Business rates cut no big help for retailers at London Designer Outlet

Nearly three quarters of the retailers at the London Designer Outlet won’t benefit from the Government’s business rates reforms, the Wembley centre’s owner said on Wednesday.

Property developer Quintain’s chief executive Angus Dodd told the Standard that plans to cut the rates bills of retailers with a rateable value of £51,000 or less on their property by a third “will have minimal impact” for his tenants.

He said: “Of 70 stores, restaurants and bars at London Designer Outlet, at least 52 will be outside Philip Hammond’s focus on small businesses.”

Dodd joins a number of London bosses who have claimed the reforms don’t go far enough.

However, the Quintain leader was upbeat as he insisted customers are still flocking to the outlet, home to firms such as Dr Martens and Gap.

The shopping centre said October revenues were up 6.3% from a year earlier.

The shopping centre, next to Wembley Stadium, this month celebrated its fifth birthday.

The owner said revenue has risen 97% from November 2013 – October 2014, compared with the same period in the past year, November 2017 – October 2018.