Nearly half of the children have never been to a butcher or a greengrocer

TThe investigation revealed that the future of the British main street was dark after the revelation that one-third of primary schoolchildren had never been to a butcher's shop or a greengrocer.

According to a Nationwide Building Society survey of 2,000 children aged 5 to 11, a quarter of them said they did not know what a shopping street is. Of those surveyed, 32% said they had not visited a butcher's shop and 23% never went to a grocer.

When asked if they had ever visited a laundromat, more than half said no, 44% said they had never been to a florist and 41% said they had not consulted a key cutter.

Retail Economics estimates that half of retail transactions in the UK will be online by ten years, compared to about one-fifth at the present time.

In the last 10 years, a chain of big chains have disappeared, including Woolworth, BHS, Toys R Us and Maplin. House of Fraser had financial difficulties, but was saved by Mike Ashley, the owner of Sports Direct, who pledged to make it the "Harrods of the High Street".

The national homebase chain Homebase has announced the closure of dozens of stores. In May, Marks & Spencer announced the closure of an additional 110 stores, while John Lewis' profits fell last year.