Coco di Mama boss: ‘Extreme’ tube strikes pressuring hospitality at crucial time
Coco di Mama’s boss has said that the significant tube strikes this week have put pressure on the sector at a difficult time.
The strikes, which began on September 7, have caused mass disruption in the City as Londoners attempt to find other ways to get to work or opt to stay at home.
“It’s the time of the year where everyone returns to work after their summer holidays in early September, and people begin to get back into routine… It’s effectively deferred that routine for another week,” managing director of Coco di Mama, Jim Atwood, said.
“It’s pretty extreme… I’m just hopeful that after this one, that we’ll get some form of resolution,” he added.
Tax and business advisory firm Blick Rothenberg has estimated that the strikes will deliver a £230m hit to the capital’s economy.
While Atwood said that similar events in 2023 and 2024 have enabled Coco di Mama to get a “playbook” on strikes, he said that it’s still “extremely tough”.
“We’ve had so many strikes that we’ve kind of figured out what the impact is going to be, how best to manage our labour hours fairly for the team and to manage supply,” he explained.
Strikes are ‘frustrating’ for businesses
Head of operations at the Boundary Hotel in Shoreditch, Richard Logins, told ITV News London the business venue was losing more than £4,000 a day so far.
“[It’s] hugely affected all the reservations. We’re around 80 per cent down on all the reservations, and we have cancellations one after another. And a lot of parties and big events have been moved to next week, so hopefully they will attend,” he said.
Muniya Barua, deputy chief executive at BusinessLDN, said that the strikes were “hugely frustrating”.
“At a time when the economy is weak and firms are already reeling from a National Insurance hike, the economic cost of these strikes could run into hundreds of millions of pounds,” Barua said.
Hospitality was particularly badly hit by an increase in employer’s national insurance, with the sector’s lobby group UK Hospitality estimating that the annual cost of hiring a full-time member of staff has risen £2,500.
Danni Hewson, AJ Bell head of financial analysis, said that strikes have “taken bite” out of many hospitality businesses, adding that they’ve caused “upheaval in the capital”.
Khan urged to compensate hospitality
London Mayor Sadie Khan, who faced criticism for his absence during the strikes, has been urged to help the hospitality sector weather the impact of the strikes by giving the sector a “rent and rate holiday”.
“Many hospitality units are in Transport for London (TfL) property and Sadiq Khan should give them a rent and business rates holiday for the strike period if they are in affected postcodes,” Andrew Sanford, partner at Blick Rothenberg, said.
“The hospitality sector has been hit by rising Employer’s National Insurance Contributions (NIC), the cost-of-living crisis and increases in the living wage. It can ill afford a week of negligible footfall caused by these strikes without getting some form of support.”
Ruth Duston OBE, CEO of London HQ, called on Khan and the RMT union to resolve strikes as soon as possible. “With services suspended for up to five days, hospitality venues, retailers, and the night-time economy in central London face severe losses at a time when they can least afford setbacks.”
“As all lines are affected, these strikes risk bringing large parts of the city to a standstill, with serious consequences for London’s wider economy. We call on TfL and the RMT union to urgently resolve this dispute so that Londoners, workers, and visitors can travel safely and reliably once again,” she added.