West End needs this radical plan to bounce back

THE West End urgently needs the Government to form a bounceback plan.

With the pandemic continuing, we call on the Government to consider the following blueprint to enable businesses to plan for next year:

1. Suspend business rates until April 2022.

2. Allow free entry to all London tourist attractions in 2020/1.

3. Grant free off-peak travel into central London on public transport.

4. Remove increases in congestion charges.

5. Reinstate free parking on Sunday in central London.

6. Give theatres a date to reopen based on the South Korean model of Covid-19 safety.

7. Extend the self-employed grant until June 2021 for businesses based in the West End.

For decades this area has generated significant tax and business-rate receipts — therefore a thriving West End is imperative to the health of the public finances returning.

Stewart Carroll Chairman,

Jubilee Market Hall Ltd

EDITOR’S REPLY

Jonathan Prynn

Consumer Business Editor

Dear Stewart

YOU are right to point out that the West End economy is suffering more than any other part of the country, with the number of shoppers still below half what they were before lockdown. Your suggestions are imaginative and could go some way towards drawing people back. The reality however, is that the West End will not get out of second gear until tourists return in large numbers and commuters have the confidence to travel to their offices. We’re still a long way from that. Jonathan