New West End Company’s Global Benchmark Report identified that UK property taxes now account for roughly 7% of occupancy costs, against a global average of around 3%, actively deterring international investment.¹

Recent changes to business rates in April 2026 have brought many West End businesses within the highest multiplier, with their combined annual liability rising from £212 million to £274 million, an average increase of around £183,000 per property.² Adding further cost pressures are larger employer national insurance contributions, above-inflation increases in national living wage, and new obligations arriving through the Employment Rights Act. These cumulative cost increases drive business investment out of London to cities with fewer policy constraints like Dubai, Tokyo and Singapore.

New West End Company supports a series of reforms to provide relief for retail, hospitality and leisure businesses in high footfall international districts like the West End, recognising the disproportion contribution they made to the UK economy, and their ‘halo effect’ in supporting smaller businesses in their immediately vicinity.
Key asks include:

London’s discretionary planning system breeds inconsistency and delay, discouraging major investment in new development. New West End Company supports the government’s direction of travel that the system should enable development rather than obstruct it and welcomes the National Scheme of Delegation coming into force on 31st October. What matters now is whether decisions on schemes of real scale actually move faster once it is in place. The district’s current development pipeline could add £558 million in West End turnover by 2035, but only if that planning certainty holds.

¹ NWEC’s global benchmarking report, 2026
² NWEC analysis of business rates multipliers for 2026 to 2027 and their effect on the West End.