NETWORK RAIL RELEASES FIRST QUARTER STATION RETAIL FIGURES

Tuesday 13 Sep 2011

NETWORK RAIL RELEASES FIRST QUARTER STATION RETAIL FIGURES

Region & Route:: National

Network Rail released its latest set of station retail sales results for April to June 2011 showing a 3.7% growth in like for like sales, compared to the same time the previous year. For the same period high street sales, as reported by the British Retail Consortium, grew by just 0.73%, meaning retail sales in stations continue to outperform the high street.

These figures were compiled from the results of retailers operating from over 560,000 sq ft of retail space (493 units/shops) at 16 of Britain’s biggest and busiest stations owned and operated by Network Rail, benefiting from a combined annual footfall of over a billion.

The results were slightly down on the previous quarter’s trend (January to March 2011), which recorded a 5.17% growth in like-for-like sales, compared to the same quarter the previous year – owing to a downturn on trading coinciding with a later than usual Easter followed by the royal wedding, which created an unusually prolonged bank holiday period.

Gatwick, followed by London stations in particular London Bridge (8.6%), Fenchurch Street (7%) and Euston (6.8%) achieved the best sales growth over the period. Outside of London, Manchester (4.98%) and Leeds (4.60%) stations achieved the best results.

Specialist food catering categories achieved the highest levels of growth with a 14.20% increase, followed by cards and stationery with a growth of 13.37%. Restaurants in stations are also doing well with this category reporting a growth of 9.94%.

Gavin McKechnie head of retail at Network Rail said: “Despite the fact we had two successive four day bank holiday weekends the results are very encouraging in this challenging economic climate. The high footfall of our stations continues to give our partners the edge over the high street.”

“Over the coming months we’ll be announcing our new retail partners who will be coming onboard in exciting new space at King’s Cross and Waterloo stations, opening next year marking the start of a new era for station retail.”

All profits from Network Rail’s retail activity is re-invested in the railway, limiting the cost to tax payers and passengers.

Notes to editors

Network Rail owns and manages 16 of Britain’s biggest and busiest stations:

National stations

Birmingham New Street
Edinburgh Waverley
Gatwick Airport
Glasgow Central
Leeds
Liverpool Lime Street
Manchester Piccadilly

London stations

Cannon Street
Charing Cross
Euston
Fenchurch Street
King’s Cross
Liverpool Street
London Bridge
Paddington
Victoria

Network Rail’s top performing categories:

Specialist Food Catering (+14.20%)

A Piece of Cake
1st Class Fruit
Boost
Krispy Kreme
Millies Cookies
Moma Foods
Nothing But The Fruit
Souper Douper
Wasabi

Cards and Stationery (+13.37%)

Cards Galore
Paperchase
Scribbler
Perfect Presents

Restaurants (+9.94%)

Jimmy Chungs
Nandos
Moshi Moshi
Ponti’s
Yo! Sushi
Ed’s Easy Diner
Café Rouge
Fine Burger Co
Carluccio’s

As part of the continued investment in stations to increase capacity and improve the environment for passengers, 75,000 sq. ft of exciting new retail space is being created at Waterloo, Manchester Piccadilly, Birmingham New Street and King’s Cross stations.

Manchester Piccadilly: Opening autumn 2011. The existing mezzanine will be used to provide seven new restaurants, totalling nearly 12,000 sq ft.
London Waterloo: Opening spring 2012. A stunning 220 metre-long balcony will be built along almost the full length of the concourse at first-floor level creating 20,000 sq ft of new retail space. This will allow the currently over congested concourse to be cleared, creating significantly more space and improved passenger flow to and from Waterloo East.
King’s Cross: Opening spring 2012. The creation of a brand new concourse will mean passengers will enjoy over 27,000 sq ft of new shops and restaurants.
Birmingham New Street: Opening 2014. A striking new station concourse, including 16,000 sq ft of new retail space will bring passengers a bigger choice of shops and restaurants.

Network Rail:

Is one of the largest land and property owners in the country and will generate over £1bn in the next five years from commercial activities for re-investment in our rail estate. This would be enough to transform Birmingham New Street or King’s Cross stations, or put in place 5,000km of new railway.

Already has over 560,000 sq ft retail space at 18 of the largest stations across the country – that’s more retail space than Bluewater – showcasing many leading high-street brands.

Is also the country's largest provider of commercial property to small and medium sized businesses with over 7000 properties nationwide.

In addition, works in partnership on existing development projects, including multi-million pound commercial schemes above our stations at London Bridge (Shard) and Cannon Street and our first multi-site joint venture: Solum Regeneration.

Contact information

Passengers / community members
Network Rail national helpline
03457 11 41 41

Latest travel advice
Please visit National Rail Enquiries

Journalists
Network Rail press office - National
020 3356 8700
mediarelations@networkrail.co.uk

About Network Rail

We own, operate and develop Britain's railway infrastructure; that's 20,000 miles of track, 30,000 bridges, tunnels and viaducts and the thousands of signals, level crossings and stations. We run 20 of the UK's largest stations while all the others, over 2,500, are run by the country's train operating companies.

Usually, there are almost five million journeys made in the UK and over 600 freight trains run on the network. People depend on Britain's railway for their daily commute, to visit friends and loved ones and to get them home safe every day. Our role is to deliver a safe and reliable railway, so we carefully manage and deliver thousands of projects every year that form part of the multi-billion pound Railway Upgrade Plan, to grow and expand the nation's railway network to respond to the tremendous growth and demand the railway has experienced - a doubling of passenger journeys over the past 20 years.

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