London revenues still below pre-Covid levels, says D&D London

Central London revenues remain lower than pre-Covid levels due to a lack of office workers and international tourists in the city, according to a trading update from D&D London. 

The brand owns and operates over 40 restaurants in the UK capital, including the 80-bedroom South Place Hotel; as well as sites in Manchester, Leeds, Bristol, Paris and New York. 

Trading nationwide is significantly higher than predictions made ahead of April's staged reopening, despite the challenges of navigating the gradual relaxation of rules from April through to 'Freedom Day' on 19 July. D&D's takings outside of the capital, for example, in venues based in Leeds (Crafthouse, Angelica Issho and East 59th) and Manchester (20 Stories) are consistently significantly higher than pre-Covid since reopening. 

Sites in London's suburbs have also outperformed the brand's more central locations, with restaurants such as Bluebird, Le Pont de la Tour and Cantina taking more earnings than pre-pandemic levels. 

However, corporate events and returns to offices surged from the second week of September, resulting in a strong recovery in central London restaurant revenues. 

Des Gunewardena, chairman and CEO of D&D London, commented: "There is no hiding from the fact that the profile of D&D's restaurants – mostly in central London and predominantly known for their dining experiences rather than food only – meant that we were hit harder by Covid and not been as fast to bounce back as restaurants which could tilt their businesses more easily to delivery and/or were based mainly outside London.

"Despite this our business has recovered strongly," added Gunewardena, "particularly in terms of profitability, helped by cost reductions and government reliefs. We are also now seeing the start of a more powerful central London and corporate spend recovery which is boosting revenues."

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