Much of the above mis-understands how the station retail market works.
At smaller stations, the retail unit(s) is/are either put on the market, and the highest bidder wins (like buying a house), or often it is an enterprising local who suggests something to the station operator and a deal is done.
At larger stations, the units are marketed as above, but they are carefully planned to deliver a mix of retail, otherwise you’d just end up with coffee shops as that is what has the biggest margin (there’s too many tales of ‘coffee barrow’ owners earning 6 figures for this not to be the case). So that’s why you get places like McDonalds, which will pay lower base rents, but attract people to the station where they may use other shops, or even get on a train. Having said that, the McDs at Liverpool St used to be the busiest in the country (Mon-Fri). Not sure if it still is.
And it’s a great strategy; the revenue that NRs managed stations bring in was performing well ahead of the general retail market up until Covid struck.
And whilst people may moan about high prices etc, the fact is that no one is forcing anyone to buy any of it.
The one observation that I’d perhaps additionally make is that the way that some station space is marketed is a little too ‘spreadsheet’, evidenced by the amount that goes unlet for sometimes years and years, if at all.
Some of the rental asking rates are wildly unrealistic, presumably driven by station usage numbers (which as we know are sometimes a bit iffy themselves) rather than any reference to the competitive market for property locally, or indeed the character of the station’s own footfall and circulation.
Glasgow Central had a Mexican Burrito place, was a small local chain but didnt last long and is now a Pret.
The snag with these, in a high traffic, high rent location like this is that a significant proportion of the footfall won’t know anything about the product and will opt for safe, known alternatives. The product is too niche. Conversely, an independent ‘café’ or ‘tearoom’ or ‘pub’ or ‘bar’ can be quite successful thanks to a more generic product that’s familiar to more folks, especially those who are not regular passers-by.
Great for the funder of the Railways, namely the taxpayers and the passengers. People who seem to be happy to pay the prices charged do so, and that keeps fares and/or taxes lower than they otherwise would be.
One thing that I’ve never been sure about is how the income for non Network Rail station rents is accounted-for. Locally, the ‘landlord’ is LNER or Northern, so is property income actually remitted to NR, or is it retained?
If the latter, is it classed as income for the purposes of calculating premia or subsidy? And how does it vary under the current emergency measures?
… I found more than one in Beijing eight years ago …