How London’s Chinatown Stopped Tenants ‘Throwing in the Towel’

The West End of London has survived bombings, recessions and the latest global pandemic. From Chinatown to Soho, it’s one of the cultural hearts of the capital. Don’t underestimate its ability to bounce back, the boss of one of its biggest landlords says.

“What the equity market is thinking and it hasn’t really woken up to is the fact is that this could be the shallowest of recessions,” Brian Bickell, chief executive officer of Shaftesbury Plc, said in an interview with Bloomberg at the firm’s Ganton Street office in the center of Chinatown. “We may be at that inflection point now where the confidence does start to come back,” he added. “As an example here, our vacancy is back to where it normally is.”