Independent food retailers appear to have suffered little physical damage during civil unrest that took place in early August across a number of UK cities – although some have reported an impact on footfall.
FFD spoke to a number of businesses in areas that witnessed protests or riots – fuelled by speculation from purported far right influencers on social media – and found this to be the case, even though other types of retailers did report theft and vandalism to the national media.
BIRA managing director Andrew Goodacre told FFD that while none of his members’ businesses had experienced violence or looting, the rioting would take a toll on staff and impact footfall, at least in the short term.
“Retail has been a tough place to work recently and this current toxic atmosphere makes it worse,” he said. “Consumer spending is already down and again these disturbances will make it worse.”
According to the real estate software firm MRI Software, there was a 4.8% drop in footfall between Sunday 4th and Wednesday 14th August on UK high streets. Northern England and Yorkshire appeared to be hit the worst with a 12.9% decline.
Leonardo Vergona from Delilah Fine Foods in Nottingham reported that, on the day of the disturbances in the East Midlands city, takings were 60% of what was expected for a Saturday. He added that this “considerably quieter” day was more down to the fear among the general public, rather than the actual level of antisocial activity.
Steve Salamon, owner of Wally’s Deli in Cardiff, reported that it was a “tense” atmosphere for staff as they had been warned by police of potential riots on Friday 9th August. Thankfully, he added, these concerns didn’t materialise.
In Belfast, the chaos caused by riots seems to have remained in the city centre. Laura Bradley co-owner at Indie Füde, which has outlets in South Belfast and Comber, said that they “didn’t really see a downturn”.
BIRA’s Andrew Goodacre said he expected the sector to weather any longer term consequences of the disturbances.
“High streets and indie retailers have always been resilient,” he said. “To come through the current situation, we need clear action from the police and Government to make places safe. We also need insurers to work hard to support the businesses who need to make claims.”
Protests, some of which developed into full-scale rioting, took place in a host of towns and cities, including Belfast, Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, Leeds, Leicester, Liverpool, London, Manchester, Nottingham, Plymouth, Portsmouth, Rotherham, Southport and Weymouth.
The unrest began after a number of leading far-right personalities began spreading misinformation regarding the perpetrator of a fatal attack on a dance school in Southport on 29th July.
This article first appeared in the September 2024 edition of Fine Food Digest.
