London is experiencing half of the footfall experienced before Covid, in a broad sign that major UK city centres are struggling to bring people back to their high streets, fresh data suggests, while some regional cities are enjoying footfall and spending well above pre-pandemic levels.
Footfall to the capital is the lowest rate across cities tracked by the Centre for Cities, with London only halfway to recovering to pre-pandemic conditions.
London’s weekday recovery index of 44 is a sign that workers are not returning to the office following the continued relaxing of Covid restrictions, while its spend index of 79 was in the bottom five.
The High Street Recovery Tracker data indicates most major UK cities are experiencing the protracted effects of Covid lockdowns, which led to widespread remote working and the movement of people out of city centres.
Instead, peripheral cities are enjoying footfall and spend well above pre-pandemic levels, including Plymouth’s overall recovery index of 148, and Barnsley’s of 118.
A January report by the Centre for Cities found that Central London, Birmingham, Edinburgh and Cardiff all lost nearly a years’ worth of sales since March 2020.
But cities within commuting vicinity to London, like Aldershot, Southend and Crawley, are all experiencing recovery to levels close to or exceeding those before lockdowns.
Valentine Quinio of the Centre for Cities, told the Telegraph that while there were signs the capital was recovering in January, working patterns in the aftermath of the lifting of Omicron-based guidance will likely become more embedded.
“If commuters are still reluctant to come back in February, this means this Covid shock might be more long-term than we probably expected, and that has a damaging impact for a number of businesses.
“Businesses in the city centre, especially in hospitality and retail, are very reliant on office workers returning.”
A December 2020 report by Hamptons suggested Londoners bought more than 70,000 homes outside the capital in the initial stages of the pandemic.
In mid-January, 15% of employees were working solely from home, down from 17% in December, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).