Restaurants are toast under London traffic levy, fears Roux

CELEBRITY chef Michel Roux Jr has accused Sadiq Khan of “killing” central London’s restaurant trade by introducing a late-night and weekend congestion charge around the West End.

The Mayor of London increased the levy from £11.50 to £15 in late June, temporarily changing its operating hours to apply between 7am and 10pm seven days a week, instead of 7am-6pm on weekdays only.

It would help deliver a “cleaner and greener” economic recovery from the pandemic, Mr Khan said, as he encouraged people to return to shops without the use of public transport if possible.

But Mr Roux Jr, owner of Michelinstarred restaurant Le Gavroche in Mayfair, believes the changes will bring financial ruin to struggling restaurants, warning footfall will now likely decrease even further.

“The mayor is killing business in this beautiful city,” he told The Sunday Tel

egraph. “I am speaking on behalf of the other small, independent restaurants and businesses that are already suffering because of the pandemic. They are going to be absolutely empty and blown out of the water. This is antibusiness. It is an absolute joke.”

The former Masterchef judge went on to question the sense of City Hall dissuading people from using public transport while making parking around the West End more expensive.

“The weekend used to be for people driving in because there was no congestion charge. They would come on a Sunday and have a wander before having a snack at a pub, or at a cafe or restaurant. It was thriving. Now we are being told to try not to take public transport. The Mayor of London should be promoting the city.”

Hospitality venues, such as restaurants and pubs, were allowed to reopen from July 4 with campaigners claiming the congestion levy change is worsening the prospects of late-night trading venues in the capital.

A spokesman for the Mayor of London said: “The Government required TfL to bring forward plans to increase the scope and level of the congestion charge as a condition of the recent funding deal. To prevent one public health crisis being replaced with another, it is vital that Londoners make as many journeys as possible by bike or on foot.”