Retail retold:
how the City’s retail offer is changing
In 1631, the residential population of the City was put at 130,163. It was a hub of commerce and industry, a thriving port, the home of the nation’s major wholesale markets and the place from which professions, crafts and trades were regulated through the City’s ancient livery companies.
Those living and working here – from the 12th century and even earlier – were served by the shops and market stalls that are still remembered in many of the City’s street names – particularly at Eastcheap and Cheapside (cheap deriving from an Old English word meaning market). Cheapside was the major of the two markets and a brief look through some of the names of the streets that lead off it provides a good idea of what was sold there – Wood Street, Milk Street, Bread Street, Honey Lane, Poultry and Friday Street (for fish).
In the 17th century, the coffeehouse arrived in the City. With no formal communications systems, coffeehouses soon became the place to pick up news and were a lifeline for those wanting to stay ahead of the game. Different houses began to attract different occupations and businessmen started to keep regular hours at their chosen tables. Inevitably, some houses became the makeshift offices of the trades they served, giving birth to some of the world’s greatest financial institutions – the London Stock Exchange started in Jonathan’s Coffeehouse in Change Alley and Lloyds of London takes its name from Edward Lloyd, the proprietor of a coffeehouse in Tower Street.
This, coupled with the founding by Royal Charter of the Bank of England in 1694, was the catalyst for the development of the City as a financial centre. By 1901, its residential population had dwindled to 26,923; moving out to make way for the huge influx of office buildings – the giants of the financial services sector that still dominate today. The number of retailers in the City decreased too, with only those that could serve the needs of the working populace surviving. Today, City residents number 9,200 (although this number is growing) and the City’s workforce has grown to 330,000.
This has meant that pubs, eateries, sandwich and coffee bars, restaurants, tailors, shirt makers and “essentials” outlets have flourished. So too have a few specialist shopping experiences including the Royal Exchange with its luxury brands and Leadenhall Market with its mix of shops, Victorian ironwork and cobbled alleyways. Given the profile of their customers though, the opening hours of retailers have tended to focus on the workday week, with little, if any, evening and weekend trading.
What the City has been missing – bar a few exceptions – are the famous high street names – the fashion outlets, the department stores, the shops that are busiest at the very time the City’s are closing up; so too the boutiques and specialist stores that help create a distinctly different retail experience.
But all of that is changing…
The focus for this change is the area around Cheapside which is set, once again, to become a primary retail destination and reclaim its glory days as the City’s shopping heart.
There are many factors that have precipitated this change – the obvious large and untapped market in the shape of the City’s workforce being one; its expected growth to 409,000 by 2016 (GLA Projections, February 2007); and the average weekly household income of this group being £294 higher than the London average.
A significant increase in the City’s catchment area as transport links and access to the City is improved is another factor – as are the 80,000 residents currently living on the City’s fringes and the fact that the City’s residential community is expected to rise to 13,500 by 2028 (GLA sub-national population projections).
One of the most interesting and rapidly growing markets for potential retailers however, is the City’s visitor economy. With an estimated £675m spend in the City by this group in 2006 alone; over four million visitors coming here each year; and the massive growth in the number of hotels (in the last ten years this has risen from two to ten – a figure complemented by a further 19 hotels within a half mile radius of the City’s boundaries), there is certainly a growing incentive for retailers to be here.
But why the focus on Cheapside?
The opening of the Millennium Bridge in 2000 radically altered how and when many enter (and leave) the City, increasing visitor traffic at weekends particularly. Over 5,000 people cross it to get here each hour, travelling from the South Bank with its many draws (including the Tate Modern and Shakespeare’s Globe) to St Paul’s Cathedral (which attracts over one and a half million visitors each year). The Cheapside area is therefore the perfect location for retail development – situated at the heart of the City and thus ideal for its workforce; it is also close to some of London’s most popular visitor attractions and easily accessible from many more, with crowds busying its streets seven days a week, 365 days a year.
Visitors to Cheapside today would be forgiven for thinking that it looks a little like a building site. Work began in 2007 on increasing the retail space in the area to approximately 1.5 million sq ft, 44% of which will be new space – that’s equivalent to the new White City shopping centre.
Scheduled for completion by 2012, the development of the Cheapside area will see 12 new building schemes creating 167 new retail units, including the impressive One New Change which – opposite St Paul’s – is due for completion in 2010. As one of the largest consolidated retail spaces in central London, One New Change will house 220,000 sq ft of shops on three floors, topped off with a large roof terrace providing fresh and impressive views of the Cathedral.
So far, a number of well-known high-street brands have moved into buildings at One Wood Street and 1 Old Jewry (both in the Cheapside area). Many more are scheduled to take up residence over the next few years, a significant number of them by the end of 2008.
