With less than a month till Christmas central London's shop, windows are decked out with Christmas decorations in a bid to lure shoppers to west-end retail stores. On London's regent street world-famous toy store Hamleys has unveiled its Christmas window display.
Being the first festive period without covid-19 social restrictions since 2019 retailers say there's a real buzz in store. Other stores have also decked out their windows with miniature animal decorations and even spinning Christmas trees in a bid to draw in customers.
But despite the festive spirit promised by a coronavirus restriction-free Christmas for the first time in three years. West-end retailers face a challenging season.
Amid rising energy prices and inflation, the latest data from business partnership the new west end stated that retail spend in London's west end is predicted to be 24 percent higher than 2021 figures. But that's still down 28 percent from 2019's pre-pandemic figures.
Nevertheless, more and more people are out on about as foot fall in central London is nearly reaching pre-pandemic levels.
