Shaftesbury sounds the alarm as rail strikes take toll on businesses
>
West End property giant Shaftesbury is sounding the alarm as rail strikes take their toll on businesses
Rishi Sunak must “handle all strikes,” warned the boss of one of London’s largest landlords.
Brian Bickell, who runs property giant Shaftesbury in the West End, said railway strikes in the run-up to Christmas were devastating to the shops and bars in the popular tourist area.
The 68-year-old insisted the ‘strikes cannot continue’ and called on unions, train operators and the prime minister to find a solution.
Warning: West End property giant Shaftesbury, which owns land like Carnaby Street (pictured), said railway strikes in the run-up to Christmas were devastating
He said Shaftesbury, which owns parts of Soho, Covent Garden, Carnaby Street and Chinatown, was finally seeing a “return to normal” after the pandemic.
But industrial action by the RMT and Aslef has left many travelers too nervous to plan trips to London in advance.
Bickell said, “People think, ‘Should we book something for the half-term holidays?’ and lack of confidence.
;With things like theater tickets, it is sometimes quite difficult to get the money back. People need a little security in their lives and need to know that the transport system is coming.’
Data from retail analysts Springboard showed that train strikes led to a drop in visitors to central London in the run-up to Christmas, a crucial shopping period.
The tracker showed that the number of visitors in the third week of December had dropped by a fifth compared to a week earlier. And more strikes are on the way, with both Asle and the RMT planning strikes tomorrow and Friday.
The calls from Bickell came as Shaftesbury said that despite the outage, sales in shops and bars at the various properties were higher in December than before Covid.
Bickell said without the strikes, sales would have been even higher because “those days would have been normal days.”
Despite the bullish update, Shaftesbury shares fell 0.2 percent, or 0.8 pence, to 391.6 pence.
The landlord said a planned £5bn partnership with rival Capital & Counties, agreed last summer, will “go ahead as expected” in the first quarter of this year.
Competition watchdog the CMA is investigating whether the merger would lead to ‘a substantial reduction in competition’. It will decide on February 22 whether to approve the deal.
Capco also praised a great Christmas. Boss Ian Hawksworth said there is ‘continued momentum at Covent Garden’ and he is confident about the year ahead for the West End.
But Capco shares also fell 0.4 percent, or 0.5 pence, to 114.5 pence.