New tube line debut to give West End stores a £4bn boost

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Mar 12, 2018

With the opening of the new Elizabeth Line transport project in London getting ever closer, a new study shows that the development will add £4 billion in increased turnover to West End stores and other businesses by 2021.

And with the West End hosting a massive concentration of fashion and luxury stores, that’s great news for the fashion sector.

The New West End Company, along with engineering consultant Arup and other London-focused bodies, commissioned the research that showed an extra 70 million visitors arriving in the West End in the three years after the line’s opening this December.

That’s an unprecedented increase and would mean that turnover in the area, which includes the all-important Oxford Street, Regent Street and Bond Street, would rise from £9 billion in 2017 to £13 billion by 2021.

The new rail line will expand the West End’s catchment area by nearly 30% and 60% of visitors are expected to go there more often, adding £31 million in extra spending by 2021.

The West End already generates more retail turnover than any other part of the UK retail sector and other developments such as the proposed pedestrianisation of part of Oxford Street are also expected to help footfall to increase.

But the report said that retailers have to play their part with greater efforts to “attract and sustain visitors” via more experience-led retail offers.