Barbers and bookies are filling gaps on high streets left by the closure of independent shops, according to a new report.

Coffee shops and nailbars are also filling up the empty slots, with Independent clothing stores, shoe shops and newsagents shutting at a record rate with nearly 200 closing in the past six months of this year, about the same number as in the whole of 2012, according to a report.

Michael Weedon, deputy chief executive of the British Independent Retailers Association, said that independent stores “are the best hope that our high streets have”. But he added that “the margin between openings and closings, between vibrant health and sickness in the town centre environment, is just 0.4% in the first half of this year, far too fine a margin for comfort.”