Shaftesbury Announces Al Fresco Dining Plans

From Monday 12^th April Shaftesbury will welcome visitors back to its iconic villages across the West End, supported by its extended al fresco dining plans.

As non-essential retail, outdoor attractions and outdoor hospitality venues open their doors and terraces to visitors for the first time in 2021, Shaftesbury has put measures  in place across its villages to ensure that outdoor diners can confidently enjoy London’s West End in a safe and supported manner.

Working closely with its occupiers and with Westminster and Camden Councils, Shaftesbury’s villages will have outdoor dining space available to safely seat 3,000 visitors, all while observing social distancing guidelines. The enhanced al fresco seating scheme builds on the successful trial of pavement dining across the West End in 2020 and will cover all of the Shaftesbury villages, which includes Carnaby, Chinatown, Fitzrovia, Seven Dials and Soho, providing comfortable all day dining opportunities for seated groups of up to six people.

Visitors will be able to dine outdoors at over 165 eateries across the villages, while each of Carnaby, Chinatown and Seven Dials have their own outdoor communal seating to ensure visitors can also enjoy restaurants offering takeaway menus. To further enhance the experience for visitors, each of the villages will be running their own programme of outdoor events and installations throughout the summer.

The restaurants, pubs and cafes across the villages have plans in place to ensure visitors can dine safely, with additional cleaning support  provided by Shaftesbury to ensure thorough and routine cleaning of the communal dining areas throughout the day and keeping areas free from litter. Visitors will also be encouraged to make use of multiple hand sanitising stations that will be available in all outdoor areas.

Each evening, all outdoor dining furniture will be collected and stored away once restaurants and bars have closed to discourage loitering. Security will be in place to encourage consumer confidence around a safe return to London’s dynamic West End, with friendly reminders regarding social distancing if required.

Julia Wilkinson, Restaurant Director, commented:

“We are extremely excited to welcome visitors back to the West End after what has been a difficult 12 months for everyone, and we are especially grateful to all those who have put in a huge amount of work to prepare our villages for re-opening.

“We continue to follow all Government guidelines and have adapted our extensive al fresco dining areas to allow visitors to enjoy our vibrant shops, restaurants, cafes and bars in a safe and comfortable environment, which in turn will assist our tenants with their recovery efforts.

"I’m sure that we have all missed the irreplaceable experience of visiting our favourite West End restaurants, cafes and bars and very much look forward to returning to support them and to enjoy the best of West End hospitality once again."

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Notes for Editors

About Shaftesbury

Shaftesbury is a Real Estate Investment Trust which invests exclusively in the liveliest parts of London’s West End. Focused on food, beverage, retail and leisure, our portfolio is clustered mainly in Carnaby, Seven Dials and Chinatown, but also includes substantial ownerships in East and West Covent Garden, Soho and Fitzrovia.

Extending to 16 acres, the portfolio comprises 611 restaurants, cafés, pubs and shops, extending to 1.1 million sq. ft., 0.4 million sq. ft. of offices and 624 apartments. All our properties are close to the main West End Underground stations and are within 10 minutes' walk of the two West End transport hubs for the Elizabeth Line, at Tottenham Court Road and Bond Street.

In addition, we have a 50% interest in the Longmartin joint venture, which has a long leasehold interest, extending to 1.9 acres, in St Martin's Courtyard in Covent Garden.

Our proven management strategy is to create and foster distinctive, attractive and prosperous locations. We have an experienced management team focused on delivering our objective of long-term growth in rental income, capital values and shareholder returns. We have a strong balance sheet with conservative leverage.

Our Purpose

Our purpose is to curate vibrant and thriving villages in the heart of London’s West End. Our proven management strategy is to create and foster distinctive, attractive and prosperous locations. We have an experienced management team focused on delivering our long-term strategic objectives, ultimately to deliver a positive, long-lasting contribution to the West End. We have a strong balance sheet with conservative leverage.

Our Values

At Shaftesbury, we have five core values that are fundamental to our behaviour, decision making and the delivery both of our purpose and strategic objectives: being human in how we operate, original in how we nurture talent and think, community minded in our approach to the West End, being responsible and long term in our approach to everything.

Since 2015, Shaftesbury has supported the UN Global Compact principles of sustainability and, in 2019, we integrated the UN Sustainable Development Goals into our sustainability strategy. We have long been committed to operating in a sustainable way. At the core of our sustainability strategy is reusing and improving, rather than redeveloping buildings. In doing so, Shaftesbury extends the useful economic lives of these buildings while preserving the West End’s rich heritage for future generations.

@shaftesburyplc shaftesbury.co.uk