Ruth Duston, who leads nine central London business districts, said: “We must always do the right thing to protect public health but the closure of non-essential retail and hospitality has grave consequences for London.
“The city is disproportionately more reliant on these sectors than any other city in the country, providing livelihoods to over 300,000 people. For every day that shutters remain down and lockdown is imposed, many of these jobs are at risk and businesses will continue to lose money.”
Des Gunewardena, chief executive of fine dining group D&D London, said the lockdown would cost the business an extra £1 million to £1.5 million. He said: “Boris should have stuck with the policies he had already put in place such as the curfew and the rule of six rather than lose his nerve.”
Fadil Maqedonci, owner of the Cafe Koha restaurant and bar near Leicester Square where trade has been weak ever since March, said: “I cannot tell you how desperate we are, the way things are going, it’s devastating.
“We are just doing a few coffees for a few regulars that are passing but we’re not even charging for them. It’s not worth it because then we would have to put all the signs up about takeaway only.”
Mr Maqedonci said he had put around £160,000 of savings into the business, which employs 20 people, to keep it afloat. He has also built up almost £100,000 in rent arrears, which he said could take four years to pay off.
Spending by overseas visitors in London was down 97%, according to Office for National Statistics figures.
New retail data from Springboard shows that footfall across all retail destinations declined last week by 15.4% from the week before. A week earlier footfall had increased by 6.2%.
