Footfall in Greenwich town centre has decreased as a result of the closure of Cutty Sark DLR station, councillors will hear next week.
The station closed its doors at the end of May after four years of disruption caused by its worn-out escalators breaking down.
New escalators were delivered to the station by rail two months ago and TfL hopes to have the station open again this spring.
The closure is being partly blamed for an 8.7 per cent annual decline in footfall in the town centre between January and September last year, according to a paper going before a council scrutiny committee next Thursday.
Officials have been careful not to set a precise date for the reopening of Cutty Sark station, with a key target being this year’s London Marathon on April 27. Volunteers have been stationed at Greenwich station to help people find their way to the town centre, and these will be in place until the end of March.
Numbers of people arriving at Greenwich Pier also fell by 10 per cent – equivalent to 53,000 people – during the summer, according to the update on the council’s culture strategy, while arrivals by rail, DLR and river also fell by the same proportion during the summer. The figures suggest that a post-pandemic surge in tourism in Greenwich has cooled.
But footfall in Greenwich Market had remained stable last year, increasing by 0.2 per cent between January and October “demonstrating the strength of well curated cultural and retail environments”, while visitor numbers at attractions in the world heritage site were up 1.5 per cent.
Some of the statistics in the report appear to contradict each other. The borough is said to attract 19 million visitors a year, with the visitor economy supporting 16,000 jobs – but says in the next paragraph that Greenwich Peninsula is said to have had 18.4 million visits between January and September last year alone, including a 7 per cent rise in numbers at the O2.
One eye-catching claim is that footfall in Woolwich town centre grew by 86 per cent in the first nine months of last year, crediting the increase to revamped public spaces in the town centre.
Councillors on the inclusive economy and culture scrutiny panel will discuss the paper next Thursday.
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