retail
Retail sales across Britain saw an unexpected rise last month, according to the latest data from the Office for National Statistics. The number of goods purchased rose 1.4% between March and April following declines in the previous two months. Some of the increase has been attributed to supermarket and off-licence sales of alcohol and tobacco, suggesting that consumers have turned to staying in rather than going out to save money. Economist Samuel Tombs added that retail sales data is yet to reflect the impact of the increases in National Insurance contributions and energy bills.
The UK consumer confidence index has fallen to its lowest since records began in 1974. The index dropped two percentage points to -40 in May, according to GfK. Joe Staton, client strategy director at GfK, said: “Consumer confidence is now weaker than in the darkest days of the global banking crisis, the impact of Brexit on the economy, or the Covid shutdown.” It is believed that the UK economy is entering into a period of ‘stagflation’, with the Bank of England expecting the economy to alternate between near-stagnation and contraction over the next two years.
Leisure
UKHospitality has voiced support for an online sales tax to reduce business rates for the hospitality sector. The trade body highlighted business rates as a barrier to post-pandemic recovery for property-based industries. UKHospitality chief executive Kate Nicholls said: “…Government must ensure that an online sales tax avoids double taxation for businesses that deliver product on-premise, such as pubs, restaurants and hotels.” The call from UKHospitality comes as new Altus Group analysis reveals that high street retailers are paying 755% more in business rates than their digital competitors.
US fried chicken brand Popeye’s has revealed that its Westfield Stratford site is its best-performing globally. The site, which opened last November at the London shopping centre, has outperformed over 3,600 Popeye’s outposts worldwide. The company next plans to open two Essex sites in Chelmsford and Romford, with plans for a drive-through in Essex to follow.
Property
Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield may revive old plans to develop the Whitgift shopping centre in Croydon. The operator had partnered with Hammerson to plan for around a decade but scrapped the plans last August. UK COO of Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield Scott Parsons told Sky News in a podcast that any new plans would be different from previous proposals, to reflect the way Britons now live, work and shop following the pandemic. He said: “The planning permission has lapsed, because that was for a big, old shopping centre and, of course, the world’s moved on. I think the message for Croydon aligns with the ‘live, work, play’ message; as we reshape our plans for Croydon town centre, it will involve everything, from residential, to offices hotels and student housing, and not just shopping.”
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