t is raining again in London. No great shock there I suppose.
But we are coming towards the end of what has been a dismally dank and dreary summer by recent standards. And that matters for the capital’s economy, particularly its ever-growing outdoor hospitality scene.
During much of the pandemic Londoners were forced to eat and drink outside — and got a taste for it.
A run of hot summers — particularly last year’s record-breaking 40C scorcher — has hardwired alfresco dining even more definitively into our summer lifestyles.
So a washout July followed by an iffy August was the last thing operators wanted this year after the trials of Covid, cost inflation, labour shortages, and rising rents and rates.
Restaurants, bars and pubs that trade on their outdoor space say a wet day can knock 40% off their takings. Meanwhile, festivals and other outdoor events have had to be cancelled and retailers, too, are not keen on driving rain that keeps shoppers at home or in their hotels.
Meteorological Autumn is little more than a fortnight away now when the start of September heralds the end of the school holidays.
Hopefully there will be a last blast of warm sunshine to at least partially make up for the lost weeks — the latest forecasts certainly point that way. But the summer of 2023 will not be remembered fondly as the bumper sun-fest that many will have been hoped for.
Hospitality, and the London economy generally, is now heading towards an autumn of uncertainty when the unfolding mortgage crisis, still high inflation and the continuing threat of more train strikes cast a long shadow.
The summer should be when the London hospitality and tourism sectors make hay and get to put aside reserves for the dark months to come. Thanks in large part to the rain it has not happened this year.