By the time of the 2012 Games, Cheapside will have well and truly opened its doors and the City will have a retail offer to match its world-class status as a leading international financial and business centre.
how the City’s retail offer is changing
In 1631, the residential population of the City was put at 130,163. It was a hub of commerce and industry, a thriving port, the home of the nation’s major wholesale markets and the place from which professions, crafts and trades were regulated through the City’s ancient livery companies.
Those living and working here – from the 12th century and even earlier – were served by the shops and market stalls that are still remembered in many of the City’s street names – particularly at Eastcheap and Cheapside (cheap deriving from an Old English word meaning market). Cheapside was the major of the two markets and a brief look through some of the names of the streets that lead off it provides a good idea of what was sold there – Wood Street, Milk Street, Bread Street, Honey Lane, Poultry and Friday Street (for fish).
In the 17th century, the coffeehouse arrived in the City. With no formal communications systems, coffeehouses soon became the place to pick up news and were a lifeline for those wanting to stay ahead of the game. Different houses began to attract different occupations and businessmen started to keep regular hours at their chosen tables. Inevitably, some houses became the makeshift offices of the trades they served, giving birth to some of the world’s greatest financial institutions – the London Stock Exchange started in Jonathan’s Coffeehouse in Change Alley and Lloyds of London takes its name from Edward Lloyd, the proprietor of a coffeehouse in Tower Street.
This, coupled with the founding by Royal Charter of the Bank of England in 1694, was the catalyst for the development of the City as a financial centre. By 1901, its residential population had dwindled to 26,923; moving out to make way for the huge influx of office buildings – the giants of the financial services sector that still dominate today. The number of retailers in the City decreased too, with only those that could serve the needs of the working populace surviving. Today, City residents number 9,200 (although this number is growing) and the City’s workforce has grown to 330,000.
This has meant that pubs, eateries, sandwich and coffee bars, restaurants, tailors, shirt makers and “essentials” outlets have flourished. So too have a few specialist shopping experiences including the Royal Exchange with its luxury brands and Leadenhall Market with its mix of shops, Victorian ironwork and cobbled alleyways. Given the profile of their customers though, the opening hours of retailers have tended to focus on the workday week, with little, if any, evening and weekend trading.
What the City has been missing – bar a few exceptions – are the famous high street names – the fashion outlets, the department stores, the shops that are busiest at the very time the City’s are closing up; so too the boutiques and specialist stores that help create a distinctly different retail experience.
But all of that is changing…
The focus for this change is the area around Cheapside which is set, once again, to become a primary retail destination and reclaim its glory days as the City’s shopping heart.
There are many factors that have precipitated this change – the obvious large and untapped market in the shape of the City’s workforce being one; its expected growth to 409,000 by 2016 (GLA Projections, February 2007); and the average weekly household income of this group being £294 higher than the London average.
A significant increase in the City’s catchment area as transport links and access to the City is improved is another factor – as are the 80,000 residents currently living on the City’s fringes and the fact that the City’s residential community is expected to rise to 13,500 by 2028 (GLA sub-national population projections).
One of the most interesting and rapidly growing markets for potential retailers however, is the City’s visitor economy. With an estimated £675m spend in the City by this group in 2006 alone; over four million visitors coming here each year; and the massive growth in the number of hotels (in the last ten years this has risen from two to ten – a figure complemented by a further 19 hotels within a half mile radius of the City’s boundaries), there is certainly a growing incentive for retailers to be here.
But why the focus on Cheapside?
The opening of the Millennium Bridge in 2000 radically altered how and when many enter (and leave) the City, increasing visitor traffic at weekends particularly. Over 5,000 people cross it to get here each hour, travelling from the South Bank with its many draws (including the Tate Modern and Shakespeare’s Globe) to St Paul’s Cathedral (which attracts over one and a half million visitors each year). The Cheapside area is therefore the perfect location for retail development – situated at the heart of the City and thus ideal for its workforce; it is also close to some of London’s most popular visitor attractions and easily accessible from many more, with crowds busying its streets seven days a week, 365 days a year.
Visitors to Cheapside today would be forgiven for thinking that it looks a little like a building site. Work began in 2007 on increasing the retail space in the area to approximately 1.5 million sq ft, 44% of which will be new space – that’s equivalent to the new White City shopping centre.
Scheduled for completion by 2012, the development of the Cheapside area will see 12 new building schemes creating 167 new retail units, including the impressive One New Change which – opposite St Paul’s – is due for completion in 2010. As one of the largest consolidated retail spaces in central London, One New Change will house 220,000 sq ft of shops on three floors, topped off with a large roof terrace providing fresh and impressive views of the Cathedral.
So far, a number of well-known high-street brands have moved into buildings at One Wood Street and 1 Old Jewry (both in the Cheapside area). Many more are scheduled to take up residence over the next few years, a significant number of them by the end of 2008.
By the time of the 2012 Games, Cheapside will have well and truly opened its doors and the City will have a retail offer to match its world-class status as a leading international financial and business centre.
