Let Christmas come early to spread cheer, shops urge

CHRISTMAS lights should be switched on earlier to help retailers struggling through the pandemic, West End bosses have urged.

Enticing shoppers back into central London by turning on the Oxford Street display during the October halfterm will speed up the footfall recovery, they argue.

By making “Christmas come early”, traders believe this will also spread out the traditional seasonal rush to spend money in the weeks leading up to Dec 25 and a steady flow of visitors will make social distancing easier.

Latest figures show the gradual return of shoppers has stalled, with numbers stuck at 63 per cent down on last year for the past three weeks.

The call comes after Sadiq Khan, the Mayor of London, visited stores in the capital to hear the concerns of owners struggling to stay afloat.

Jace Tyrrell, chief executive of the New West End Company, which represents 600 traders, said: “If we can bring the start of Christmas early, it will make it easier for people to spread their spending. It would be great if they could spread it over two months rather than two weeks.”

The Oxford Street lights are traditionally turned on in the first week of November – although it was later last year – but this could come forward by as much as two weeks.

The latest data show the number of people visiting the West End has not yet returned to even half of last year’s level since “non-essential” retailers were allowed to reopen on June 15.

They initially saw about 25 per cent of “normal” levels of shoppers come through their doors. This rose over the summer but is now stuck on 37 per cent. About one in 10 Londoners is employed in the West End and NWEC has warned the district faces job losses of 50,000 if footfall does not pick up.

Mr Tyrrell called on the Mayor to “write a love letter” to Londoners to persuade them to return to the West End.