Soho Estates leads call to pedestrianise area as it warns 'at least a third' of restaurants may struggle to reopen

Ghost town: Soho's small businesses will struggle to cope with social distancing measures
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The managing director of Soho Estates is petitioning Westminster Council to pedestrianise the area, as he warned "at least at least a third of existing restaurants would not survive another quarter".

As part of an initiative dubbed “the Soho street party”, John James, who has looked after Soho Estates’ property holdings since 2011, is asking the council to temporarily ban traffic on the area’s main streets, including Frith, Dean, Old Compton and Romilly, in order to allow restaurants to trade outside for the summer. Among the 1,200 people who've backed the campaign thus far are Stephen Fry, Damien Hirst, Amanda Holden and Bill Nighy.

Speaking to the Standard, Mr James said: “It's not that difficult, this, it's just: shut the damn roads. Deliver in the morning, do the waste in the evening, shut the roads in between."

The proposal would see much of Soho car-free between 8am and 11pm, with licenses being granted for restaurants, bars and pubs to trade in the street. This, Mr James said, may be the only way many of the businesses will be able to reopen their doors again if the Government’s proposed social distancing measures are imposed – which presently include spacing tables two metres apart, significantly reducing the number of covers a business could have.

A lot of restaurants are going to have to face an economic fact: they're not going to open, because they will then commit themselves to the bills. As soon as they open the doors, the bills start arriving

John James, Soho Estates managing director

“The beautiful tapestry of Soho we all know and love is the small cafes, the clubs, and all the little businesses. Furlough’s been a godsend to them but soon as they open… They can't operate with 20 people and make any money when they need 50 to break even. I mean, a lot of them are going to have to face an economic fact: they're not going to open, because they will then commit themselves to the bills. As soon as they open the doors, the bills start arriving.”

Mr James elaborated: “This way, you can trade, number one. Number two, we’re willing to show that the centre of London and Soho as we know it is open up for business, and is back heading towards Soho everyone knows and loves. And it just shows a bit of hope, a bit of willingness and offers something that people can attach a plan to which, which is good in the time when businesses are sitting there thinking: 'I don't know what I'm going to do when this lockdown finishes, I can't operate under the given rules' - and that's every restaurant, Quo Vadis, L'Escargot, all those we know all love, all of them. They're all in same boat.”

He added: “Businesses will not open because they cannot fulfil the criteria for social distancing and function economically.”

Speaking warmly of Westminster council, whom he said had been receptive to the idea – they did not respond to the Standard’s request for comment – Mr James said that Soho’s intrinsic character was on the line.

“The ghost town that Soho is today, you think, we can't just sit here. We've got to help the entire area recover from this.

“This little project is just a chance to do something in advance of a looming quarter. Our strength used to be having all this small, patchwork of restaurants, and entrepreneurial young people doing what they do. That is now our weakness, because these are the very people who are not qualifying for loans, they are not going to open, we're going to lose the imaginative, the creative, the innovative, young restaurant and cafe owners.

“These are the people, the creative boys and girls, young people with ideas. I fear we'll lose them first, because they're not backed, they haven't got financial covenants to speak of. And that's going to be so detrimental to Soho to recover from that.”

Noting that many bigger restaurants and chains were also in trouble – citing the recent collapse of Chiquitos, which went into administration at the end of March – Mr James added that the move would help businesses shore up against the expected recession.

“Although Soho’s really important to London – the centre of West End, centre of art and culture, of restaurants – we are still going to be down the totem [pole] when it comes to money, if it’s about saving an airline, or the whole of Southampton, if 60,000 people are out of jobs because cruise ships aren't built anymore.

“The recession that's looming is looming strong and hard. Like I say, I would imagine hospitality isn't far up that totem pole. But eventually, you can't lose the heart of your city.

“It really is an initiative to promote businesses that won't survive unless we help them.”

For more information, visit savesoho.co.uk

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