How often have you heard that London’s West End – sometimes dowdy but still the UK’s shopping Mecca – is poised for a renaissance? How often have you been told that things can only get better only to wonder, as you’re being jostled in the melee at Oxford Circus or reading about a stabbing, whether in fact there are better places to shop and easier places to run a store?
Richard Dickinson, who took over as chief executive of the area’s improvement organisation the New West End Company (NWEC) in February, would argue that there have been many changes for the better since the body was created. But he also acknowledges candidly that much more needs to be done and it is up to him to ensure it happens.
Originally, NWEC had to make a case for the regeneration of the West End. The present stage, which he will oversee, is about results. That is unsurprising, given that the retailers, other businesses and public bodies that are involved will invest£1.5 billion in the West End over the next five years. It is a big responsibility, but one Dickinson is happy to shoulder. “We’ll be judged on delivery – that keeps us sharply focused,” he says with a wry smile.
Dickinson is used to taking up challenges and winning. He is a former UK motorbike racing champion and competed in the 1980s at circuits such as Brands Hatch. “I did it until I found out how good I was – and I probably wasn’t going to reach world-championship level,” he recalls.
However, it was that competitive spirit that moulded his general outlook. “It simplifies life – you either win or lose,” he says. “That’s interesting in this world [reinvigorating the West End], where it’s slightly more difficult to get things done.”
Dickinson has not shied away from taxing roles in his business life. As acting chief executive of the English Tourism Council in 2002, he was responsible for leading initiatives such as the encouragement of tourism following the foot-and-mouth outbreak and the 9/11 attacks.
He is anxious to highlight the difference between such tasks and his present role. “It’s apples and pears,” he explains. “That was a crisis and demanded rapid action: the challenge in this role is more strategic.”
At the NWEC, Dickinson will be focusing on four operational priorities and two strategic ones. Operationally, the issues will be marketing, crime, improving the public realm and street management. Strategically, they will be traffic reduction and redevelopment of the West End, encompassing, for instance, the long-standing problems of Oxford Street’s east end, where multiple ownership of properties has held back progress, and the mammoth Crossrail project, which will bring big opportunities but necessitate careful management.
Dickinson wants to reduce traffic in the zone by 50 per cent in time for the London Olympics in 2012, especially in blackspots such as Oxford Street. “The vision is an integrated system of some kind – such as a dedicated tram or trolley bus – that allows more pavement space and a better experience for pedestrians,” he explains.
He is supportive of Crossrail – construction of which will mean changes to traffic flows and restricted access to some of central London’s main thoroughfares – and says: “It’s right for the West End and the London economy, but we have to be clever about shielding the worst of the infrastructure development.”
Dressing london’s shop window
Dickinson wants the changes he instigates to be very visible by the start of the Olympics, for which he wants the West End to be “London’s shop window”. He is convinced that the games present a great opportunity to redefine the area and its retail appeal.
“It offers us amazing exposure in markets where we position ourselves as UK Plc,” he says. “If you look at the nation’s brand index it’s traditional and stuffy, but we’ve got a modern retail offer that’s second to none.”
He insists that the West End has little to fear from the opening of Westfield London in White City this autumn, despite the worries of some in retail. With a hint of exasperation, he says: “We’re not in the business of competing with shopping centres – our comparison is with leading international cities.”
Dickinson – who last week welcomed Dame Judith Mayhew Jones as chair of NWEC – sums up. “It’s an enormously exciting challenge at an enormously exciting time. Who could not be enthused by the West End as a destination?”
And the name of the shop in the district that excites him most? Perhaps unsurprisingly – as a former speed-freak – Dickinson is looking forward to the opening of the Ferrari store on Regent Street.
Track record
Born: Hong Kong
Education: BA (Hons) in tourism studies at Bournemouth Polytechnic
Family: married
Languages: intermediate Italian and French
CAREER HISTORY
February 2008: becomes chief executive of New West End Company
2004-08: chief executive of East Midlands Tourism
2003-04: director of strategy and insight at Visit Britain
1999-2003: various positions at the English Tourism Council, rising to acting chief executive
1997-99: vice-president of strategy and communications at World Travel & Tourism Council
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