Square Mile loses 14% of restaurants

The City of London has lost 14% of its restaurants since 2020. According to data collected by AlixPartners and industry tracker CGA, the Square Mile has borne the brunt of the shift to home-working, with one in seven restaurant premises shutting. About 14% of restaurants also closed in Birmingham, England’s second-biggest city. The next worst-affected city was Glasgow where 10% of hospitality businesses closed. Before the coronavirus pandemic, the capital was adding restaurants, bucking a trend for closures in the rest of the UK. The number of venues was up 10% in the five years between March 2014 and March 2019. The FT (£)