As the incipient consumer downturn takes hold and harbingers of retail gloom come to pass, it has become increasingly apparent that the high street of the not-to-distant future will look rather different from today’s.

Since the year began, several household names – among them the shoe chains Dolcis and Stead & Simpson, along with The Works, the country’s largest bargain book chain – have collapsed, and analysts warn of more administrations to come.