This is how the high street in Hastings has changed since the start of the pandemic in 2020

The full extent of changes to the UK's high streets after two years of lockdowns due to the pandemic and trading restrictions covered in data from Ordnance Survey.

The figures are revealed by the BBC’s analysis of 1.5 million records contained in the Ordnance Survey's Points of Interest mapping data. The data is a quarterly survey of businesses, facilities and services operating in the UK.

UK-wide, the data shows that there were 9,300 fewer retail outlets in March 2022 than March 2020, as reported by the BBC.

For Hastings in March 2020, there were 106 eating and drinking businesses. Two years later in March 2022, here were three more in town, which was an increase of three per cent.

Over the same two-year period, there were 209 retail shops in Hastings. But by March 2020, there were eight fewer – a decrease of four per cent.

This figure was higher than the one for the UK overall, which saw a three per cent decrease in retail shops between March 2020 and March 2022.

According to the data, as reported by the BBC, there was a 6.5 per cent increase in the number of beauty services opening in Hastings over the two-year period, a 2.9 per cent increase in the number of fish and chip shops opening in town, and a 20 per cent rise in supermarket chains opening in Hastings.

The data also said Hastings saw a 7.7 per cent increase in the number of tattoo and piercing studios opening between March 2020 and March 2022.