suri is now considering relocating.

The reason is that it has become too expensive to continue the business there. Moving the business to its current site gave it greater visibility, but also much higher running costs. Suri said: 'We are at a point now where we are seriously considering how do we get out of this space purely to reduce costs.'

Despite having a loyal customer base, Suri said the financial rewards are increasingly difficult to find. He said: 'We're sort of working our fingers to the bone, and that's the side that people don't see.'

Business rates are a property-based tax paid by businesses occupying commercial premises, although some smaller properties already qualify for relief. For Suri, however, rates are only part of the problem.

The rent, VAT, wages, pensions, and the rising cost of energy and specialist materials are also eating into his earnings. Refilling one of his professional printers with ink costs about 2,000 pounds, or $2,664, he said.

When asked how much he earns, Suri said: 'I pay myself less than the minimum wage.' The minimum wage in Britain is 12.21 pounds per hour, or $16.26. He said: 'When I say that I live month to month, I literally mean that.'

Another challenge Suri and other independent business owners face is competition from online retailers, which now account for 28 percent of UK retail sales. While small business owners on the high street face steeper costs, customers increasingly expect prices comparable to those online, even when they are paying for a specialist, personalised service.

Suri said: 'People come to me wanting the quality that we provide, but they want me to match online pricing, which I simply can't do.' He understands that the cost-of-living crisis he is struggling with also affects his customers. He said: 'You can't blame the customer or the consumer for not being able to support your business all of the time.'

At a time of these pressures on retailers, many customers are feeling increasingly despondent about the state of their high streets. Boarded-up shopfronts are a more common sight. Pawnbrokers, betting shops, vape outlets, charity stores and big-chain retailers have moved into high street locations that small business owners can no longer afford. Nearly 14 percent of high street retail units are estimated to be vacant.

One Birmingham shopper said: 'Years ago, you used to come and have a good look, whatever the weather. But it's just the same up here all the time now.' Another said shopping online is increasingly preferable: 'It's more convenient as well. Sometimes you come out here and there's no inspiration.' Yet the same shopper said they want more distinctive local businesses and added that the government should make it easier for entrepreneurs to open them.

At a parliamentary inquiry into revitalising Britain's high streets earlier this month, the chief executive of the British Independent Retailers Association, Andrew Goodacre, argued that recent business rate reforms had failed to deliver the intended benefits for smaller retailers. He told members of parliament that some independent shops are facing higher bills, even as a large supermarket near his home stood to pay substantially less.

The inquiry heard another troubling argument: that legitimate businesses may also face unfair competition from operators which evade taxes. Politicians heard how some central London souvenir shops allegedly use successive limited companies to avoid paying tax, enabling them to pay rents that compliant businesses could not afford.

That warning is echoed by Suri, who said a reduction in rates would be welcome but not enough. He said: 'That's a small step in the right direction. But if the intention really is to help the high streets thrive, there's a lot of change that needs to be made.' His challenge to the UK's Chancellor of the Exchequer is to spend a month or two running a real high street business and experience the pressures first-hand.

For a family business that has survived four decades, the question now is whether it can afford another year in the place it once hoped to grow. Suri said: 'If the government makes it easier to actually run an independent business successfully, that's the first domino in a positive effect that could really help our country.'