Portobello Road is the most independent shopping area in Britain, according to new figures from the Local Data Company.

The findings, released on Thursday (March 19), show 95.1% of the shops in Notting Hill's main high street are independent.

However, London is seeing the numbers of independents on its high streets fall, as the number dropped by 0.6% in 2014, making it the area with the biggest decline.

Across Britain, the growth in independents slowed in 2014, with 346 more units compared to 726 more in 2013.

Key growth sectors have been barbers, beauty salons, tobacconists/e-cigarettes, and mobile phone shops.

Sectors in decline include women's and men's clothing shops, newsagents, and pubs.

Matthew Hopkinson, director at the Local Data Company, said: "The 2014 figures for both independents and multiples activity in 2014 are significant in that they show a significant slowdown to parity of openings and closures for independents and also an increase in the rate of chain closures in the country's top 500 town centres."

Michael Weedon, Deputy Chief Executive of the British Independent Retailers Association, said: "Prospects for high streets have been brightened for the past four years by the net growth in the numbers of independent retailers: there are more now than there were in 2010, 11, 12 and 13.

"But looking down the road the future is darkening. Chains have tripled their closure rates and while independents continue to open to fill voids, the margin of growth is becoming vanishingly slender."