23 Mar 2022
By Stuart Patrick, Chief Executive of Glasgow Chamber of Commerce
Almost all remaining legal measures to control coronavirus were lifted on Monday but for Glasgow city centre full recovery is still some way off. When the First Minister announced that mask wearing would remain for at least a further two weeks I could sense hearts sinking amongst our city centre membership. It is not that the mask wearing itself is the issue; that is simply a minor inconvenience. Rather there is a yearning for a more confident, positive message of reopening, acknowledging the continuing risks but deliberately marking the transition to a more normal life.
It is hardly controversial to suggest that Glasgow city centre is not in great shape. There are empty units all along the central shopping routes, with Sauchiehall Street in an especially precarious condition. A handful of very prominent sites such as the former BHS and the fire damaged O2 act as substantial blights showing no obvious signs of movement.
Argyle Street is not much better, although Drum Property Group’s Candleriggs Square development is already transforming the eastern end. Even in Buchanan Street there are empty units but market intelligence is telling us there is healthy demand, albeit supported by falling rents.
The official data suggests that city centre retail vacancies have very nearly doubled since the pandemic began but that understates the impact. Units that are no longer being offered to the market as shops, such as the former Debenhams store, are not included and many of those that are occupied are housing what might at best be described as low value operations.
The Centre for Cities high street tracker shows that Glasgow’s footfall is still well below its pre-pandemic levels, leaving the city centre in the bottom ten for recovery out of the 60 UK towns and cities being monitored. Glasgow’s overall recovery index at the end of February 2022 has now reached 91 compared to the same month in 2020. Manchester’s index is at 94 and Edinburgh’s 104.
There is a clear contrast between activity during the working week, where current experiments in hybrid working are suppressing footfall, and the much stronger recovery at the weekend, especially at night. The Centre for Cities’ February weekday index for Glasgow reached 74 – with only London in a worse position - whilst the weekend is at 132 and the night-time at 137.
The queues at the weekend outside the Theatre Royal for James McAvoy’s sold out performance of Cyrano de Bergerac are a clear signal that we should have no fears for Glasgow’s cultural role. Nor should we worry about the prospects for food and drink. Spending last month was actually 42% higher than the same month in February 2019 with pent up demand bursting free as restrictions were lifted. Cafes, restaurants and bars have been leading the city centre’s recovery.
In stark contrast spending on fashion and more general retail including department stores is down 13% and 30% respectively on 2019 performance. The acceleration of online shopping habits means that we will have to look at new uses for those empty shop units. In the long term, investments such as those proposed by Landsec at Buchanan Galleries and Sovereign Centros at St Enoch Centre will help the city adjust but the evidence is building for intervention to help convert those empty units in Sauchiehall Street and Argyle Street right now.
This article was first published in The Herald on Wednesday 23 March 2022
