The Economic Future of the Central Activity Zone (CAZ) Phase 1: Office use trends and the CAZ ecosystem Report to the Greater London Authority (GLA)
London’s night-time economy
The Night Czar seeks to protect and enhance the cultural and entertainment offer in London, and also ensures those who work at night are not forgotten. According to a report by the London Night Time Commission (2019) of the 1.6 million people who work at night, the majority work in healthcare (191,000), professional services (178,000) or culture and leisure industry (168,000). These workers are predominantly male (68%; compared to 55% of all employment) and three in ten are BAME. After the 2008 recession, London’s night time economy fared well compared to other global cities such as New York, with over 100,000 new night-time jobs being created between 2004 and 2016 (GLA, 2018), enabled by societal changes, more flexible working patterns, growing tourism, and policy-driven improvements to public transport such as the night tube. Even during the summer period of 2020 with eased restrictions, the night-time traffic volumes – as an indicator of activity - in central London during the week were well below 2019 levels (TfL, 2020a). In September, demand on London buses during weekday evenings had recovered to 57% of pre-pandemic demand and on London Underground, weekday evening demand was 35% of pre-pandemic levels (ibid.). The significant loss in evening and night time footfall has been caused by employees working from January 2021
home that are no longer socialising after work in the CAZ, and also by the loss of visitors, both domestic and foreign. The Night Time Industries Association (NTIA) estimated that around £940 million in lost restaurant takings will stem from London, representing 25% of the nationwide total (NTIA, 2020). The residents of the CAZ, even when lockdowns have been lifted, are not numerous enough to recover the loss of footfall and patronage from commuters and visitors. Some areas of inner and outer London have appeared to benefit, at least in terms of footfall, from the lack of activity in the CAZ. Those areas which saw a gain in visitors (over 100% of normal activity) can be seen on the lower map. None of them are in the CAZ, though some are on its fringes. The CAZ saw far fewer visitors during the weekday evening in this week in October 2020, compared to those areas marked in pink, which saw a maximum 25% loss in visitors in the same week.
(Right) Night time weekday visitor counts as a % of ‘normal’ activity, for week commencing 19th October 2020 (Source: O2 and GLA 2020c; night time defined as 6pm to 11pm; ‘normal’ baseline is July 2019) 36
