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"upwards only rent reviews are there when you sign the lease"

A rather simplistic view that I assume is espoused by either someone on the landlords side of the property equation or someone without the responsibility of running a retail operation.

Try finding a lease that doesn't have the clause Anon. In which case your choice is to either be a retailer or not. The government promised lease reform some years ago along the lines of the Irish approach, but backed away and fudged rather like they are doing now with the banks and business rates.

I'm a great believer in market forces but sometimes, when all the power is held by a virtual cartel, there needs to be legislation to remove unfair anachronisms enshrined in unfair contracts. Otherwise this and other such complacent attitudes risks leaving you with a high street full of large multiples with risk appetites built on the straw laid for them by even riskier VC companies.

Sadly they seem to be finding that they are equally vulnerable to market forces such as those that have taken out Mosaic, Woolworths, Zavvi, Principles, Carpetright, MFI, Threshers and now Borders and who knows who next? They’re leaving some big holes in the system now and the property market is having to swallow the same bitter dose of reality as the rest of us.

Hopefully something better will be built out of the bombsites left on the UK high street but I’d suggest thats not quite as simple as you seem to think it is.