Beauty Is Helping to Bring Britain’s High Streets Back to Life – So Why Is the Sector Still Being Overlooked?

Beauty is playing a vital role in bringing Britain’s high streets back to life – but according to BABTAC (British Association of Beauty Therapy & Cosmetology), the sector is still being overlooked when it comes to conversations about the future of the high street.

In 2025, beauty and personal care contributed £28.3 billion to the UK economy, supported 595,000 jobs and generated £8.8 billion in UK tax revenues.

With the Government looking for ways to breathe new life into Britain’s high streets, BABTAC is calling for beauty, hair and personal care businesses to be recognised as a vital part of the solution.

Beauty Is Already Bringing People Back to the High Street

Beauty salons, hairdressers, barbers, nail salons and other personal care businesses do much more than provide treatments.

They are independent businesses, employers, community spaces and regular generators of physical footfall – providing many of the things that increasingly make a successful high street.

Research from the Local Data Company, commissioned by the British Beauty Council, found that 1,653 independent beauty units opened between September 2022 and September 2023, including 618 beauty salons and 815 barbers.

While many traditional retail categories continue to face challenging conditions, beauty has demonstrated significant resilience and growth on Britain’s high streets.

Beauty businesses are also increasingly recognised as an important source of regular, local footfall. Unlike traditional retail, these are services that cannot be delivered online. People have to physically visit their local salon, barber or treatment business – and often do so regularly as loyal customers.

The Economic Value of Beauty

The scale of the beauty sector is significant.

The latest Value of Beauty report, commissioned by the British Beauty Council and compiled by Oxford Economics, found that beauty and personal care contributed £28.3 billion to UK GDP in 2025, supported 595,000 jobs and generated £8.8 billion in UK tax revenues.

Within this, the hair and beauty services sector alone contributed around £5.9 billion directly to UK GDP in 2024, with around 50,000 businesses employing approximately 220,000 people.

The sector is also overwhelmingly made up of small businesses. More than 80% of hair and beauty businesses employ fewer than five people, while 95% employ fewer than ten, making them an important part of the UK’s independent business landscape.

For Lesley Blair MBE, CEO and Chair of BABTAC (British Association of Beauty Therapy & Cosmetology), these businesses should be central to the conversation about the future of the high street.

“When we talk about saving the high street, we need to look at what is already working. Beauty is one of the sectors bringing people into our town centres, creating jobs, filling physical spaces and building communities.

A beauty salon isn't simply somewhere you go for a treatment. It can be one of the reasons you regularly visit your local high street. It provides employment, creates a relationship with the local community and contributes to the sense that a high street is somewhere people want to spend time.

Unlike traditional retail, you can't download a haircut, have a facial delivered digitally or replace the relationship you have with a trusted beauty professional with an online transaction. These businesses are inherently physical and local.”

Beauty Needs to Be Part of the High-Street Conversation

The comments come as Andy Burnham backs business-rates cuts for pubs and live music venues as part of plans to support local high streets.

He has also called for local people and councils to have greater control over what opens on their high streets, including powers to “rein in the unwanted businesses” that do not benefit local communities.

BABTAC says that while it fully supports measures designed to help struggling high-street businesses, beauty and personal care businesses must also be recognised as part of the solution.

Long-time sector supporter Carolyn Harris MP, Chair of the Beauty, Hair & Wellbeing APPG, has also written to the Chancellor challenging the decision.

“We absolutely support measures that help pubs, live music venues and other high-street businesses. But if we are serious about creating vibrant, resilient high streets, beauty and personal care have to be part of that conversation. Our sector isn't simply asking for support. We are already delivering many of the things policymakers say they want from the modern high street. We are local, predominantly small businesses. We employ people, generate regular footfall and create places where people connect.

The £28.3 billion contribution to the economy and 595,000 jobs demonstrate our economic value. But the value of beauty goes beyond GDP. It is about people, communities and the role these businesses play in keeping our high streets alive. If Government is asking which businesses can help create the high streets of the future, beauty should surely be part of the answer.”

A Sector Supporting Female Entrepreneurship

The importance of the sector also extends beyond its economic contribution.

Beauty represents a significant opportunity for female entrepreneurship. Evidence submitted to Parliament by the British Beauty Council highlights that 40% of high-street businesses are owned by women, with hair and beauty predominantly made up of women-owned and women-employed businesses.

For BABTAC, the question is therefore not simply how Government can support beauty businesses, but how Government can better recognise the role they already play in creating thriving high streets.

What Will the High Street of the Future Look Like?

The high street is changing. Traditional retail is no longer the only reason people visit their local town centres.

Experiences, services, wellbeing, community and human connection are increasingly important – and beauty businesses are already operating at the heart of this changing landscape.

As Lesley Blair explains:

“We need to stop thinking about the high street purely in terms of shops,” says Lesley. “The high street of the future will be about experiences, services, community, connection and wellbeing – and beauty businesses are already delivering all of those things.Beauty isn't something that sits alongside the high street economy. It is part of it.”

BABTAC is calling for beauty, hair and personal care businesses to be included in future discussions and policy decisions around the UK’s high streets and business rates.

With hundreds of thousands of people employed across the sector, billions contributed to the UK economy and thousands of independent businesses helping to generate regular high-street footfall, the message from BABTAC is clear: beauty is not simply part of the high street – it is helping to shape its future.