NETWORK RAIL STATION RETAIL SALES LEAVE THE HIGH STREET OUT IN THE COLD

Tuesday 8 Mar 2011

NETWORK RAIL STATION RETAIL SALES LEAVE THE HIGH STREET OUT IN THE COLD

Region & Route:: National

Network Rail today released its station retail figures showing out-performance of the high street. Station sales results for September to December 2010 showed a 5.02% growth on a like-for-like basis, compared to the same time the previous year. In the same period high street sales, as reported by the British Retail Consortium, grew by just 0.40%.

These results follow strong growth in the previous quarter (June to August 2010), which recorded a 5.34% increase in like-for-like sales, compared to the same time the previous year. Network Rail will be publishing its retail sales figures from now on, every quarter.

These figures were compiled from the results of retailers operating from over 540,000 sq ft of retail space at 17 of Britain’s biggest and busiest stations owned and operated by Network Rail, benefiting from a combined annual footfall of over a billion. Out of these stations, London Euston (+13.51%), Birmingham New Street (+12.85%) and London Bridge (+11.20%) achieved the best results of the period.

Food and grocery categories achieved the highest levels of growth, with specialist food catering brands seeing an increase of 30.68%, followed by restaurants with a growth of 18.51% and supermarkets with a 14.63% increase. Clothing and accessories categories also did well, reporting an overall growth of 10.48%.

Network Rail has also seen a host of new signings recently including a new concept from Café Rouge with their first ever take-away service at Euston, a new champagne bar from Searcy’s at Paddington and new luxury brands at London Bridge with the opening of Hotel Chocolat and Rituals.

Network Rail’s head of retail Gavin McKechnie said: “Whilst the high street shivers in the cold economic climate, rail passenger journey numbers remain high at 1.3bn a year – the highest number for 70 years. Retailers at our stations benefit from these high passenger numbers and from an upmarket demographic who are keen on impulse shopping. We have overhauled our retail offering by working closely with our partners to maximise value for them and us. This has resulted in greater choice and quality for passengers and shoppers.”

Last year Network Rail unveiled plans for 75,000 sq. ft. of new space at stations marking the start of a new era for station retail. Thanks to these exciting new opportunities, strong partnerships and working proactively with retailers to grow business, the continued growth of station retail sales throughout 2011, and beyond, is predicted.

All profit 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 17 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

Network Rail’s top performing categories:

Specialist food catering (+30.68%)

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

Restaurants (+18.51%)

Nandos
Moshi Moshi
Ponti’s
Yo! Sushi

Supermarkets (+14.63%)

M&S Simply Food
Whistlestop
Sainsbury’s
Thresher

Clothing and accessories (+10.48%)

Accesorize
Body Basics
Claire’s Accessories
Laura Ashley
Lloyd Baker
Monsoon
Swatch
Tie Rack
TM Lewin
Toko

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 spring 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 480,000 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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