London’s West End has always been a major destination, albeit it’s started to face more rampant competition locally and globally over the last 10 years. But it could be all change again with the arrival of Crossrail in December this year.

The most obvious beneficiary will be retail: the New West End company suggests the arrival of the Crossrail route will boost sales in the West End by 47 per cent to £13 billion by 2021, driven by the enlarged catchment area the new rail link will reach. 

But this is just one of part of the story. The improved connectivity Crossrail will provide, along with the surrounding improvements to public spaces (although at the time of writing the hoped for pedestrianisation of Oxford Street has been put on the back burner) will bring more workers, residents and visitors into the area. 

Crossrail has already partly facilitated development nearby with schemes such as Rathbone Square and Fitzroy Place bringing new mixed-use spaces into the West End. This will continue with a further 2.3 million sq ft of new office space being delivered within the vicinity of Oxford Street by the end of 2022, the bulk of which will be found to the east of Oxford Circus.

In addition, almost 400 new hotel rooms and 2,400 residential units will be supplied. One of the largest schemes currently underway is Derwent’s Soho Place, a 285,000 sq ft mixed-use project, part of which will be located above Tottenham Court Road station with its new Crossrail interchange.    

The evolution in the number and profile of the people who live, work and shop in the West End will also give rise to new types of concepts that will help reinforce the district’s position as a modern destination. The expansion in food & beverage (F&B) provision, particularly beyond Soho into Fitzrovia, has been a key element in the re-shaping of the wider West End as a cohesive and mixed destination, meeting both local and visitor demands.

The emergence of new fitness concepts across the area is a further part of this, as will be the arrival of more leisure and innovative F&B concepts such as Market Hall West End - a permanent food hall that will occupy some of the space left by BHS on Oxford Street. Within the same building crazy golf operator Swingers recently opened its second London site. 

The scale and nature of development envisaged for the West End, supported by the arrival of Crossrail, will boost the destination appeal of the area and, when combined with the wider public realm initiatives, will hopefully really elevate the area as a globally attractive destination.

Further information

Read more: What will Oxford Street be like in 20 years?