The impact of hybrid working on the high street
Think tank: Centre for Cities
Author(s): Paul Swinney; Oscar Selby
March 28, 2025
This report from UK think tank Centre for Cities looks at the impact of hybrid working on spending patterns in both city centres and their local neighbourhoods.
Five years after the UK went into lockdown, this briefing looks at the impact of hybrid working on spending patterns by workers in both city centres and their local neighbourhoods.
While life today looks much closer to what it did in 2019 than many predicted, it is certainly the case that home working is higher on Mondays and Fridays than it was pre-pandemic.
Debit and credit card transaction data from city-centre workers allows us to explore changes in city-centre spending from 2019-2024 and show how everything from after-work socialising to grocery shopping has changed thanks to hybrid working in large UK cities.
