As one-time commuters predominantly continue to work from home post-lockdown, Retail Week assesses what can be done to encourage people to return to hard-hit city centres

  • 80 retailers, hospitality chains and hotels call for campaign to emphasise safety of public transport in London
  • Pret a Manger launches new subscription model to lure customers back to stores
  • Landlords and restaurant chains work together to extend ‘eat out to help out’ scheme

While coronavirus lockdown restrictions have been lifted, many UK office workers are still working from home. 

As a result, many retail and other businesses reliant on commuter spending have suffered catastrophically as footfall in once-thriving urban hubs remains dismal, as new data published today by the BRC shows. 

Total UK retail footfall (% change year on year)

BRC footfall graph

The toll on city-centre businesses has been stark. It has been epitomised by businesses such as sandwich and coffee shop giant Pret a Manger, which is to close 30 stores and axe 2,800 jobs, and counterpart Costa Coffee, which has put 1,650 roles into consultation over possible redundancies.

Bristol station

Businesses and the government are struggling to convince commuters to return to city centres

This week, the chief executives of 80 high street retail, food and beverage and hotel chains wrote to Boris Johnson warning of the “existential” threat the shift to working from home posed to their businesses. 

The letter calls on the prime minister to take “action to build public trust to levels that will trigger a return of safe travel into central London [which] has become a social and economic emergency”. It said: “Residents and workers need to be persuaded that public transport is safe and their workplaces are safe.”

The letter also suggests a blizzard of promotions to promote the message that the UK is “back for business”. 

This all comes as the government has begun rolling out a new media campaign designed to encourage workers to go back to offices. It coincides with the return of children to schools across the country, which experts predict may free up many people to return to offices with more regularity.

However, the big problem facing the government and city-centre businesses is that, as well as any fears some may harbour over the ongoing Covid-19 outbreak, many employees feel they are as productive, if not more, working from home.

Nine out of 10 respondents to a survey by Southampton and Cardiff universities said they would like to continue working from home in some capacity. 

In addition, 40% said they were able to get as much work done at home as in the office, while a further 30% said they had actually been more efficient. 

Working from home is likely to become even more of a norm, so what can retailers and other businesses do to draw consumers back to city centres?

London at a standstill

The table below, compiled by the BRC, shows the downturn in footfall in major UK cities since the pandemic struck in March. While cities across the UK have suffered, the problem is most stark in London. 

Total footfall by city

Growth rankCity% growth year-on-year 
Bristol -27.5
Liverpool  -28.0 
Cardiff  -30.9
Belfast  -31.8 
Nottingham -31.8 
Leeds  -35.2 
Glasgow  -35.5 
Birmingham  -39.4 
Manchester  -40.6 
10  Portsmouth  -42.8 
11  London  -45.3 

In 2019, London generated over £500bn – around a quarter of the UK’s GDP. The engine powering growth was its teeming commuter workforce. Figures from Transport for London (TfL) show that as many as 1.1 million people commuted into London every day pre-pandemic.

Office for National Statistics data shows that four out of five London residents were commuting into the city on public transport. 

London Underground

Four in five Londoners used to commute on public transport, but they have been reluctant to return

With international tourism effectively at a standstill, many retailers say getting people travelling back into London, be it for work or leisure, is vital to restarting the economy.

To that end, central London BID New West End Company boss Jace Tyrrell has been working with TfL on acquiring real-time data to warn customers of when certain stations in the district are busiest.

“The big issue for us is getting people to the West End,” he says. ”What people are telling us is that they don’t feel comfortable travelling. If we had real-time data, we could help customers feel safe, show them when stations are too packed or are quieter.”

For Fortnum & Mason chief executive Ewan Venters, the capital needs “a big gesture” to win footfall back. 

“My idea is to offer free London transport from September to November,” he says. “We need to break habits that have been formed. Let’s get people moving again around the capital. The transport is very clean and very safe. The numbers support this.”

Chair of The Restaurant Group and White Stuff Debbie Hewitt suggests lowering or even temporarily removing congestion charges and parking meters in central London, to encourage people to use their cars as a safe travelling alternative.

“In London, there is the additional cost burden of the congestion charge and paid-for parking,” she points out. “The car just isn’t seen as a sensible alternative for many people, particularly if it is unaffordable.”

On a visit to the West End in mid-August, London mayor Sadiq Khan outlined an eight-point plan to save the district. 

Khan’s plan includes the government extending the holiday on business rates payments beyond next April and continuing the furlough scheme for hospitality and retail businesses in the district beyond October.

The mayor said he was doing “all in his power” to help businesses but called on the government to do more. “In the face of a perfect economic storm, our businesses need urgent and sustained support from government to ensure they can survive this pandemic,” he said.

Retail consultancy firm CACI director Alex McCulloch says employers too must do more to make offices feel safe for employees.

“It’s not just about taping off every other desk. It means reconfiguring office space to feel more collegiate. It’s about getting different teams to come in on different days,” he says.

McCulloch says he cannot see, even post-pandemic, workers ever returning to offices five days a week. He says this could lead to retail and hospitality businesses needing to acclimatise to lower frequency but high-value visits from customers in future. 

Liverpool leads the way

While London struggles, one city that has managed to restore footfall back to near pre-pandemic levels is Liverpool.

Liverpool museum

Liverpool’s private and public sector conveyed one message across the city when it opened up after lockdown

Liverpool created a city centre working group, which includes 50 representatives across the private sector, the BID, Liverpool One shopping centre and public sector stakeholders such as the police and Merseytravel, which worked to breathe life into the shopping and eating district.

