Retail sales at Britain’s railway stations continue to outperform the high street, according to Network Rail figures.
Station retail sales results from July to September 2013 showed a 4.74% growth in like-for-like sales compared to the same period the previous year.
High street sales, reported by the British Retail Consortium, grew by 1.5% over the same period.
Figures were provided from the results of retailers operating in 530 units at 16 of Britain’s biggest and busiest stations, benefiting from a combined annual footfall of over a billion.
Top performing stations include King’s Cross (+28.4%), Edinburgh Waverley (+13.1%) and Manchester Piccadilly (+13.1%) compared to the same period last year.
Specialist foods continued to perform strongly, with sales growing by 18.5% and supermarkets up by 9.75%.
Hamish Kiernan, Network Rail’s retail commercial director, said: “These latest figures show that stations have become great trading environments for retailers, thanks to the growing numbers of people who choose to travel by rail and Network Rail’s programme of investment to create destination stations.
“The huge growth in sales at King’s Cross, where the new western concourse has given people a much wider choice of food, drink and retail brands, shows that investment in bigger, better stations can benefit passengers, businesses and the wider public.”
Earlier this week, Eric Pickles, Communities and Local Government Secretary, set a £1bn package of support for the UK’s high streets.
Launched on 6 December and part of the government’s long-term economic plan, the package aims to create more jobs by “backing British business”.
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