The Mount Street Report
I founded the Mount Street Association in 1992 at the request of Grosvenor after the Duke of Westminster had walked from the old estate office in Davies Street to dine at Harry’s in South Audley Street and had counted 19 empty shops.
What a difference we see today with global retailers now looking at Mount Street as a ‘sister’ of Bond Street and one of the most sought after luxury retailing addresses in the world. Élite brands now nestle next to each other in the heritage terracotta buildings of Mount Street.
Recently I looked at an old street retailers’ booklet of the Association from the turn of the millennium and was surprised to see that today only eight of those retailers remained from the street line up. Thoselegacy retailers sit well with the new luxury brands in making Mount Street a unique retailing experience.
Where else could you boast that your local B&B is The Connaught, the fish & chip shop is Scott’s, the butcher is Allen’s, the car showroom is Porsche, your tobacconist is Sautter and dare I say it; your local estate agent is Wetherell.
It took me 10 years before I saw the right opportunity to open a corner shop on Mount Street in 1992. Today global luxury retail groups headed by Bernard Arnault (LVMH), François Pinault (Kering) and Johann Rupert (Richemont) compete for available stores even sometimes paying ‘key money’ to tempt existing retailers to move.
The present challenge is to increase ‘footfall’ as at present too many customers are ‘lone wolf’ clients targeting only one specific shop with a ‘buy and fly’ attitude. The Mount Street retailers need to jointly offer an exciting retail experience so that they can all cross-pollinate their customers and encourage them to become ‘busy bees’ hovering from store to store up and down the street.
Peter Wetherell
Chairman of the Mount Street Association
Doing A Grosvenor
Mount Street Public Realm Improvement
Public realm improvements, new tenants and a strategy by landlord Grosvenor and other local businesses for destination promotion and community engagement has transformed Mount Street in Mayfair from a weak secondary thoroughfare into one of London’s, and the world’s, leading luxury brand destinations.
As a result of this repositioning, rental and real estate values on Mount Street and its neighbouring thoroughfares have risen and the street has become the location of choice for some of the world’s most prestigious luxury brand names.
This report analyses the strategy, the 18 key activities and costs that have been required to deliver this transformation. It also provides a background to the history of Mount Street, gains insights from tenants as to why the street is so successful, and also compares nd contrasts Mount Street with other luxury retail addresses in London and around the world.
Finally the report looks at how the transformation of Mount Street and its benefits – now known within the London property industry as “doing a Grosvenor” – is influencing a number of other London estates to look at replicating the success of Mount Street in other locations across London.
The result is a compelling read for anyone involved in London property development, regeneration and public realm improvements, providing insights and best practice lessons that can be adopted in other addresses in London and around the UK.
About Wetherell
Founded in 1982, Wetherell is the leading property advisory firm specialising in Mayfair and the wider West End. With a head office at 102 Mount Street the company provides sales, lettings, investment and new development consultancy services for clients ranging from global corporations to high-net-worth private individuals.
The firm has sold more than 100 commercial properties that have been reconverted to residential use and is currently advising on more than £1 billion worth of residential instructions. The firm is a pivotal player in Mayfair’s renaissance as a prime residential destination.
Executive Summary
Report Key Findings
What a difference we see today with global retailers now looking at Mount Street as a ‘sister’ of Bond Street and one of the most sought after luxury retailing addresses in the world. Élite brands now nestle next to each other in the heritage terracotta buildings of Mount Street.
Recently I looked at an old street retailers’ booklet of the Association from the turn of the millennium and was surprised to see that today only eight of those retailers remained from the street line up. Thoselegacy retailers sit well with the new luxury brands in making Mount Street a unique retailing experience.
Where else could you boast that your local B&B is The Connaught, the fish & chip shop is Scott’s, the butcher is Allen’s, the car showroom is Porsche, your tobacconist is Sautter and dare I say it; your local estate agent is Wetherell.
It took me 10 years before I saw the right opportunity to open a corner shop on Mount Street in 1992. Today global luxury retail groups headed by Bernard Arnault (LVMH), François Pinault (Kering) and Johann Rupert (Richemont) compete for available stores even sometimes paying ‘key money’ to tempt existing retailers to move.
The present challenge is to increase ‘footfall’ as at present too many customers are ‘lone wolf’ clients targeting only one specific shop with a ‘buy and fly’ attitude. The Mount Street retailers need to jointly offer an exciting retail experience so that they can all cross-pollinate their customers and encourage them to become ‘busy bees’ hovering from store to store up and down the street.
Peter Wetherell
Chairman of the Mount Street Association
Doing A Grosvenor
Mount Street Public Realm Improvement
Public realm improvements, new tenants and a strategy by landlord Grosvenor and other local businesses for destination promotion and community engagement has transformed Mount Street in Mayfair from a weak secondary thoroughfare into one of London’s, and the world’s, leading luxury brand destinations.
As a result of this repositioning, rental and real estate values on Mount Street and its neighbouring thoroughfares have risen and the street has become the location of choice for some of the world’s most prestigious luxury brand names.
This report analyses the strategy, the 18 key activities and costs that have been required to deliver this transformation. It also provides a background to the history of Mount Street, gains insights from tenants as to why the street is so successful, and also compares nd contrasts Mount Street with other luxury retail addresses in London and around the world.
Finally the report looks at how the transformation of Mount Street and its benefits – now known within the London property industry as “doing a Grosvenor” – is influencing a number of other London estates to look at replicating the success of Mount Street in other locations across London.
The result is a compelling read for anyone involved in London property development, regeneration and public realm improvements, providing insights and best practice lessons that can be adopted in other addresses in London and around the UK.
About Wetherell
Founded in 1982, Wetherell is the leading property advisory firm specialising in Mayfair and the wider West End. With a head office at 102 Mount Street the company provides sales, lettings, investment and new development consultancy services for clients ranging from global corporations to high-net-worth private individuals.
The firm has sold more than 100 commercial properties that have been reconverted to residential use and is currently advising on more than £1 billion worth of residential instructions. The firm is a pivotal player in Mayfair’s renaissance as a prime residential destination.
Executive Summary
Report Key Findings
- The 2010 regeneration of Mount Street has delivered a range of public realm, tenant engagement and profile improvements which have transformed the street into one of the world’s most prestigious luxury brand addresses
- The programme to transform Mount Street has cost £80 million, of which £10 million has been spent on public realm improvements
- The regeneration has resulted in benefits worth over £500 million, in terms of new retail development and residential property value rises
- Mount Street shop rents have rocketed by 330% since 2006
- In just 20 years, average rents on Mount Street have risen from £16,000 to an average of £150,000 per annum today
- The world’s top luxury brands will now pay as much as £3m in upfront ‘key money’ simply to secure the lease on Mount Street
- These brands will then lavish anything from £6 million upwards on refitting their shop and paying additional premium market rents
- The results of the 2010-2011 Mount Street makeover include new luxury tenants, enhanced footfall, rising shop rents, increased residential sales values and rising residential letting values
- Since 2010 over 20 new luxury retailers/operators have opened on Mount Street, representing over £200 million of new luxury development
- Residential property sales values on Mount Street have risen by 199% since 2005, outperforming equivalent average rises for Mayfair and Belgravia
- Apartments on Mount Street currently sell for £3,227 per sqft – some of the highest values in London
- Residential lettings values on Mount Street have risen by 24% since Q1 2003
- Weekly residential rents on Mount Street now average £1,407 – some of the best rental values in the capital
- On an international comparison, there are just under a dozen similar luxury brand addresses that are equivalent to Mount Street – crucially all the locations share 18 similar features and offer tenants and businesses equivalent benefits
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