“In a West End town, a dead end world," sang the Pet Shop Boys in the mid-1980s. Fast forward 35 years and the electronic-pop duo would be just about right.
Covid restrictions and a lack of global tourism have turned the West End, London’s premier shopping and dining district, into a shadow of its former self.Sales from retail, hospitality and leisure are on course to bring in just 2 billion pounds ($2.7 billion) in the year to March 2021, down from 10 billion pounds in the year earlier, according to the New West End Company, which represents businesses around London’s Bond Street, Oxford Street and Regent Street.The damage was laid bare on Tuesday when landlord Shaftesbury Plc, which owns about 600 properties, including many shops, bars,.