We may hear a lot about how London’s West End footfall hasn’t fully recovered and how tourists shoppers aren’t back in force, but the West End has other advantages, and in parts is outperforming the rest of the UK, one of its biggest landlords has said.

However, the recovery is uneven and it’s seeing “diverging performances between individual streets” as it continues to recover from the shock of the pandemic, according to Grosvenor.

Yet the overall news is upbeat. In an article for Estates Gazette, Amelia Bright, Executive Director, Grosvenor Property UK, said that “the West End has been calmly reasserting its position as the strongest retail destination in one of the world’s few global capital cities”. But she added that “success will be contingent on investment and innovation to drive growth”.

She said the neighbourhood saw a faster rate of net openings and slower rate of net closures in 2023/24, than the trend across the UK in the last decade. 

And data for 2022/23 also showed that in 57% of retail categories, the West End was beating the long-run UK trend, helped by fashion and hair & beauty openings. 

One key factor has been the ongoing demand among luxury retailers to “not just occupy, but own, stores in prime locations”.

We’ve previously reported how luxury has doubled down on its commitment to physical stores and how some big-name groups are paying multimillions to own properties on destinations like Bond Street, even if they have to wait years for tenant leases to expire before they can move their own brands into the properties.

As for that patchiness in the recovery, Bright cited Visa credit card spend data showing “significant differences between streets’ in-store turnovers across the West End”.

Particularly strong are New Bond Street, Mount Street and North Audley Street with spend growing – “all following significant investment”. 

She also expects “future data to reflect the benefits of the Oxford Street public realm project, welcome candy store crackdown and Elizabeth Line impact”. 

Bright said Grosvenor saw retail vacancies falling to 3.9% at the end of Q1 across its Mayfair and Belgravia portfolio, compared to a West End average of 11%.

The reason for this, she believes, is partly the “support we offer to retailers – making it easy to set up shop and operate. Innovations include a fully digitised leasing process that can take 72 hours to complete and reduces legal costs, funding and advice to support opening and a year-round marketing programme”. 

Grosvenor’s retrofit works and focus on energy efficiency are also “mitigating against energy bill rises and helping retailers deliver against their own sustainability promises – critical to consumer loyalty”.

And she cited the £500 million South Molton development and the transformation of Grosvenor Square as ensuring that Mayfair “remains relevant and resilient amid changing needs of occupiers and their customers”.