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Christmas strikes and the High Street

ended 23. November 2022

The Mail Online are running a piece on the impact of strikes on the high street and hospitality sector ahead of Christmas, following the RMT union announcing more strike dates. Industrial action will be held across four 48-hour periods on 13-14 and 16-17 December, and 3-4 and 6-7 January. Looking for comment from bricks and mortar retailers and anyone in the hospitality sector about how this will impact them.

5 responses from the Newspage community

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Premium
Craig Bunting
Co-founder at BEAR
So many people get immediately affected by action like this. I wonder whether the strikes have the desired effect, or simply have a hugely damaging impact on everyday people running everyday small business across the UK. Going into Christmas and a busy trading period, this is the last thing businesses need, and will impact the high street. The economy is already looking bleak, so this will just add more unnecessary pressure. Surely there are better ways to handle the situation.
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Legend
Dr Jackie Mulligan
Founder at ShopAppy
These strikes have the potential to be a disaster for the high street. It's peak time for last minute shopping, Christmas parties, markets and festive treats. The rail strikes will hurt our high streets and the Government, rail companies and unions need to come to an agreement to avert this. It's the third year of troubles facing retail and hospitality in their ‘Golden Quarter’. For many businesses, this could really be their last Christmas. I hope people fully understand the importance of spending locally this year. Shop early before the strikes and shop local with independent family businesses that really put that sparkle into our towns and cities all year round. And this Black Friday, we urge employers in towns and cities to give their teams an extra hour off to spend time and money in their own local economies rather than line the pockets of distant billionaires. If people don’t support local businesses in the next few weeks, it could really be the last Christmas for our high streets.
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Shirley Leader
Owner at Velvet & Rose
Something needs to be done about the rail strikes. It is peak trading for our boutique and if customers can’t travel to us then it will greatly impact this quarter’s sales figures. We need a good start to next year. We are already feeling the pinch from energy, postal strikes, Black Friday and economic factors and this news is the last thing we need.
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Legend
Barry Whitehouse
Owner / Tutor at The Artery
As a bricks-and-mortar retailer, this is potentially disastrous for those of us reliant on footfall and hoping sales over the Christmas period will help keep us open. It is difficult to be optimistic when we are surrounded by so many obstacles that are slowing down consumer spending. Christmas shopping hasn’t properly started yet, and with many scaling back their spending this year, these strikes may deter more people from supporting their town centres and cause them to spend even less. What we know is that visiting town centres has to be easy and accessible, and train strikes at a crucial time on top of struggling councils increasing car parking charges is already having an impact on town centre footfall. Combine this with the Royal Mail strikes over the Christmas period, and it potentially means our online sales are going to be slim too. It’s the perfect storm for retail, and we have weathered so many storms in short succession. You have to wonder how long the SS Retail can stay afloat without bailouts.
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Legend
Racheal Straughan
Founder at Mayfli
This is a devasting blow for the UK's high streets. Whether you're a shop retailer, a member of staff, a supplier or even a landlord, the knock-on effect is massive. With the current Royal Mail strikes making it increasingly difficult to get orders shipped out on time now, having rail strikes around the time that people would go into our towns and cities and pick up gifts is only going to continue to push buyers to Amazon and drive customers away from the hospitality industry. It seems the Christmas work nights out may be no more. High street shops and bars are already struggling, and Christmas 2022 could decide the future for many high street retailers and hospitality businesses. I expect many businesses to close down in 2023 if they don't make enough profit during the Christmas period. We have businesses using pop-up shops within the city centre the week before Christmas to try and help generate extra income as sales are already massively down compared to last year. The footfall has decreased by 30% this year in our city centre of Newcastle Upon Tyne and then for train strikes to compound this, it's a disaster. The government says they want to help small businesses and our high streets but everything that is currently happening is pushing buyers to buy online through corporate giants meaning more revenue is lost from the local economies.