London is lagging the rest of the country in getting back to pre-pandemic behaviour, according to experimental data from the Office for National Statistics based on sales figures from Pret A Manger branches around the country.
The experimental figures show transactions in the capital are running at 82% of the weekly average level from January 2020.
London is one of only two regions below 100% of their January 2020 level along with Scotland, which was at 93% of its January 2020 level.
Regions in the North of England seem to be thriving the most in the week ending 7 October 2021.
Source: Official for National Statistics (ONS)
Sales at Pret stores were comparatively strongest in Yorkshire in that week, standing at 142% of their January 2020 weekly average level, whilst Yorkshire had the largest relative increase from the week ending 1 April 2021 to the week ending 7 October 2021, of 77 percentage points.
However, it should be noted that Yorkshire has a relatively small sample size when compared with other regions, which may increase volatility.
Pret stores in Manchester increased by seven percentage points compared with the previous week to 113% of their average weekly level in January 2020.
