Homeworking is slowing high street and hospitality recovery

A new report analysing the impacts of homeworking has found the increase in remote workers is significantly affecting the recovery of hospitality businesses, according to think tank Centre for Cities.

This March, weekday spending on food and drink in city centres, such as London, Reading and Oxford, remained 25% below pre-pandemic levels.

Despite working from home guidance being lifted in January, many workers remain working remotely or in hybrid models and if this trend continues high street businesses will need to adapt.

Centre for Cities CEO Andrew Carter said: ‘The pandemic undoubtedly shook city centres to their core as lockdowns kept people at home and businesses closed. Now as we recover from the last two years, the future of some of our high streets looks uncertain.

‘Our data shows homeworking has been significantly impacting hospitality sales, especially in cities with high numbers of offices. Now, as we grapple with a cost of living crisis, recovery for these businesses will be even more difficult.

‘Helping city centres grow and adapt to a reconfigured demand will be vital to keeping our high streets prosperous and vibrant. To do this, policymakers will need to attract more high-skilled workers to city centres while also thinking creatively about how vacant units could be repurposed – whether that be for office, commercial or residential uses.’

The Centre for Cities report found that the UK cities with the highest rates of homeworkers have seen the slowest recovery in the hospitality sector.

For example, in Reading, weekday footfall is 15% lower than before the pandemic, leading to a 25% drop in weekday food and drink spending compared to 2019.

Cambridge’s hospitality spending was down 15%, London’s by 21% and Oxford was down by 14%.

But in areas with less office jobs based in the city centre, like Barnsley, Burnley and Doncaster, weekday footfall and spending figures bounced back to pre-pandemic levels by this March.

It’s thought that by creating more jobs in areas with low footfall this will help to increase the size of market hospitality businesses can sell to

The think tank also suggested high streets be improved through better transport links and pedestrianised areas.

You can read the full report here.

Photo by Chris Montgomery