As the City reopens, small businesses reliant on office workers cross their fingers and hope
Last week’s reopening of hospitality and retail was met with cheers across London, but for some small businesses in the City, the future remains far from certain.
Though Wednesday lunchtime saw pubs backed with office workers squeezing in a sharpener before the afternoon’s works, a walk around the Square Mile showed many of the smaller establishments that keep the City going – its sandwich shops, tailors, and drycleaners – remain shut.
For those that have managed to open their doors again, business has been far from booming as of yet, as Toni Parker, manager of shoemaker Jeffrey West told City PM.
“Business has been quiet so far. We did have a couple of busier days towards the end of last week, but there are definitely a couple more people around now than after the last lockdown.
“A lot of our clientele are still working from home but are now starting to come back for one day a week, or will be over the next couple of weeks”, she said.
A shot in the arm
The vaccine would hopefully make a difference, especially because a lot of Jeffrey West’s customers tend to be of an older demographic who are only now getting their second vaccination shot, she added.
When asked about the future, Parker demurred, saying: “It’s too soon to tell. What’s happened over the last year has been unprecedented so it’s not possible to judge it yet.”
Others, however, were less sanguine about the situation.
Iryna Sarnitska, who manages tailor Leonard Jay’s shop on Fenchurch Street, put it bluntly.
“There’s not enough people – in fact, there’s never enough. We can’t be too upset because we’re here, but there aren’t enough customers coming in for us to be happy.”
Although the number of people heading into the Square Mile surged last week, as the latest stats from Transport for London (TfL) show, footfall is still a mere fraction of pre-pandemic levels.
In the longer term Sarnitska said she was hoping that people would have grown tired of home working and its attendant comforts.
“People are tired of wearing casual clothes – they want to look smarter again”, she said. “But right now we can only hope”.
‘We will close down’
But for Olli Tugcu, the owner of hairdressers Hair Razor on Fish Hill Street, there’s not much time to lose.
“Since we opened again business hasn’t been good – there haven’t been any customers. The first two days were good but business has gone down since then.”
Today, for example, he said that he had cut “hardly anyone’s” hair.
He added that most of the people whose hair he had cut so far didn’t work in the City – but had come in especially to get a post-lockdown trim.
Tugcu said he was worried for the future of the Square Mile. “It’s not going to be like it was before”, he said. “Less people will come, and when they do they will only come once or twice a week.”
Right now, he thought that he would have to close his shop, which he has been running for 10 years.
“Give us another six months like this and we will close down”, he said.
Run off their feet
But in one proud City industry, business certainly seems to be booming again – at the Square Mile’s many pubs.
City PM was shooed away by several busy publicans dealing with the lunchtime rush in Leadenhall Market, but found the landlord of watering hole The Grapes free for a quick word.
“Last week was busy, but it’s been a bit slower for the last couple of days”, said Mike, the pub’s long time owner.
He quipped that Guinness and Peroni had not brewed enough beer as his pub had managed to go through it all already.
Although the future is still far from certain, Mike said he would take it in his stride. “It is what it is”, he said. “Whatever happens, we’ll be here.”