Marks & Spencer chief Stuart Machin last week said London is “on life support” after economic turbulence hammered retailers in the city. Stores including Burberry have argued that shoppers are being pushed to visit other European luxury capitals including Paris and Milan due to the policymaking in Britain. It comes amid wider questions over the future of the UK capital as a shopping hub, after luxury brands piled pressure on ministers last week to stage a U-turn on its axing of VAT-free shopping. Mr Mansbridge said without Heal’s, Tottenham Court Road “would not exist as the furniture street of London”. It means the facade of the store is now double the size it had previously been. It recently completed a major redevelopment and reopened its store last week, in a move that saw it extend into an additional part of the property. It has had its flagship store on the street now for the past 200 years. At the time, it opened a store in Rathbone Place, but moved into Tottenham Court Road in 1819. Heal’s started life in 1810 when founder John Harris Heal introduced feather filled mattresses to London. He added: “So absolutely, there needs to be some real focus on making that work better.” Mr Mansbridge said it was only now “a bit too late, that they’re realising they’re creating ghost towns in the middle of London”.

You name it, it’s like they’re actively trying to discourage people coming into the centre of London”. You’ve got the congestion charge, parking difficulties, tube strikes, train strikes, the cost of living crisis, and then Ulez. “I make no bones about it, we’re seeing significantly lower footfall than we did before the pandemic, and that is a challenge.

The bookshop on the corner