For those of us that like the heat, this summer has been a real bonus. It lets us get out and about and enjoy outdoor activities.

Unfortunately, these activities no longer seem to include indulging in a spot of ‘retail therapy’. At least not in the traditional manner, because high street retailers are feeling the heat in an altogether less pleasant way.

None of us can have failed to hear about the unremitting closures of retail outlets in recent times. Familiar names and brands that once lined our thronging high streets have already gone to the wall. Others are hanging on precariously with no let-up in the difficult trading conditions in sight.

Government statistics released at the end of July show just how grim the situation has become. They show that 2,197 retailers became insolvent in the last 12 months, with the number of individual insolvencies reaching its highest quarterly level for six years.

Small retailers in particular, are up against a perfect storm of rising employment costs, spiralling business rates and high inflation. These are compounded by the closure of thousands of bank branches over the last few years – branches that used to help generate footfall in towns and villages and which provided easy access to cash for the shoppers, shops and markets that preferred it, to plastic.

Of course I recognise that the face of retail is changing. Shoppers are increasingly going online rather than going down the street, which is perfectly acceptable.

What is not acceptable, I believe, is that our remaining retail outlets are prevented from competing with their online counterparts because they are handicapped by inflexible, expensive and unfair operating conditions. Business rates is perhaps the worst example – with small high street stores facing massively disproportionate rates bills compared to sprawling, out of town fulfilment centres.

Policymakers must do more to support high street retailers. Because otherwise, just like the sunshine and warmth in Britain, once gone they’re unlikely to return.