Sadiq Khan’s Ulez regime has helped to create “ghost towns in the centre of London”, the boss of Heal’s has warned, as the historic furniture shop battles falling footfall in the West End.
Hamish Mansbridge, chief executive of Heal’s whose iconic store is on London’s Tottenham Court Road, said policies including the London mayor’s Ulez policy were actively stopping domestic tourists from coming into the UK capital.
The ultra-low emissions zone currently covers the central London boroughs, and charges drivers whose vehicles are deemed too old and polluting. It is due to be expanded to all 32 London boroughs in August.
Mr Mansbridge said West End stores were struggling to get shoppers in amid a wave of policy moves designed to put people off travelling into London.
“I make no bones about it, we’re seeing significantly lower footfall than we did before the pandemic, and that is a challenge. You’ve got the congestion charge, parking difficulties, tube strikes, train strikes, the cost of living crisis, and then Ulez. You name it, it’s like they’re actively trying to discourage people coming into the centre of London”.
Mr Mansbridge said it was only now “a bit too late, that they’re realising they’re creating ghost towns in the middle of London”. He added: “So absolutely, there needs to be some real focus on making that work better.”
Heal’s started life in 1810 when founder John Harris Heal introduced feather filled mattresses to London. At the time, it opened a store in Rathbone Place, but moved into Tottenham Court Road in 1819. It has had its flagship store on the street now for the past 200 years.
It recently completed a major redevelopment and reopened its store last week, in a move that saw it extend into an additional part of the property. It means the facade of the store is now double the size it had previously been.
Mr Mansbridge said without Heal’s, Tottenham Court Road “would not exist as the furniture street of London”.
It comes amid wider questions over the future of the UK capital as a shopping hub, after luxury brands piled pressure on ministers last week to stage a U-turn on its axing of VAT-free shopping. Stores including Burberry have argued that shoppers are being pushed to visit other European luxury capitals including Paris and Milan due to the policymaking in Britain.
Marks & Spencer chief Stuart Machin last week said London is “on life support” after economic turbulence hammered retailers in the city.
Writing in the Evening Standard, Mr Machin had said: “The High Street which is meant to be the jewel in London’s crown today is a national embarrassment, with a proliferation of tacky candy stores, antisocial behaviour and footfall remaining in the doldrums, 11pc down on pre-pandemic levels.”