The high street
The high street planning index stands at 69, 31% below its 2016 share; new and replacement shopfronts, its largest topic, stand at 64.
69Planning index (2016 = 100)31% below its 2016 share
down 2%Change in shareQ3 2026 against Q3 2025
1,039Applications, Q3 2026every council we hold
4,390Applications, past 12 monthsall councils, October 2025 to September 2026
In brief
- Shopfronts drew 1,222 applications in the year to September 2026; their share fell by about two fifths to 2020 and has held since.
- Of the 701 pub applications, 575 would change or demolish a pub and 126 would open one.
- Banking hubs drew 55 in 12 months, 6 times their share three years earlier; drive-thrus and tattoo studios are 21% and 38% below theirs.
Q3 2026 against a year earlier
By topic
| Topic | Applications | Share, Q3 2025 | Share, Q3 2026 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New and replacement shopfronts | 286 | 29 | 28 | down 5% |
| Restaurants and cafés | 258 | 26 | 25 | down 4% |
| Pubs | 161 | 18 | 16 | down 12% |
| Hot food takeaways | 130 | 13 | 13 | down 6% |
| Drive-thrus | 55 | 4.9 | 5.3 | up 8% |
| Former bank conversions | 44 | 3.1 | 4.3 | Under 40 |
| Petrol stations | 34 | 3.7 | 3.3 | Under 40 |
| Tattoo studios | 35 | 1.8 | 3.4 | Under 40 |
| Barbers | 24 | 2.8 | 2.3 | Under 40 |
| Farm shops | 28 | 2.9 | 2.7 | Under 40 |
| Nightclubs | 15 | 1.3 | 1.5 | Under 40 |
| Banking hubs | 17 | 1.8 | 1.7 | Under 40 |
| Micropubs | 13 | 1.5 | 1.3 | Under 40 |
Applications in Q3 2026. Share is the number in every 10,000 applications.
Out of every 10,000 applications
All 13 topics together: 101 in every 10,000 applications in Q3 2026, against 103 a year earlier.
Topics in this theme
New and replacement shopfronts
1,222 applications in the past year
down 36% in share since 2016
Planning index 64
Restaurants and cafés
1,176 applications in the past year
down 46% in share since 2016
Planning index 54
Pubs
701 applications in the past year
down 14% in share since 2016
Planning index 86
Hot food takeaways
616 applications in the past year
down 19% in share since 2016
Planning index 81
Drive-thrus
218 applications in the past year
down 25% in share since 2016
Planning index 75
Former bank conversions
151 applications in the past year
up 43% in share since 2016
Planning index 143
Petrol stations
144 applications in the past year
down 35% in share since 2016
Planning index 65
Tattoo studios
121 applications in the past year
down 41% in share since 2016
Planning index 59
Barbers
116 applications in the past year
up 86% in share since 2016
Planning index 186
Farm shops
114 applications in the past year
up 7% in share since 2016
Planning index 107
Nightclubs
61 applications in the past year
down 37% in share since 2016
Planning index 63
Banking hubs
55 applications in the past year
up 6 times in share since 2023
Micropubs
35 applications in the past year
down 62% in share since 2016
Planning index 38
About Plota
Plota is the UK's most visited planning search, according to Similarweb. It shows every new planning application from every UK council, read daily from 390 planning registers, with past applications back to 2016 from more than 420 registers, including those of councils since merged. It also covers planning committee decisions, HMO licences and premises licences.
How this is measured
- The theme's planning index: the applications for its 13 topics over the previous 12 months, as a share of all applications, with the 2016 share set at 100.
- Each application counts once in a theme, even when it names two of the theme's topics, so the topics can add up to more than the theme.
- Topics: each counts applications whose description names it, or a close variant of the words. Each topic's matches were checked one by one, by reading its 200 most recent applications and 20 from every year since 2016. Topics count planning applications, not completed schemes. The largest energy and infrastructure projects are consented nationally rather than by councils, so they sit outside these counts.
- Topic counts leave out, by design, works to trees and applications that only discharge conditions, amend an earlier permission or approve reserved matters, which follow a scheme already counted. Everything else is counted.
- Planning is seasonal, so each quarter is compared with the same quarter a year earlier.
- Year on year: each topic's and theme's share of all applications in Q3 2026, against Q3 2025, at every council we hold. A share is the number in every 10,000 applications. Shares compare across councils and years; raw counts do not.
- Left out of the topic shares: Birmingham's applications from June to September 2026: a validation backlog at the council since June 2026: of 685 reference numbers it issued in September, its register lists 288. The same months a year earlier are left out too, so every comparison covers the same councils.
- Source: the planning registers of every UK council, January 2016 to September 2026, read on 9 November 2026.