Cowbridge bookshop owner 'shocked' by business rates rise

Shops could close up and down Wales' rural high streets because of a rise in business rates in April, according to property experts.

Some £52m of business rates went unpaid in Wales last year and now there are warnings things could get worse.

Business rates is the tax business owners pay on their premises like shops, offices and factories.

The Welsh Government said the amount outstanding was a small percentage of the £943m collected.

Ross Maclean, who owns the Cowbridge Book Shop in Vale of Glamorgan, said a huge hike in his business rates was "difficult to take".