Businesses could lose up to £50m as a result of a series of Tube strikes next week, hospitality bosses fear.
Members of the RMT union working in different sectors of the London Underground are due to walk out between Friday (January 5) and the following Friday (January 12) in a dispute over pay.
TfL says the strike will bring "severe disruption" to Tube services for the four days from Monday (January 8) to Thursday (January 11).
It will leave commuters facing “little or no” service on all of the network’s lines, TfL has warned.
UK Hospitality Chief Executive, Kate Nicholls, warned that the RMT strike could hit hospitality businesses by up to £50m, saying it came on top of a challenging trading environment.
“With the strike days affecting Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday next week (9-11 January) – the key week days that commuters now come into the city – we estimate that the impact to the sector from next week’s tube strike could be up to £50 million,” she said.
“And that figure is on top of the lost £4 billion in sales over the past 18 months that hospitality businesses have already had to absorb from ongoing transport strikes.
“January is already one of the quieter trading months of the year for hospitality, where every sale counts, and this disruption will make the start to the year even more challenging.
“We need all parties to come together to urgently reach a resolution and bring to an end this long-running disruption.”
Commuters will be most negatively impacted on Monday, January 8, and Wednesday, January 10, when all other London Underground employees go on strike.
The Tube will come to a complete stop on Monday and Wednesday due to the strike action, as most stations won't have enough staff to remain open.
While no other TfL services apart from the Underground will be on strike, buses, the DLR, London Overground, and Elizabeth line services are expected to be busier than usual.
Unions are staging the walkout in a row over pay, with different unions taking action on different days.
RMT general secretary Mick Lynch previously said: “Tube workers who help bring vast amounts of value to the London economy are not going to put up with senior managers and commissioners raking it in, while they are given modest below inflation offers."
TfL says it has made a “full and final offer” of a five per cent pay increase, which members of the ASLEF union have accepted.
“We have been clear throughout our productive discussions with our trade unions that this offer is the most we can afford while ensuring that we can operate safely, reliably and sustainably,” said Glynn Barton, TfL's Chief Operating Officer.
“We encourage the RMT to engage with us to avoid disruption for Londoners.”
