West End braces to lose £2bn in Christmas sales due to new lockdown
Retailers in London’ shopping district are set to lose up to £2bn in sales across the eight-week period up to Christmas, new data released today has found.
According to the New West End Company, only 9m people will visit the West End in the festive season due to the new month-long lockdown.
Previously the group, which represents 600 retail and leisure businesses in the area, said it was expecting 42m.
The warning comes as retail data firm Springboard said that footfall across all retail destinations would fall as much as 62 per cent for the month prior to Christmas.
The figure is nearly double prior forecasts of a 32 per cent fall as a result of the new restrictions.
It warned that that if the national lockdown is extended throughout December, footfall could drop by more than 80 per cent – the same as the decline at the height of the pandemic in April.
Jace Tyrrell, chief executive of New West End Company said: “A circuit-breaker lockdown of non-essential travel and retail is a true nightmare before Christmas for West End retailers. I would urge the government to match restrictions with support for British business.
“The West End employs one in 10 Londoners, and the run up to Christmas is shaping up to deliver some of the most difficult trading periods we’ve ever experienced.
“Many jobs have already been lost, and many more are at risk, unless trading levels increase or furlough is reinstated.”
The month of November usually signals the start of the “golden” eight weeks leading up to Christmas, a period that sees West End businesses secure a third of their total annual sales.
Current trading rates are down by 64 per cent compared to pre-pandemic levels in 2019, when during the same period, retailers benefited from £2.5bn pounds worth of sales.