What the rise of bubble tea says about British high streets

Qun and richard ferreira opened a bubble-tea shop in Middlesbrough, in north-east England, in 2022. “To my knowledge, it was the first one in Teesside,” says Mr Ferreira. Since then at least five other bubble-tea outfits have opened in the Tees valley, with mixed success. But the Ferreiras nabbed the best location: around the corner from Teesside University, on Linthorpe Road.Bubble tea is a kind of drink, generally sweet and peculiarly textured. It was invented in Taiwan in the late 20th century and has spread to the rest of the world. In Britain, bubble tea is also a strong social and economic indicator. Just as a “polski sklep” hints at the presence of eastern European migrants, a bubble-tea shop indicates international students. It points to a particular kind of high-street economy, which was thriving until recently.Ten years ago Middlesbrough had few international students. Then the British government liberalised visa rules. It allowed foreign students to work in the country for two years after graduation and lowered the salary threshold for work permits. Teesside University, which charges less for postgraduate courses than more prestigious institutions, spruced up its campus and was off to the races.Between the academic years ending in 2017 and 2023, the number of international students enrolled in Teesside University shot up from 950 to 8,330. Although British students outnumber them two to one, the foreign students are a large presence on campus. About half of the British undergraduates enrolled at Teesside University come from less than 15 miles away; many live at home and commute to classes. In contrast, the international students tend to sleep, shop and eat nearby.Some long-established businesses on Linthorpe Road, which runs down the western edge of the campus, have pivoted to serve them. Janet Housam of Housams, a housewares shop, has watched the street change from what she calls “huge retail”—carpets, furniture and so forth—to international grocers and cafés. She thinks that more than half of her customers are students. Asked on a cold day what they buy, she points to a tower of boxes containing small space-heaters.Other firms have specialised in students, especially foreign ones, from the outset. Mr Su’s, a Chinese noodle restaurant, has four branches in Britain. Two are located on the ground floors of private student-housing blocks in Manchester and Leeds; the third is next to the University of Leeds. The fourth is on Linthorpe Road.Then there are the bubble-tea outfits, which cater to Asian students and anybody else who has developed a taste for the stuff. Their number appears to have grown rapidly, especially in university towns. Bubble-tea shops crowd around the University of Bristol like bees on buddleia. Several universities have bubble-tea shops in the heart of their campuses, in student union buildings.In wealthy, touristy cities, the bubble-tea economy can be hard to discern because so much else is going on. The streets of central London would contain exotic cafés and shops even if there were no foreign students. But Middlesbrough is neither wealthy nor touristy. In the city centre, half a mile north of Teesside University, a succession of big-name shops have folded in the past few years: Debenhams, House of Fraser, Marks & Spencer. Between 2017 and 2023 the rateable value of retail properties in Middlesbrough dropped by 18.5%, compared with a drop of 10% in England and Wales. The student-driven economy of Linthorpe Road stands out because it is thriving.It is not faring quite as well as it did, though. Local business owners complain about the addition of cycle lanes in 2022, arguing that they remove parking spaces and are used only by takeaway riders. Local politicians agree: both the mayor of Middlesbrough and the mayor of Tees Valley have promised to eradicate the lanes. More worryingly for the businesses on Linthorpe Road, the number of international students is falling.After liberalising the visa regime in 2020 and 2021, the British government clamped down in 2023 and 2024. It banned most foreign students from bringing dependants, mulled abolishing graduate visas and hiked the salary threshold for work visas—the best option for a foreign student who wants to say in Britain longer than two years. Some 490,000 people applied for student visas for Britain in 2022; last year, 408,000 did. Teesside University is one of many institutions that has seen a drop.“Teesside University has been the victim of overzealous government policy,” says Chris Cooke, the mayor of Middlesbrough. The bubble-tea economy has been affected, too. Nasser Din, a prominent local property developer, says that investors’ confidence has taken a knock. But it has hardly been flattened. Your correspondent watched as workmen installed a new dessert café in one of Mr Din’s buildings, which used to be a clothes shop.The changes on Linthorpe Road point to a dilemma for the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, and the Labour government. Ms Reeves has said repeatedly that economic growth is her overriding concern. But Labour also promises to cut immigration, which is more easily done by clamping down on foreign students than any other way. One of those instincts will eventually prevail. To see which one does, keep an eye on the bubble-tea shops.