New West End Company, the retail body set up to promote and manage London’s West End, reports that April footfall for the West End was up 3.1 per cent year-on-year. The West End outperformed the rest of the UK where foot flow was down 0.7 per cent year-on-year, according to the data trackers Springboard.

The London Retail Consortium also reports that retail sales in Central London in April were up 5.4 per cent on the previous year on a like-for-like basis. This compares to UK figures for the same period 4.6 per cent, which indicates that London continues to outperform the UK. The three month trend growth for January to March was 5.5 per cent.

Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, said: “These results are very encouraging and show that London’s West End continues to be one of the world’s greatest shopping destinations. It is now clear that our strong commitment to invest in tourism is reaping huge rewards.”

Matt Chambers, brand director at House of Fraser, added: “As with many other London retailers we are benefiting from more and more people across the country choosing UK city breaks over holidays abroad. As the spring/summer stock was introduced we ran promotions across all departments; the most successful was Fashion Accessories with £25 off new season handbags.”

To drive UK domestic interest in London’s West End, the New West End Company will be launching a spring May Bank Holiday traffic free day, and to entice families into the area Oxford Street stores will partner the recently released movie Night at the Museum 2 to put on over £500,000 of free entertainment and prizes throughout
the day.