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Tuesday 28 Feb 2017

London station investment bears fruit as retail sales rise

Region & Route:

| Wales & Western: Western

| Eastern

| Wales & Western

| Southern

• King’s Cross, Paddington and Waterloo stations record strong growth in retail sales between October-December 2016
• Rise in sales for 19^th successive quarter caps great 2016 for station retailers
• Performance reflects ongoing investment in the retail offer at London stations

New statistics released today by Network Rail show that like-for-like retail sales at King’s Cross rose by 15.9% between October and December 2016*, with Paddington and Waterloo recording rises of 6.8% and 3.2% respectively.

The figures come as the British Retail Consortium's 'Sales Monitor' recorded a like-for-like increase of 0.6% over the same period.**

• Nationwide, just under £185 million was spent at Network Rail stations over the period, equivalent to almost £1,400 being spent every minute.

• In the North and the Midlands, Manchester Piccadilly (+21.6%) and Liverpool Lime Street (+6.3%) recorded strong growth following a flurry of recent store openings, while Birmingham New Street (+3.8%), Leeds (+3.8%) continued to grow above the national average in the final quarter of 2016.

• 65.8 million people – or one in three station users across Britain – visited a station retailer between October and December.

The sales surge was boosted by the opening of sector-leading outlets at the stations over the last 12 months, including an Urban Decay at King’s Cross, the cosmetics brand’s first travel retail concept.

This is a result of Network Rail’s broader strategy of investment into stations and introduction of a diverse range of retail partners. This includes the ongoing redevelopment of The Lawn at Paddington Station, now attracting new retailers including a new Paddington Bear store, Kiehl's and Accessorize.

Euston station has also recently welcomed an array of new retail partners, including The Bookshop by WH Smith and Dutch retailer HEMA.  

Works continue to bring forward a fantastic range of new openings at London Bridge later this year and Waterloo is seeing continued investment to increase its capacity and continued improvements to the retail offer.

These initiatives are not only helping to improve passenger experience, but are also helping to make stations destinations in their own right with people seeing stations as a great place to meet, eat, shop and travel.

David Biggs, Network Rail’s managing director of property, said: “Today’s results show Network Rail’s ongoing investment at our London stations is delivering an improved experience for passengers whilst also generating vital funds to reinvest back into the railway.

“Our commitment to improving the retail offer across our portfolio means that station users have more choice than ever before, from coffee and food-on-the go, right through to high-end fashion and gifting.

“We continue to see consumers moving towards convenience shopping and our stations are becoming an increasingly significant part of this change.”

 

ENDS

Notes to editors

 

1. Our managed stations

National stations	London stations
Birmingham New Street	Cannon Street
Bristol Temple Meads	Charing Cross
Edinburgh Waverley	Euston
Glasgow Central	King’s Cross
Leeds	London Bridge
Liverpool Lime Street	Liverpool Street
Manchester Piccadilly	Paddington
Reading	St Pancras International  (lower level) Retail at St Pancras is managed by HS1
	Victoria
	Waterloo

 

*Based on station sales data recorded between 1 October and 31 December 2016

** This is an illustrative comparison only. The BRC comparison provides a snapshot of the retail industry, we are not comparing like-for-like.