C-charge hits restaurants

David Williams @djrwilliams|Evening Standard Motoring Editor

13 April 2012

The damaging effect that the congestion charge has had on London's restaurants is shown today.

The £5 charge has had an "extremely detrimental impact" on restaurants, the report says, forcing some to the brink of closure. The study shows that:

78 per cent have lost customers since February last year, before the charge started.
Of those who have lost business, 54 per cent say the levy is "all" or "mostly" to blame.
Only 18 per cent blamed a fall in tourism, with 13 per cent blaming "fear of terrorism".
Worst-hit has been the lucrative lunch trade, with more than eight in 10 of those questioned reporting a fall in custom.
Early-evening and pre-theatre bookings have plummeted too, according to 74 per cent of restaurant owners.
Two in 10 of the 212 businesses interviewed say they are considering closing "as a direct result of the congestion-charging scheme".

Today the London Chamber of Commerce, which conducted the survey, said 65 per cent of those questioned believed that trade could be rescued by introducing a charge-free period during the day, encouraging shoppers and diners to come back into the centre.

Colin Stanbridge, chief executive of the London Chamber, said: "The decline in takings is disturbing because it comes at a time when the sector should have been emerging from the economic downturn in the early part of 2003.

"During the past 16 months we have been hearing from restaurant owners who complain especially of the drop in lunchtime and pretheatre trade."

Mr Stanbridge said many West End restaurants "absolutely relied" on custom at these times to meet the "enormous costs of being based in some of the most expensive real estate in the world". He added: "These findings will alarm many business people who run restaurants in the proposed extension area in Kensington and Chelsea."

The Chamber said it wanted the charge to improve - not harm - the profitability of businesses.

"The Mayor should listen to the two-thirds of firms surveyed, which agree with the London Chamber that a charge-free period during the day would improve the scheme," said a spokesman. Silvano Giraldin, manager of Le Gavroche at Upper Brook Street, which employs 50 people, said the biggest loss due to the charge was passing trade at lunchtime.

"Before, people would pop in after going to Selfridges for a nice lunch. They would look in to see if we had a table and wait 15 minutes, in addition to the reservations we have.

"Now, this is gone. And the parking meters used to be permanently full - now they are mostly empty."

A spokesman for Transport for London said: "This report flies in the face of other recently published independent reports, which show a year-on-year increase in retail traffic in the zone.

He added that even the Chamber's report showed that, when all the restaurants quizzed were taken into account, a minority blamed the charge for loss of business. And the Chamber should consider whether the cost of parking was a factor, added the spokesman.