Retail Turf War Escalates As Space Shortages Force UK Retailers Into Aggressive Tactics

Major UK retailers are engaged in an intensifying turf war, resorting to increasingly assertive strategies to secure prime retail space. With developers slowing their builds and planning restrictions curbing new outlets, traditional expansion routes are closing. Giants such as Marks & Spencer, Lidl, Aldi, and Home Bargains are adopting intermediary leases and purchasing rival freeholds to boost their foothold in key locations, sending shockwaves throughout the retail landscape.

For years, stores like Wickes flourished in seemingly secure outposts, relying on the protective provisions of the Landlord and Tenant Act of 1954. But retailers such as Marks & Spencer are undercutting this security through creative property manoeuvres. By securing intermediary leases, organisations gain the legal right to claim stores when leases expire under the premise of moving in themselves – leaving current tenants like Wickes with a countdown clock rather than a guaranteed future.

Rents in out-of-town retail parks have stagnated since the last financial crisis, and developers struggle with mounting construction and finance costs. As a result, landlords and retailers are forming sharper strategies to realise growth and improved returns. Property owners are using these intermediary leases as a means to immediately uplift their income, in some cases by as much as 50 per cent, blurring the lines between healthy competition and aggressive undercutting.

Retailers targeted in these deals include Wickes, B&Q, DFS and Sofology, reminiscent of tactics used when Homebase faced collapse. Marks & Spencer has bought multiple Homebase freeholds in anticipation of exploiting lease lapses, while Dunelm recently paid a premium well above the asking price for a former Homebase estate. Aldi is planning to open 80 new stores by 2027, part of a £1.6 billion investment, while Lidl aims for 1,100 stores by 2026, having recently spent nearly half a billion pounds to acquire new sites.

Luxury retail is witnessing parallel battles on London’s prestigious shopping streets. A third of New Bond Street now sits in the hands of luxury fashion houses, with prime sites changing hands at record values as the scramble for physical presence intensifies. Rising costs and slow planning cycles mean such opportunities are limited, adding greater value and urgency to each transaction.

Retailers and landlords are rapidly adjusting strategies, with some tenants renegotiating for longer lease terms as a form of defence. As the race for market share and profit sharpens, these high-stakes property plays are reshaping how retail giants position themselves in Britain’s dynamic consumer landscape.