While the West End has outperformed the rest of the country for the past 28 months and footfall is up by almost 6 per cent year on year, we can’t get complacent.
Fortunately, huge commitments are being made to enhance the quantity and quality of shopping in the capital.
The West End is the world’s top shopping destination, with more than 200 million visitors a year generating more than£5 billion in retail sales. About half of these are tourists and overseas markets are still holding up well.
Last December, the retailers of Bond Street, Oxford Street and Regent Street voted to renew the mandate of the New West End Company for a further five years.£34 million is now guaranteed from retailers, property owners, the mayor and other public bodies between 2008 and 2013.
The money will be spent on providing cleaner and safer streets, promoting the West End and working to improve the physical environment and sustaining a vibrant and exciting shopping atmosphere.
Westminster City Council has agreed to a£40 million action plan for the improvement of Oxford Street, Regent Street and Bond Street. Equally important will be a focus on the longer-term vision, working closely with the council and others to help transform the retailing opportunities at the east end of Oxford Street.
The support given at the hustings of mayoral candidates Ken Livingstone, Brian Paddick and Sian Berry to reduce traffic in Oxford Street with the introduction of a dedicated transit system is excellent news. Our discussions with Boris Johnson have made us confident that, for whoever is mayor after May 1, this will be a priority.
Beyond the West End, Westfield’s White City Development and others will enhance London’s reputation as the shopping capital of the world. A few years down the line, Stratford City will help to meet the growing demand, during the Olympiad and beyond.
But the West End continues to see investment like nowhere else. 80 new retailers have opened here in the past three years, with an additional 20 new flagships such as Apple, Abercrombie & Fitch and the upcoming Banana Republic. This has resulted in over 95 flagships and more than 600 stores overall.£1 billion of new funds are estimated in the next five years.
As we enter our second term, I am clear on our vision for the West End: vastly reduced traffic, inspiring architecture and design, first-rate street management and public realm, and the widest mix of flagship retail and leisure anywhere in the world.
Richard Dickinson, chief executive, New West End Company
No comments yet