Where have all the tourists gone?
Gone to Westfield every one.
London's traditional shopping area "Up West" is wondering where its shoppers and diners have gone this week. It's really not that difficult to fathom. Once it became clear that the route into the Olympic Park was to go straight through Stratford's Westfield shopping centre the writing was on the wall. Shopping was going East.
So that's the Olympic tourists accounted for. What about the Londoners and out-of- towners who didn't get tickets? Well, they were advised to stay at home to ease pressure on London's transport system. An idea the workers have embraced wholeheartedly. The fact is the media coverage is fantastic. There's so much gripping sport that there's hardly time to draw breath before the next 'must see' event. Anyone "working from home" is desperately trying to fit in a bit of work between times. There just aren't enough hours in the day to go shopping. For those who do manage to get out on the streets there's the cycling events taking place on the roads where the crowds have been phenomenal . Who wants to go shopping when Wiggo's about to come up the road?
In the two week lead-up to the games the tourists were certainly in the west end, and they were considerably worse at standing on the right than we had feared. Doubtless they will find their way back there at the end of the games too. The west end has the advantage of having most of the normal tourist hot-spots after all. But will anyone have the money or the energy left to hit the shops "Up West".
Evie