High street scars from WFH ‘are permanent’

WFH policies blamed for lack of footfall as fears grow that major shopping districts will never recover

The work from home revolution has caused “permanent scarring” to high streets as workers continue to shun the office months after pandemic restrictions have ended, retail experts have warned. Diane Wehrle, the chief executive of Springboard, which tracks shop visitor numbers across the country, said the footfall still remains well below pre-pandemic levels. Even during the Jubilee weekend visitor numbers only reached 80 per cent of the same week in 2019, she added.

THE work from home revolution has caused “permanent scarring” to high streets as workers continue to shun the office months after pandemic restrictions have ended, retail experts have warned.

Diane Wehrle, chief executive of Springboard, which tracks shop visitor numbers across the country, said the footfall in towns and cities still remains well below pre-pandemic levels.

Even during the Jubilee weekend, when shoppers and revellers were out in force, visitor numbers only reached 80 per cent of the same week in 2019, she added.

Separate figures from Transport for London showed that in the run-up to the celebrations, travel into the capital by commuters was only back to around 69 per cent of normal levels.

Ms Wehrle said the drop was a result of shops in urban centres no longer receiving passing footfall from office staff, as well as the growth in online shopping that was triggered by nationwide lockdowns.

But she warned that if working from home continued at current levels, it would probably mean footfall would permanently remain 10 per cent lower than otherwise.

She said: “It impacts footfall because workers are simply not in towns or cities as much. So, of course, it’s going to keep the footfall lower than it would have been, had everyone gone back to their offices full-time.

“Unless that changes, there will be a permanent scarring and certainly permanent change in the way we shop.

“Of course, that immediately impacts all the shops and the stores that service the offices in central London and other cities – sandwich bars, the restaurants, the chemists.”

She added: “In my view, until or unless there is a substantive return to the office by employees, then footfall will continue to remain at circa 10 per cent below the 2019 level.”

Her comments come after ministers have sought to encourage workers to return to offices.

Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister, has argued that people are “more productive, more energetic, more full of ideas” when they join their colleagues in the office.

However, with transport unions threatening crippling national rail strikes in late June and July, millions of office workers may instead be urged to stay at home – dealing another blow to retailers.

On the brighter side, Ms Wehrle said, the switch to remote working had meant that market towns and smaller cities were not as badly affected by the pandemic, as workers patronised local

‘So there’s real key changes happening around retail, but it’s not necessarily wholly detrimental’

businesses instead.

“People have rediscovered local high streets,” she said. The trend has led to many chains opening new stores in regional high streets, instead of the major cities.

Marks and Spencer recently announced it would close 32 stores and focus on building branches at out-oftown shopping centres with better parking, rather than multi-storey buildings in high streets.

But Ms Wehrle said working from home may also spur new shopping patterns. She suggested that people could do most of their shopping in the evenings or on the weekends because they are no longer doing so during lunch breaks.

“So there’s real key changes around retail, but it’s not necessarily wholly detrimental.

“It does mean that retailers need to be aware of these changes that are now happening.”