London’s hospitality sector surpasses pre-pandemic levels as it grows to £46bn

New figures from UKHospitality and CGA reveal London’s hospitality industry revenue grew to £46bn last year, up from £43bn in 2019, and sales outpaced the rest of the UK, growing on average 7.7 per cent a month, compared to 5.6 per cent nationally.

With London’s pubs, bars and restaurants driving London’s economic recovery, Mayor of London Sadiq Khan said it shows the ‘phenomenal resilience in London hospitality’.

Separately, millions of Londoners and visitors took part in live music events in the capital’s ‘world-renowned’ venues and festivals across the year as some of the industry’s biggest names performed, including Beyoncé, Harry Styles and Blur.

New data reveals:

Boxpark reported record sales in December 2023 with like-for-like sales up by 22 per cent on December 2022, beating sales made during the 2022 World Cup More than 250 new restaurants opened in London last year, a four per cent increase on 2022 The O2 arena enjoyed a record-breaking year with more than 2.5m tickets sold to its events ABBA Voyage welcomed more than 1m visitors to its purpose-built East London venue adding £177m to the capital’s GVA BST Hyde Park welcomed 555,000 guests across its summer of activity, selling out faster than pre-pandemic Three of London’s biggest stadiums welcomed more than 1.2m visitors to a number of live music events. That includes more than 225,000 experiencing Beyoncé’s show over five nights at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, Harry Styles recorded his highest UK attendance (320,000) over four nights at Wembley, and 160,000 enjoying The Weeknd at London Stadium.

Dozens of new restaurant, bar and pub openings are planned in the coming months, including Josephine in Chelsea, Three Sheets in Soho and England’s first ever Guinness Storehouse will open in Covent Garden.

Although the music and hospitality sectors continue to bounce back to full health following the pandemic, they still face a number of difficulties, with increases in rents and energy costs, and ongoing issues around migration changes impacting recruitment. Smaller and independent venues are particularly affected.

The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, commented: “We know much more still needs to be done to protect grassroots live music venues and those hospitality businesses that continue to struggle during the ongoing cost-of-living crisis and growing challenges with recruitment.

“We need Government to step-up and do more to appreciate the crucial cultural, economic and social value of these venues and ensure they have the support they need.”

By Matthew Neville – Senior Correspondent, Bdaily

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