Tourist shortfall fails to dent City Centre recovery

City Centre Restaurants warned today that the numbers of foreign tourists visiting London were lower than expected, but increasing numbers of UK tourists would offset the shortfall. Alan Jackson, who joined as chairman in March from Oriental Restaurant Group, told the group's annual general meeting: "Along with other leisure operators, we are concerned that numbers of foreign tourists visiting London are lower than expected. "However, we are confident that this is being offset by an increased number of UK visitors into London and higher levels of custom at leisure parks over recent months benefiting Frankie & Benny's in particular." There had been a steady improvement in trading since the start of the year, he added. Caffe Uno had seen a "much improved" performance. Like-for-like sales, excluding income from new openings, had turned around: in January they were down by 5% but in May they were up by 2%. Frankie & Benny's reported like-for-like sales growth of 5% and Garfunkel's, including its airport locations, was ahead by 1% in the same period. "Over the last few months, Est Est Est has undergone extensive change and this brand is now showing encouraging signs of recovery," Jackson added. The group was continuing to "explore opportunities" to dispose of a number of its non-core businesses as part of its restructuring programme, he said. The company is looking to dispose of three of its chains, but has yet to say which will go and which will stay. It sold its OK Diners business earlier this year. Other brands include Wok Wok, Chiquito and Deep Pan Pizza. At the company's full-year results in April, City Centre Restaurants reported a £2m fall in pre-tax profits, to £15.9m, although sales of food and drink rose by £12m to £217.6m. The encouraging start to this year meant City Centre Restaurants would now rapidly re-establish itself as "a significant and credible operator in its chosen markets," Jackson added today. by Nic Paton