Retailers and landlords have done their bit for the West End. The final pieces of the jigsaw lie with the transport authorities.

This morning I attended an informative breakfast on the state of retail in London’s West End, organised by the New West End Company’s irrepressible Jace Tyrrell. Other participants included Steve Rowe from Marks & Spencer and David Shaw from the Crown Estate, who masterminded the renaissance of Regent Street.

The event was off the record so I can’t go into proceedings in detail, but while London as a whole had a tough Summer from a retail point of view, the mood was fairly positive among the people gathered there.

While footfall was down, there was a sense that conversion of shoppers to sales was higher. Tourism hasn’t been the universal panacea some make out — the Amercians are still staying away for example — but visitors from Europe, the Middle East, China and the UK have helped shore things up well.

The West End as a whole is in good shape, and has held up much better than the big regional cities. Its global reach is a great benefit, while the work done by landlords on Regent Street and Carnaby Street has really reinforced its place as a global centre and held off the charge from Westfield.

Some areas — notably Oxford Street’s disgraceful eastern end and the top half of Bond Street — still need a lot of attention but overall the offer has come on in leaps and bounds.

The big problem that I can see lies with the transport. Despite the efforts of the NWEC, the giant bus park which is Oxford Street still remains, while the tube stations seem in a state of perpetual rebuilding and make for a really hostile environment. That’s if you can get into them at all, because half the lines serving the street appear to be closed on any given weekend.

That’s not good enough. The role of Mayor exists to kick the various sloth-like public sector bodies that control the capital into shape.

Boris has shown he’s a big supporter of London retail — travelling to New York for example a few weeks ago to promote to West End’s Christmas lights — so if he can get Transport for London’s backsides into gear, we really might see the jigsaw completed.

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