The level and variety of activity over the past two weeks is testament to the number of facets that make up life in London’s West End. These past weeks I have commented on all manner of topics, from how we are tackling air pollution in the West End to the effects the opening of Crossrail in 2018 will have on retailers and businesses in the heart of the West End on Bond Street, Oxford Street and Regent Street.
Last week I featured as a guest writer for Estates Gazette, to discuss retailers’ role in getting Crossrail ready. In the article I explain that whilst Crossrail will bring over 60 million extra visitors a year to the West End, leading to a projected £2.5 billion increase in annual turnover, retailers cannot sit back and be complacent about the significant impact this will have. Retailers must be proactive and look for innovative ways to engage with the forecasted number of new customers, as well as cater to their existing loyal catchment. For instance, Selfridges’ flagship store on Oxford Street is investing £300 million to prepare for the Crossrail era, with one of the investments being the 37,000 sq. ft. Body Studio, which opened earlier this week. Body Studio aims to transform the shopping experience by celebrating wellbeing with its wide range of body wear, as well as offering PSYCLE cycle and YUNG CLUB yoga classes, a brand-new Daniel Galvin hair and beauty destination and Hemsley + Hemsley organic café.
MIPIM is still on some minds as Property Week reported on its Editor’s Dinner, which took place on the second evening of MIPIM. As I briefly mentioned in my MIPIM blog, New West End Company and James Andrew International sponsored the dinner, to gather some of the property industry’s best and diverse personalities for a night of lively discussion. We all had a fantastic evening debating the appeal of London for businesses and customers, rising rents and the housing crisis, the Chancellor’s Budget and – against our best efforts, the forthcoming EU referendum.
As we discussed at Property Week’s Editor’s Dinner, businesses and people are drawn to London. We want to keep it that way, which is one of the reasons why we held our Air Quality Roundtable session this week with Cllr Heather Acton of Westminster City Council and Cross River Partnership (CRP). We invited guests from neighbouring BIDs, local businesses, retailers, landowners, public organisations and consultants from in and around Westminster to hear their thoughts on our Air Quality 2016-2020 draft strategy and to introduce our proposed Air Quality Hub. The strategy, which is led by CRP and which we will launch at our Air Quality Summit on 28 June, will focus on reducing air pollution caused by transportation and buildings, encouraging green infrastructure and planting and by being vocal about best practice and by supporting the ‘Close the Door’ campaign. The Air Quality Hub accompanies the strategy as an easy-to-understand forum for all participants to find information and get more detail on local initiatives.
With so much happening in the West End, be sure to hear it from the source and watch this space every fortnight for updates straight from me.
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