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Train strikes, freezing temperatures and snowy conditions have kept workers and shoppers out of city centers this week, emptying high streets and office buildings, figures show.
Footfall on Britain’s high streets and shopping centers fell on Tuesday morning as consumers stayed at home, according to research from retail data analysts Springboard.
Separately, office occupancy data showed fewer workers in the UK reached their desks in snowy conditions on Monday, but attendance levels slipped further on Tuesday as the rail strike kept many working remotely.
London was particularly affected by the stay-at-home decision by office workers and shopkeepers.
The two-day rail strike on Tuesday and Wednesday is the first in a wave of industrial action that will affect train travel for four weeks around Christmas. Around 40,000 members of the RMT union at Network Rail and 14 train operators were expected to run only 20% of normal services during the strike, according to Network Rail.
Shops near offices in central London were around 37% lower on Tuesday compared to the same day in 2019, Springboard found, while across the UK as a whole, it was 26%.
The number of visitors to high streets across Britain was very low on Tuesday, a third down on the same day three years ago. Coming in during the critical pre-Christmas trading period, other types of retail outlets were also affected. Footfall was down around 28% at shopping centres, and down 9% at retail parks.
Diane Wehrle, director of insights at Springboard, said: “With less than two weeks to Christmas the impact on retail and hospitality businesses will undoubtedly be severe and could mean failure for some.”
Meanwhile, UK offices were remarkably quiet on Monday, averaging 24% occupancy, down 8% from the same day a week earlier, according to data from Freespace, a workplace technology company that tracks building occupancy levels.
Occupancy levels remained low on Tuesday, now one of the busiest days of the week for city center offices, after rail passengers were advised not to travel during the strike.
Average UK office occupancy fell to 28%, down more than two-fifths from 47% a week earlier. London offices were quieter, reaching just 22% occupancy, less than half the 51% seen on the same day a week earlier.
However, the emergence of remote working and video conferencing during the pandemic has enabled office workers to fulfill their roles even when they cannot reach their normal workplace.
“The acceptance of new working patterns has given everyone new freedom to work where and how they want; to move the dial between independent and collaborative work as needed,” said Raj Krishnamurthy, chief executive of Freespace.
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