City centre hospitality seeing uplift after work from home guidance dropped
Hospitality groups have seen sales begin to recover in city centres after the government scrapped work from home guidance on 19 January in England.
Footfall across UK retail destinations was up 154% last week compared to the same period last year, though it was still 18% lower than in 2019, according to data from Springboard.
Paul Jackson, managing director at Searcys, told The Caterer bookings at its London restaurants at St Pancras International station and the Gherkin had seen a 20% week-on-week increase since 24 January. He added that there had been a 40% increase in event enquiries since the first two weeks of January.
"Our London venues receive, on average, 80-100 event enquiries a week each," said Jackson.
"It is also heartening to see growing confidence of corporate event organisers, who have started to plan face-to-face events for 2022 and we are seeing confirmations come through as well. However, we do need to see this confidence – and the event confirmations – continue to grow as we head into spring."
Martin Williams, chief operating officer of Gaucho and M Restaurants, said the group's venues in the City of London had seen a growth in sales compared to pre-pandemic levels for the first time this year.
"While this advice change is welcome, the government now has a duty to step up and support the [hospitality] sector through VAT support," said Williams.
Des Gunewardena, chief executive of D&D London, said recovery was slower in London compared to the group's restaurants in Leeds and Manchester.
He said: "Last week we did see our central London venues recover following the government announcement, but we were still only around 80% of pre-Covid levels, with [City of London] restaurants closer to 70%.
"Our restaurants outside London continue to trade significantly ahead of pre-Covid as they have done throughout January."
However, Gunewardena added there were signs of continued recovery in London with forward bookings "looking strong" ahead of Valentine's weekend.
Last week Wagamama fully reopened five London restaurants, including a 160-cover Moorgate location, for the first time in almost two years.
Wagamama said the move showed its "confidence". Sita Dobbs, Wagamama's senior regional marketing manager, added: "We've seen such an incredible demand for our nourishing bowls in London with the return of office workers and the city coming back to full swing again."
In a trading update, pub group Fuller's said its sales had dropped to 72% of 2019 levels in December but trade had improved since restrictions were lifted.
Simon Emeny, chief executive of Fuller's, said: "We saw sales rise steadily in the City after previous lockdowns, and recent trading patterns suggest that there is a strong desire among many workers to return to office working. In addition, we expect to see a rise in the number of international tourists, which will benefit our London pubs and those in other tourist destinations."
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