New West End Company

At the event, I was joined by New West End Company Chairman, Paul Williams, CEO of Derwent London, and Paddy Gamble, Head of Insights, who gave attendees an advance look at our Enhanced Insights Programme, now available through our online members’ portal.

We are told, time and time again, just how valuable our Insights Programme is to our members, so it was a milestone for us to unveil our new Programme. Featuring interactive dashboards, greater coverage and more granularity than our previous offering, it is also now available to all New West End Company members. We remain committed to being the authoritative voice on all things West End and the Enhanced Insights Programme is a reflection of that.

By the time you receive this, we will be just days away from going to the polls. As we outlined in our West End Manifesto for Growth, launched earlier this month. Credible change is only possible however if the next Government engage in meaningful conversation with the business community. If our politicians are serious about delivering for the business sector, they must take a long-term approach that tackles unwieldly business rates, reforms the rigid planning system, and keeps streets safe.

Finally, I am delighted to be welcoming Nathan Parsad-Wyatt to our leadership team, as he steps into the role of Director of Communications & Campaigns, where he will be focusing on delivering a strategic communications programme, and spearheading impactful public affairs and consumer marketing initiatives across the West End. Nathan has a wealth of experience, gained through years of collaboration with a number of New West End Company’s stakeholders, and I have no doubt that he will be an invaluable asset to the team.

CAMPAIGNING AND ADVOCACY

On 10 June, we launched our West End Manifesto for Growth, outlining our key policy asks ahead of the imminent General Election, taking place on 4 July. New West End Company’s manifesto was covered by City AM, Drapers and Retail Week, amongst others.

DESTINATION MARKETING

On 11 June, to officially launch our immersive art exhibition, PROUD West End, we hosted a remarkable evening of live storytelling, during which members of our LGBTQIA+ community shared their experiences of self-discovery, resilience and pride. A celebration of voice and representation, delivered in collaboration with Grosvenor and Heard Storytelling, PROUD West End is a free-to-visit open air audio-visual exhibition. PROUD West End’s “living portraits” of the district’s LGBTQIA+ community is running until early July in Grosvenor Square.

Timed to coincide with the Royal Academy of Art’s annual Summer Exhibition, Art in Mayfair has returned for the seventh year as a celebration of art, fashion and culture across the district. Running from 10 June to 7 July, this year’s Sculpture Trail features large-scale sculptures from world-renowned artists such as Gavin Turk, Pieter Obels and David Breuer-Weil, whilst RA Schools student Lizzie Munn has been selected to present the prestigious Flag Commission. Brands across Bond Street, Savile Row, and Mayfair are also participating in the campaign, with mini-exhibitions, showcases, collaborations, talks and tours. New West End Company Chief Executive, Dee Corsi and team attended the official launch at the RA on 27 June, where they celebrated the launch with stakeholders from across the district.

INSIGHTS

Our newly launched Enhanced Insights Programme, incorporating Mastercard spending data, offers all New West End Company members a much more granular look at spending, sentiment and mobility data.

These dashboards are interactive and easily accessible through our members’ portal, located here – meaning that, whilst we will continue to share our monthly Insights report, which consistently score as one of New West End Company’s services, members can now pull their own datasets which answer the questions they have about West End business performance and trends. For any enquiries into the Programme’s functionality please contact paddy.gamble@newwestend.com. A webinar on the Programme’s key capabilities is also now available to watch here.

OPERATIONS

On 28 June, New West End conducted high-visibility joint patrols with the Metropolitan Police Service as part of Business Retail Crime Partnership Day – a targeted operation, in partnership with Westminster City Council, involving local business members, which focuses on crime reduction across the West End.

The district continues to be affected by marches, with the most recent taking place on 22 June. This, unplanned, protest was orchestrated by Youth Demand, who staged a static protest at Oxford Circus, which blocked the flow of traffic for an hour before being moved on by the Metropolitan Police Service. To date, we have submitted three impact assessments to the Metropolitan Police Service, which have informed high-level decision making about the route of individual protests. We would ask that members which have been affected by the protests share their impact data directly with our Head of Security & Operations, Jamie Conroy, at jamie.conroy@newwestend.com

EVENTS

We were delighted to co-host the incredibly popular ‘Future of the West End’ breakfast seminar on 4 June, in partnership with Westminter Property Alliance. New West End Company Chief Executive, Dee Corsi, was joined on a lively panel discussion with industry leaders from Knight Frank, The Crown Estate, and GPE, chaired by Simon Loomes, WPA Board member and Strategic Projects Director at GPE.

On 19 June, we hosted our Members Summer Social at The BoTree, one of the district’s newest luxury hotels. Our Chief Executive, Dee Corsi, and Paul Williams, Chairman of New West End Company and CEO of Derwent London, thanked members for another successful twelve months of partnership across the BID year 2023/2024.

As part of our Violence Against Women and Girls Action Week, we are hosting a webinar on 9 July from 9:30am – 10:30am to discuss the initiative and what is being done within the district to combat violence against women and girls (VAWG). We will be joined by the Metropolitan Police Service, who will share further insight into the proactive measures being undertaken by the force, and Westminster City Council, who will discuss their ‘Night Stars Campaign’ which engages directly with evening and night-time economy businesses to reduce VAWG. Also joining the session are two specialist charities, the Employers’ Initiative on Domestic Abuse (EIDA) and Advance, an organisation dedicated to supporting victims of domestic abuse. Each charity will be able to share guidance on businesses in the district can initiate important conversations around VAWG and provide vital support for their employees. Sign up for the webinar here.

The Olympics is coming to Grosvenor Square this summer, with free live screenings of the 2024 Paris Olympic Games being held from 26 July – 11 August. Visitors to the square can take advantage of its giant outdoor screens and a plethora of food and drink stalls, including Fabulous Coffee Co, Masa Tacos and more.

On 6 July, the Underbelly Festival will return to the West End’s Cavendish Square, running until 21 September. The cultural pop-up festival will feature the very best in circus, cabaret and comedy, as well as children’s and family entertainment in Underbelly Festival’s famous Spiegeltent. The free-to-enter festival will serve up a delicious range of street food traders, open air bars, and plenty of space to socialise, with deckchairs and picnic seating throughout. Explore the programme and get tickets at underbellyfestival.com