Report: Fewer Shoppers Spending More in London’s West End

The New West End Company (NWEC), which represents over 600 businesses in the West End of London, has said domestic spending is likely to see a downturn for some period of time in the future, even amid solid spending in recent months, Financial Times reported.

The group said spending in the capital’s main shopping areas will be further squeezed because of the global economic slowdown. NWEC has members including retail, restaurant, hotel and property owners across the area, has said the spending in the West End is about a fifth lower than before the pandemic.

While the research noted that total sales for the West End’s shops, bars and hotels were at $4 billion so far this year — over double from the same period in 2021 — sales had been outpacing the rate of recovery in West End footfall. That shows that there’s a smaller number of people spending more.

The NWEC said monthly sales since May have been around the same as pre-pandemic, or above, for most trading areas. But overall forecasts for the rest of 2022 have been revised down since its January survey because of the various economic crises. And there’s likely to be reduced customer spending in 2023 compared with previous forecasts too.

So it’s likely that retailers will rely on more overseas travelers, who will benefit from a cut in value-added tax (VAT) for their shopping from last month’s mini-budget.

Read more: UK Tempts Tourists With Tax-Free Shopping

Recently appointed Chancellor of the Exchequer Kwasi Kwarteng said recently that he was bringing back value-added tax (VAT)-free shopping for overseas visitors, after it had been eliminated by former Chancellor Rishi Sunak in 2021.

“Britain welcomes millions of tourists every year, and I want our high streets and airports, our ports and our shopping centres, to feel the economic benefit. So we have decided to introduce VAT-free shopping for overseas visitors,” Kwarteng said.