London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Friday, Aug 08, 2025

Survey suggests UK workers are beginning to return to city centres

Survey suggests UK workers are beginning to return to city centres

Pret boss ‘optimistic’ as sandwich and coffee chain reports a 15% rise in sales, a return almost to pre-pandemic levels
Figures suggest that workers started to return to city centre desks last week, with Pret a Manger hailing a comeback for takeaway sandwiches and coffee.

With some firms offering free food and gifts to tempt staff back, one barometer of activity around central London offices recorded an increase of almost 5%.

Data experts Springboard said that between Tuesday and Friday, footfall was 4.9% up on the previous week, based on its London office block tracker. Comparisons for the first full week back at work since school holidays ended in England are distorted by the August bank holiday.

Pret became a poster child for the turmoil caused by the Covid-19 pandemic as travel restrictions and home working emptied shops that had deliberately been sited close to offices and train stations to serve commuters. At the height of the crisis, the chain was forced to cut thousands of jobs and permanently close some outlets.

But Pano Christou, the chief executive of the sandwich and coffee chain, said in a weekend interview that he was feeling optimistic about trading in city centres after employees returning to offices last week drove a rise in sales of 15% in just seven days.

The first full week after the school holidays had been the “acid test” to gauge the scale of workers returning to areas such as the City of London after a switch to remote working, he told the Mail on Sunday.

Christou said sales at his sandwich shops in city centres had now returned to about 80% of pre-pandemic levels. He had also seen a “significant step up” at Pret’s airport shops after travel restrictions for vaccinated passengers were eased.

“Things have really continued to build since ‘freedom day’ in July,” he said. “We are optimistic and confident this demand will continue to build throughout the rest of the year.”

The first signs of a commuter revival in the capital appeared last Monday as London Underground recorded its busiest morning since the start of the pandemic – although analysts said schools may have played a bigger role than offices in increasing journeys. There was also a spike in rush-hour trips on the tube and bus journeys.

Diane Wehrle, Springboard’s insights director, said footfall around offices in central London was noticeably stronger than for the previous week but had “tailed off” as the week progressed. While Tuesday’s footfall was 15.6% higher than the previous week, by Friday the weekly comparison was a decline of almost 2%. This suggested employees “shifted back to working from home in advance of the weekend”.

Looking at data for the UK as a whole in what was regarded as the first week when employees would gravitate back to their offices, Springboard said footfall remained one-fifth below 2019 levels but was up by about the same amount on 2020’s reading.
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Trump Administration Increases Reward for Arrest of Venezuelan President Maduro to Fifty Million Dollars
Armenia and Azerbaijan to Sign US-Brokered Framework Agreement for Nakhchivan Corridor
British Labour Government Utilizes Counter-Terrorism Tools for Social Media Monitoring Against Legitimate Critics
OpenAI Launches GPT‑5, Its Most Advanced AI Model Yet
Embarrassment in Britain: Homelessness Minister Evicted Tenants and Forced to Resign
President Trump nominated Stephen Miran, his top economic adviser and a critic of the Federal Reserve, to temporarily fill an open Fed seat
The AI-Powered Education Revolution: Market Potential and Transformative Impact
Chikungunya Virus Outbreak in Southern China: Over 7,000 Hospitalized
French wine makers have seen catastrophic damage to vines that were almost ready to be harvested after the worst fires in more than 70 years burned through the south of the country
US Lawmaker Probes Intel CEO’s China Ties Amid National Security Concerns
Brazilian President Lula says he’ll contact the leaders of BRICS states to propose a unified response to U.S. tariffs
Trump Open to Meeting Putin as Soon as Next Week, with Possible Trilateral Summit Including Zelenskiy
Katy Perry and Justin Trudeau spark dating rumors, joining high stakes world of celeb-politician romances
US envoy Steve Witkoff arrived in Moscow to seek a breakthrough in the Ukraine war ahead of President Trump’s peace deadline
WhatsApp Deletes 6.8 Million Scam Accounts Amid Rising Global Fraud
Nine people have been hospitalized and dozens of salmonella cases have been reported after an outbreak of infections linked to certain brands of pistachios and pistachio-containing products, according to the Public Health Agency of Canada
Karol Nawrocki Inaugurated as Poland’s President, Setting Stage for Clash with Tusk Government
Trump Signals JD Vance as ‘Most Likely’ MAGA Successor for 2028
US Charges Two Chinese Nationals for Illegal Nvidia AI Chip Exports
Texas Residents Face Water Restrictions While AI Data Centers Consume Millions of Gallons
U.S. Tariff Policy Triggers Market Volatility Amid Growing Global Trade Tensions
Tariffs, AI, and the Shifting U.S. Macro Landscape: Navigating a New Economic Regime
Representative Greene Urges H-1B Visa Cuts Amid U.S.-India Trade Tensions
U.S. House Committee Subpoenas Clintons and Senior Officials in Epstein Investigation
Sydney Sweeney Registered as Republican as Controversial American Eagle Ad Sparks Debate
Trump Accuses Major Banks of Politically Motivated Account Denials and Prepares Executive Order
TikTok Removes Huda Kattan Video Over Anti-Israel Conspiracy Claims
Trump Threatens Tariffs on India Over Russian Oil Imports
German Finance Minister Criticizes Trump’s Attacks on Institutions
U.S. Proposes Visa Bond of Up to $15,000 for Some Applicants
U.S. Farmers Increase Lobbying Amid Immigration Crackdown
Elon Musk Receives $23.7 Billion Tesla Stock Award
Texas House Paralyzed After Democrats Walk Out Over Redistricting
Mexican Cartels Complicate Sheinbaum’s U.S. Security Talks
Mark Zuckerberg Declares War on the iPhone
India Rejects U.S. Tariff Threat, Defends Russian Oil Purchases
United States Establishes Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and Digital Asset Stockpile
Thousands of Private ChatGPT Conversations Accidentally Indexed by Google
China Tightens Mineral Controls, Curtailing Critical Inputs for Western Defence Contractors
OpenAI’s Bold Bet: Teaching AI to Think, Not Just Chat
Tesla Seeks Shareholder Approval for $29 Billion Compensation Package for Elon Musk
Nvidia is cutting prices on its RTX 50-series graphics cards after sales slowed and inventories piled up
Ghislaine Maxwell Transferred to Minimum-Security Prison Amid Ongoing DOJ Discussions
U.S. Tariffs Surge to Highest Levels in Nearly a Century Under Second Trump Term
Matt Taibbi Slams Media for Role in Russiagate Narrative
Pilots Call for Mental Health Support Without Stigma
All Five Trapped Miners Found Dead After El Teniente Mine Collapse
Ong Beng Seng Pleads Guilty in Corruption Case Linked to Former Singapore Transport Minister
BP’s Largest Oil and Gas Find in 25 Years Uncovered Offshore Brazil
Italy Fines Shein One Million Euros for Misleading Sustainability Claims
×