Peterlee High Street Struggles as Bath Bomb Shop Faces Economic Pressures

With 40.8% of its shops sitting empty, Peterlee holds the worst retail vacancy rate in the County Durham region, and among the businesses still trading on that thinning high street is Fizzy Lou's Fizz Factory, a small handmade bath bomb and cosmetics retailer that has become a human symbol of the pressures facing independent makers who bet on bricks and mortar.

The shop is based at 37 Yoden Way in Peterlee, Durham, where it produces handmade bath bombs and personal care products designed to be colourful, brightly scented, and skin-nourishing. South West Durham News spotlighted Fizzy Lou's Fizz Factory in a March 19, 2026 feature on the town's rising vacancy rates, using the shop as a concrete example of what economic pressure looks like at street level for a small independent business.

The numbers behind that pressure are stark. Empty shops across County Durham town centres have increased for the third year in a row, with vacancy rates rising in nine town centres to a combined score of 19.1%, well above the target of 13.9%. Durham County Council has identified Peterlee, Bishop Auckland, and Newton Aycliffe as having the highest percentage of vacant units within the county, with Peterlee's rate climbing from 38.4% the previous year to 40.8%.

Despite being anchored by national retailers including Asda, B&M, and Boots, the non-retail offer within the town is limited, which contributes to the persistently high vacancy rates. That dynamic puts independent specialists like Fizzy Lou's, whose handcrafted character bombs, mini fizzers, bubble bath, and body butter sit well outside the product range of a discount retailer, in a particularly exposed position. Foot traffic driven by necessity shopping does not automatically convert into customers for artisan bath products.

Government initiatives such as the Pride in Place programme aim to revive high streets and public spaces, with a total of £20 million invested across Stanley, Peterlee, Crook, and Tow Law. Durham County Council is also running support schemes including the Towns and Villages Programme and the Targeted Business Improvement Scheme. Whether those funds translate into meaningful footfall recovery for shops like Fizzy Lou's remains the central question for Peterlee's remaining independent retailers.

For anyone who has ever dropped a handcrafted fizzer into a tub and understood immediately why someone chose to make it rather than manufacture it at scale, Fizzy Lou's Fizz Factory represents something that spreadsheets struggle to capture. It is the kind of shop that a high street loses quietly, then misses loudly.