THE biggest rail strikes in 30 years will be yet another blow for Scotland’s city centres, as commuters are urged to work from home amid travel chaos.
One of Scotland’s leading wholesalers Dunns Food and Drinks issued the warning ahead of three days of industrial action by members of the RMT Union.
Nearly 90% of ScotRail services will be cancelled on Tuesday 21, Thursday 23 and Saturday 25 June, with city centre venues set to bear the brunt of the knock-on impact of the strikes.
Read more: Wedding venue near Glasgow launched by six farming siblings
City centres were beginning to get back on their feet after the pandemic and figures from the Scottish Retail Consortium showed sales growth stalled last month as the cost of living affected consumer spending.
Nathan Rowan, business to consumer director at Dunns Food and Drinks, believes some hospitality businesses could be forced to close during the action as staff struggle to get to work.
He said: “The rail strikes represent yet another blow to city centres.
“A lot of the premises we supply see reasonable business up until around 8pm, however city centres are emptying rapidly and early. We have even seen reductions in our distribution vehicle weights, as city-centre venues prepare for a drop in customers this week.
“More people will be working from home on the affected days, so lunchtime trade in office areas could struggle. I wouldn’t be surprised if some even close on the days on the strike as staff will be unable to get to work.
“There are still a large number of home workers, but a reduced train timetable coupled with this week’s strikes means city centre venues will undoubtedly feel a more significant impact.”
Edinburgh-based brewers Vault City Brewing, who operate the Wee Vault tasting room and bottleshop on Maitland Street, next to Haymarket train station, are expecting to see a drop in footfall as a direct result of the strike action.
Steven Smith Hay, co-founder, said: “Because of how close Wee Vault is to the station, we usually have a fair amount of commuters popping in for a drink or picking up a bottle to go after they’ve finished work for the day. We’re really conscious of the fact we’re going to see those numbers fall this week.
“On the other hand, we’re expecting to see more people waiting for longer periods in the bar until the next available train comes along which, in turn, could mean customers spend a little more money. It really is a bit of a double-edged sword.”
Read more: Scottish first as luxury Swiss watch brand TAG Heuer opens store
Edinburgh-based Cairngorm Coffee Roasters is also expecting to see a drop in customers at the firm’s coffee shops in the city centre and the west end. However, co-owner Robi Lambie is concerned about the operational impact the strikes will have on his work force, too.
He said: “Our shop in the west end of the city is very popular with office workers, so we expect to see an impact on trade with fewer people commuting into Haymarket.
“However, we’re really going to feel the impact of these strikes firsthand when it comes to our workforce. Our recently appointed wholesale manager has been forced to find alternative transport to and from Glasgow, which is going to cause us a real headache.
“The bottom line is that although there’s a huge push to limit the amount of cars used in the capital, there’s not enough affordable and reliable alternative methods of transport for people who don’t live in the middle of the city centre.
“Without a reliable train service, I think many people will slip back into the work from home lifestyle quite comfortably, which feels like a step backwards for businesses in the hospitality industry once again.”
Despite concerns about disruption caused by the rail strikes across the country, there are hopes it could lead to a small boost in the number of customers choosing to eat out locally at lunchtime.
Ian Brooke, founder of Brawsome Bagels, in the west end of Glasgow, said: “The strikes are going to be massively disruptive for everyone across the country, and of course that will have a knock-on effect for businesses.
“However, although we are close to the Partick Interchange, we usually see more people commuting out of the area than into it, so I’m hopeful we won’t see too much of an impact on trade.
“We could even see a small boost in the number of customers coming through our doors, as people who would usually leave the west end for work will be likely to stay close to home and look for lunch options here.”
Around 40,000 Network Rail staff are striking as part of a dispute over pay, working conditions and redundancies.
Passengers have been warned the disruption will likely throughout the week, as fewer staff than normal will be working overnight to get services ready.
As it stands, only the following services will operate between 7:30am and 6:30pm on June 21, 23 and 25:
- Edinburgh – Glasgow via Falkirk High: two trains per hour
- Edinburgh – Bathgate: two trains per hour
- Glasgow – Hamilton/Larkhall: two trains per hour
- Glasgow – Lanark: two trains per hour
- Edinburgh – Glasgow via Shotts: one train per hour
No other areas will be serviced during these days.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here