Shaftesbury boss assures that London’s slipping footfall will be over soon
The boss of West End landlord Shaftesbury Capital has assured that despite falling footfall levels in London’s heat, it will not be for long.
“People are going to avoid city centres because they’re the hottest places,” Brian Bickell told City PM today, adding that “By the weekend people will be back to doing the things they’re normally doing.”
Tourists are unlikely to be deterred for fear of missing out of missing out on pre-paid bookings.
However, Bickell cautioned that the “longer term trend is worrying… If it becomes a regular occurrence.
“In the short term, this is a wake up that some things are not as resilient as they might be and we’ve got to spend the next 10 years thinking about how to protect to ourselves if this is going to be more regular,” he continued, citing an issue of an overheating Tube network.
Despite a downturn in foot traffic in London’s entertainment district, the West End boss said international tourists were returning in force, adding that many have rediscovered the area over the past nine months following pandemic restrictions.
The company, which oversees 16-acres of the West End, has seen a spike in forward bookings from US tourists in the past few weeks, with travellers from across the pond enjoying a “relatively stronger currency now, so it’s a good proposition to come to London.”