Beauty sector helping plug gaps in UK high streets amid boom in salons – report

Read the original at Evening Standard ↗
Evening Standard · collected 2026-10-13 · by Holly Williams

Quick Summary

A new report by Oxford Economics, commissioned by the British Beauty Council and supported by L’Oreal Groupe, reveals that beauty salons and shops account for nearly one-third of all leisure sites in UK retail centers, with a higher concentration in smaller towns. The report highlights that there are over 190,000 beauty and personal care locations nationwide, with 39% situated outside major cities. Per capita, regions like Lancashire and Devon have more than three such amenities per 1,000 residents compared to Greater London’s two-and-a-half. The report underscores the growing significance of the beauty sector in local economies and community well-being.
Written locally by qwen2.5:14b on 2026-10-13, using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the same event (that is the story summary below).

AI analysis runs on qwen2.5:14b, locally

Story summary

Beauty salons and shops now account for nearly 30% of leisure sites across UK retail centers, with an even higher presence in smaller local centers at over 35%. A report by Oxford Economics, commissioned by the British Beauty Council and supported by L’Oreal, reveals there are more than 190,000 beauty and personal care sites nationwide, with almost 40% located outside large cities. The study highlights that regions like Lancashire, Devon (including Torbay), and York have more than three beauty amenities per 1,000 residents compared to Greater London's rate of around two-and-a-half. Millie Kendall, chief executive of the British Beauty Council, emphasized the sector’s role in community well-being, high-street regeneration, and economic participation.

Written for “Beauty Sector Growth UK High Streets” on 2026-10-13, grounded in this article and the 1 other(s) covering the same event.
Why this leaning score
This article does not take a side on a contested political question, so it has no leaning score. That is an answer rather than a gap: a match report or a rescue can be warmly or critically written without being left or right, and scoring it anyway is how approval of a subject gets recorded as a political position.
No political leaning scored for article 76098 · logged 2026-10-13

Story

📰 Beauty Sector Growth UK High Streets
Economy/Business · 2 article(s) covering the same event. See how they differ ↓

Compared with similar articles

This article reads unscored and hedges 8% of its claims. Each row says how that neighbour differs.
Beauty sector helping plug gaps in UK high streets amid boom in salons – report same event · 100%
Evening Standard · 0.99 cosine similarity
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 8% hedged 1 of 12 📰 publisher trust 66
“Both articles describe the exact same report released on the growth of beauty salons in UK high streets.”

Cite this article

Williams, H. (2026, October 13). Beauty sector helping plug gaps in UK high streets amid boom in salons – report. Evening Standard. https://www.standard.co.uk/business/business-news/greater-manchester-hair-greater-london-beauty-british-beauty-council-b1300385.html

Dated when The Aporia collected the article, usually within hours of publication. Check the original for its exact date and byline.

How this article was measured signals, leaning charts, publisher record, byline, topics and claims

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted
13
sentences that state something as happening or true
Uncertain
8%
1 of 13 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")
Leaning
not political
takes no side on a contested political question
Publisher signals
66/100
Evening Standard's corrections and hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.
Outlets on this story
2
Economy/Business
Same framing elsewhere
2
articles that frame the event the way this one does
Analyzed 2026-10-13 · how these are computed

How this is being covered How these are calculated →

Article leaning vs. publisher reliability
Source leaning vs. consistency

Publisher

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Running correction rate · 41 correction(s)
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Who wrote this

Holly Williams
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Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.
All 60 articles by Holly Williams →

Topics

Devon Lancashire Torbay York the British Beauty Council

Subjects

Britain GPE · 2× Devon GPE · 2× Lancashire GPE · 2× North Yorkshire GPE · 2× Torbay GPE · 2× York GPE · 2× the British Beauty Council ORG · 2× Greater London GPE · 1× L’Oreal Groupe ORG · 1× Oxford Economics ORG · 1×

Narrative

Millie Kendall, chief executive of the British Beauty Council, said: “At a time when we are thinking seriously about well-being, loneliness, high-street regeneration and economic participation, we need to recognise the role that beauty businesses and professionals already play in communities across Britain.
framing: assertive · carried by 2 article(s) · first seen 2026-10-11
2026-10-11 · Evening Standard
Beauty sector helping plug gaps in UK high streets amid boom in salons – report · assertive framing
2026-10-13 · Evening Standard
Beauty sector helping plug gaps in UK high streets amid boom in salons – report · assertive framing

Claims (13 extracted, 1 hedged)

Beauty sector helping plug gaps in UK high streets amid boom in salons – report asserted
sector → help → salons
Beauty salons and shops now make up almost a third of all leisure sites across UK retail centres and take an even greater share in smaller high streets as spend on personal care shows no sign of slowing, new figures have shown. asserted
figures → make → sign
New analysis indicates the sector makes up more than 35% of local leisure and recreation sites in smaller local centres. asserted
sector → indicate → centres
The Impact Of Beauty report by Oxford Economics – which was commissioned by the British Beauty Council and backed by L’Oreal Groupe – indicates there are more than 190,000 beauty and personal care sites across the UK, of which 39% are outside large cities. asserted
% → commission → cities
But the report showed that on a per-head basis, the regions have a greater concentration, showing the growing importance of the sector in local towns and villages across the UK. asserted
regions → show → UK
When taking population into account, Greater London has around two-and-a-half beauty and personal-care amenities for every 1,000 residents, compared with more than three in areas such as Lancashire, Devon and Torbay, and York and North Yorkshire. asserted
London → take → Lancashire
Millie Kendall, chief executive of the British Beauty Council, said: “At a time when we are thinking seriously about well-being, loneliness, high-street regeneration and economic participation, we need to recognise the role that beauty businesses and professionals already play in communities across Britain. asserted
businesses → say → Britain
“The report determines that beauty and personal care should be understood not simply as a consumer sector, but as part of the social and local infrastructure of everyday life in Britain, and as such must be safeguarded now and in the future.” asserted
beauty → determine → future
The report also highlights the rise in spend on beauty, with a survey of consumers revealing £27 is spent on average a month on products and services and 13 minutes on average a day is dedicated to beauty and personal care. asserted
minutes → highlight → beauty
Thierry Cheval, managing director and chairman of L’Oreal Groupe UK & Ireland, said the findings confirm beauty “has an impact in every postcode across the UK, from our homes to our high streets”. asserted
beauty → say → streets
He said it was “a sector with a presence in every corner of the country, a role in people’s confidence and well-being, and a place in the daily rhythm of national life”. asserted
it → say → life
It follows the Value Of Beauty report earlier this year, which found the sector employs around 422,000 people in a growing sign of its economic importance. asserted
sector → follow → importance
Beauty and personal care sites per region, adjusted for population, are as follows, according to the Impact Of Beauty report: 1. Lancashire – 3.12. uncertain
sites → adjust → report
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