Network Rail have found up to a quarter of people who use stations are not there to travel but to shop, eat or meet. The track operator which also directly controls 18 of Britain’s biggest stations, including King’s Cross, said that they were becoming “destinations in their own right” after a sharp increase in the number of shops and cafes on concourses.
Sales at main stations increased by almost 4.5 per cent in the three months to the end of September – the 14th successive quarterly increase, according to new figures. The retail clout of Britain’s stations grew four times as quickly as the high street, where sales were up by 1.1 per cent over the third quarter.
The increase has been driven by a £600 million redevelopment at Birmingham New Street station, which reopened in September with 43 shops at concourse level and a huge Grand Central complex above.
In all, commercial activity at railway stations generates more than £200 million each year, which Network Rail invests to fund railway improvement.
Network Rail’s stations which also include London Waterloo, Victoria, Euston, Birmingham New Street, Manchester Piccadilly, Leeds and Glasgow Central contain 480 different shops, coffee bars, pubs and food stands. The group said 63.2 million people visited a station retailer between July and September. They pushed up sales by 4.41 per cent compared with the same period last year.
Sales at Birmingham New Street were up by 3.5 per cent. The biggest rise was at Cannon Street, in London, where sales rose by 44.5 per cent. Paddington recorded sales up by 18.8 per cent, while Reading and Bristol also performed strongly with increased sales of 9.47 per cent and 11.76 per cent retrospectively.
Source: The Times