Monday 27 Feb 2012
NETWORK RAIL REPORTS 2.35% GROWTH IN STATION RETAIL SALES COMPARED TO FLAT HIGH STREET SALES
- Region & Route:
- National
Network Rail released its latest set of station retail sales results for September to December 2011 showing a 2.35% growth in like-for-like sales, compared to the same quarter the previous year. In the same period high street sales, as reported by the British Retail Consortium, remained flat showing no growth, meaning retail in stations continues to perform well.
These figures were compiled from the results of retailers operating across 560,000 sq.ft of retail space (493units/shops) at 16 of Britain’s busiest stations owned and operated by Network Rail, benefiting from a combined annual footfall of over a billion.
Manchester Piccadilly achieved the best performance with 7.2% growth in sales followed by London Waterloo and Victoria with sales up by 6.6%. Strong trading results were also achieved at Birmingham 5.7%, London Bridge 4.78% and Edinburgh 3.15%
Food, grocery and catering categories continue to show the highest levels of growth across the portfolio, with specialist food catering brands posting a strong performance up 15.4%, and specialist food retail with a 10.6% increase. Supermarkets continued to do well reporting over 5% growth, whilst bars increased by 9.3% and restaurants by 5.7%.
Network Rail’s head of retail Gavin McKechnie said: “In such a challenging economic climate these figures are encouraging and mainly thanks to the guaranteed footfall through our stations. During this trading period commuter passenger flows were disrupted with Christmas falling at a weekend, despite this Network Rail managed stations continue to give our retail partners a real edge over the high street”.
All profits from Network Rail’s retail activity are re-invested in the railway, limiting the cost to taxpayers and passengers.
In March 2012 Network Rail will be unveiling the new retail balcony at King’s Cross with 27,000 sq ft of additional retail space marking the start of a new era for station retail.
Notes to editors
Network Rail owns and manages 16 of Britain’s biggest and busiest stations:
Network Rail managed stations
- Birmingham New Street
- Charing Cross
- Cannon Street
- Edinburgh Waverley
- Euston
- Fenchurch Street
- Glasgow Central
- King’s Cross
- Leeds
- Liverpool Lime Street
- Liverpool Street
- London Bridge
- Manchester Piccadilly
- Paddington
- Victoria
- Waterloo
As part of the continued investment in stations to increase capacity and improve the environment for passengers exciting new retail space is being created at Waterloo, Manchester Piccadilly, Birmingham New Street and King’s Cross stations.
- Manchester Piccadilly: Opening autumn 2012. The existing mezzanine will be redesigned to feature three new restaurants and a bar.
- Waterloo: Opening 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 March 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: Completed in 2015. A striking new station concourse will bring passengers a bigger choice of shops and restaurants. Over 50,000 sq ft of new retail space will be opened in total within the new concourse, including a 10,000 sq ft mezzanine area.
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 16 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 at stations including London Bridge (Shard), Cannon Street, Glasgow Queen Street and our first multi-site joint venture: Solum Regeneration.
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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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