The group focused on encouraging people to dine out in the city centre through its Without Walls project, which facilitated outdoor dining in restaurants and cafes, according to Claire McColgan, director of culture at Liverpool Council.

“We spent £450,000 to buy independent restaurants furniture to put outside so they could maximise on the summer months. We closed two of the main streets to traffic so those restaurants could spill out onto the pavement,” she says.

That drove footfall that benefited retail –  at the end of August, footfall at Liverpool One was up 3% on last year.

It is also investing £200,000 to bring live music, theatrical performances, dance and street animation to the streets of Liverpool. 

McColgan says the next step for the city is coaxing people back to work. The council has just kicked off its ‘Get Back to Business’ campaign, which encourages workers to get back into offices.

“We need to make sure people are back in the city to make sure it’s vibrant but we want to do that in a safe way. It’s much easier once schools have gone back this week to get people to come back in,” she says.

McColgan says the measures have proved a success because of the council’s cross-sector approach. “We had one message across the whole city when we opened up, which is what the public needs,” she says.

“That was new for Covid. We brought all the things that make a city work. We were all connected, which meant for the consumer it was a really seamless experience in Liverpool.” 

‘September’s on us’ 

The government’s ‘Eat out to help out’ scheme was a huge success. Between August 3 and 31, Treasury figures showed that the scheme generated an extra £500m in customer spending.

Now that the government-backed scheme has ended, some hospitality businesses are continuing to run it themselves.  

High street pub chains Wetherspoon and Slug & Lettuce are both extending the Monday to Wednesday discounts at their own expense throughout September, as are restaurant chains such as Pizza Hut, Bill’s and The Real Greek.

Food delivery app Deliveroo is also offering customers discount codes in September, enabling them to obtain the same discounts as during the scheme. 

Speaking to Retail Week, Greene King chief executive Nick Mackenzie urged the government to consider extending a version of the scheme for city centres throughout September and also called for an extension to business rates holidays and immediate cuts to VAT. 

“Government support so far has been hugely welcome, but the challenge for businesses like ours is far from over. That’s why we are calling on the government, city mayors, local authorities and leading employers to work together urgently to bring people back to our cities before it’s too late,” he says.

Pret pivots with in-store subscriptions

As one of the most high-profile chains caught in the eye of this storm, Pret a Manger has responded with a new scheme designed to reel in customers

It has launched the ‘YourPret Barista’ subscription service, which will only be available to customers in stores, not those looking to order deliveries through its partnership with Just Eat. 

Pret social distance queue

Pret a Manger hopes to attract customers back with its new in-store loyalty scheme

For £20 a month, subscribers will be able to get “up to five barista-prepared drinks per day” – and the first month is free for all subscribers as part of the launch. 

Customers can sign up online or by using QR codes in Pret stores. The subscription will then load on to customers’ smartphones and be auto-renewed each month.

Each subscription is valid for one person and can only be used in Pret stores for eat-in or takeaway. 

Pret chief executive Pano Christou says: “As people begin to get back to the things they’ve missed, our new subscription service is perfect for customers who have been craving one of our barista-prepared drinks. Whether you’re a coffee enthusiast or tea devotee, we hope this new service helps you start your day strong.

“This is just the first step in our plan to bring Pret to more people. We now have the building blocks to establish Pret as a multichannel, digitally led business, and YourPret Barista is the first big launch we’re able to deliver through our new technology platform.

“Since reopening back in May, our coffee sales have been rising faster than food – evidence that coffee has become an integral part of both our customers’ everyday routines and the Pret experience.”

Some big city-centre landlords have also stepped in with other schemes designed to support struggling occupants, particularly those in the hospitality sector. 

Cadogan Estates, which owns a swathe of property across Kensington and Chelsea, has moved all of its hospitality tenants to turnover-based rents to help them ride out the pandemic.

Pizza Hut

Some restaurant chains such as Pizza Hut are running their own ‘Eat out to help out’ schemes

Cadogan has also worked with Kensington and Chelsea Council on pedestrianising certain streets, such as Pavilion Road off Sloane Square. A similar scheme was unveiled in June by Wandsworth Council on Northcote Road in Clapham. 

Retail Week understands West End landlord The Crown Estate has also moved the majority of its hospitality tenants to turnover-based leases. 

The landlord has been working with Westminster Council to reduce the number of lanes on Regent Street to one in either direction to expand pavements for better social distancing. 

The landlord is also working on a scheme to encourage cycling and the pedestrianisation of some streets to allow alfresco dining. 

While such measures will prove helpful for hospitality tenants, McCulloch believes more needs to be done by landlords to support retailers. 

CACI has been working with landlords such as Hammerson to rip up existing leasing models and move them over to more flexible structures that better reflect the store’s growing role in ecommerce

He sums up the future of the store, particularly in city centres, as becoming more of a showroom. “The store of the near future is going to be much more about selling the brand, rather than shifting product through the tills,” he says. 

While some of the schemes have had positive effects on footfall and consumer spending in certain city centres, all experts agree that the lack of a coherent central government strategy is hampering overall recovery. 

As summer ends, the furlough scheme tapers off and staff work from home more often than in the past, city-centre tenants will be looking at the coming golden quarter and Christmas trading periods with a mix of hope and fear. 

If footfall does not pick up drastically, the pain being felt by retailers in city centres now could just be starting. Yet, whether it is through a retail equivalent of ’Eat out to help out’ or new in-store subscription models like Pret’s, there are still things businesses can do to mitigate the risks.